1 00:00:01,440 --> 00:00:05,280 Speaker 1: On this episode of Newsworld, as part of Founding Fathers Week, 2 00:00:05,640 --> 00:00:08,200 Speaker 1: I'm talking about the lives and legacies of our original 3 00:00:08,240 --> 00:00:20,720 Speaker 1: founders and the impact they've had in our country. I 4 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:24,720 Speaker 1: wanted to start the entire podcast series with George Washington 5 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:30,680 Speaker 1: because literally we all stand on his shoulders to the 6 00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:34,640 Speaker 1: degree that this is a country that has a remarkable 7 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:39,080 Speaker 1: ability for freedom, that is open to everyone, and that 8 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:43,560 Speaker 1: creates a framework within which normal people can lead on 9 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:48,199 Speaker 1: usual and extraordinary lives. All of that started and was 10 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:50,920 Speaker 1: based on Washington. One of the best biographies of Washington 11 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:55,680 Speaker 1: describes him as literally irreplaceable, that he is the man 12 00:00:56,120 --> 00:01:00,200 Speaker 1: that was the essential person for the entire creation of America. 13 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:03,480 Speaker 1: And I think that's true. Every time close than I 14 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:05,920 Speaker 1: go down to Mount Vernon and we look at that 15 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:08,560 Speaker 1: house he lived in with Martha and we look out 16 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:11,920 Speaker 1: on the Potomac, we realize that he had this sense. 17 00:01:12,959 --> 00:01:17,080 Speaker 1: He loved being a farmer, he loved the land. He 18 00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:20,800 Speaker 1: had a sense of solidness, partly because he was so 19 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:24,160 Speaker 1: big physically. I always tell people that if you played 20 00:01:24,319 --> 00:01:27,280 Speaker 1: Washington in the modern era, you should be basically an 21 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:31,000 Speaker 1: NFL offensive blindman. He was physically so large for a 22 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:33,840 Speaker 1: time when the average man was about five six. He 23 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:36,320 Speaker 1: was also considered the best horseman in the colonies, which is, 24 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:39,120 Speaker 1: if you're that big physically and you're that good a horseman, 25 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:46,440 Speaker 1: he's astonishing. And Washington had this strength, both physical and moral. 26 00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:51,000 Speaker 1: Part of his physical strength just came, I think biologically. 27 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:53,720 Speaker 1: He was just that big. And he worked as a farmer, 28 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:56,800 Speaker 1: He worked as a frontiersman, and he used his body 29 00:01:56,840 --> 00:01:59,320 Speaker 1: his whole life. When he was serving in the legislature, 30 00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:02,920 Speaker 1: people often forget this. Washington was a professional politician. He 31 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:06,040 Speaker 1: ran for office. In fact, there was a very funny story. 32 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:08,600 Speaker 1: He'd been out on the West and thought of himself 33 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:11,160 Speaker 1: as a hero and ran for office the first time. 34 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:15,079 Speaker 1: And in that era, he had a one day election campaign. 35 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:19,160 Speaker 1: Everybody gathered at the polls and the candidates bought alcohol 36 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:25,000 Speaker 1: and got free beer, free wine, free whiskey, and Washington said, no, 37 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:27,639 Speaker 1: I am a military hero, I don't need to buy 38 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:32,040 Speaker 1: anything from and he came in last. The following election, 39 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:34,840 Speaker 1: he bought the largest quantity of alcohol ever bought in 40 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:37,400 Speaker 1: a Virginia election, and he won. People said I you 41 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:40,440 Speaker 1: be and learned to trade here, which also fed Washington's 42 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:44,200 Speaker 1: general pattern many experts have studied his campaigns and said, 43 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:48,000 Speaker 1: he made many mistakes once, but you never finally making 44 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:51,040 Speaker 1: the same mistake twice. So he's down at the House 45 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:53,600 Speaker 1: of Burgesses. And I always recommend to people to go 46 00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:58,480 Speaker 1: to Williamsburg because it is such a remarkable recreation of 47 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:01,160 Speaker 1: that era, and you can go to the taverns and 48 00:03:01,320 --> 00:03:03,960 Speaker 1: Washington went to in the evenings. They didn't have TV, 49 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:06,640 Speaker 1: they didn't have computer games, so they'd sit around playing 50 00:03:06,639 --> 00:03:09,799 Speaker 1: cards and drinking and talking with each other. And it 51 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 1: was a very famous squire named Governor Bird. And Governor 52 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:18,600 Speaker 1: Bird would find some stranger and he said, I'll bet 53 00:03:18,639 --> 00:03:22,360 Speaker 1: you a shilling that George Washington can break a walnut 54 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:26,079 Speaker 1: between his thumb and his first finger. Now I urge 55 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:30,240 Speaker 1: you sometime to try this, because it takes extraordinary strength. 56 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:32,760 Speaker 1: And so he'd go over Washington be playing cards or 57 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:37,960 Speaker 1: telling stories, and he said, Colonel Washington, at this stage 58 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:40,320 Speaker 1: he had become an honorary colonel in the Virginia meddle 59 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:46,360 Speaker 1: with militia, would you mind breaking a walnut? And Washington 60 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:50,640 Speaker 1: would break the walnut. He'd collect the shilling that presumably 61 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:53,640 Speaker 1: bought Washington a drink for the favor, but it was 62 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:56,720 Speaker 1: again a sign of in an age when people value 63 00:03:56,880 --> 00:04:00,840 Speaker 1: being strong physically, Washington was the strongest. But it is 64 00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:04,480 Speaker 1: our show morally strong in the sense, first of all, 65 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:07,640 Speaker 1: you can get from Mount Vernon the rules he wrote 66 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:09,720 Speaker 1: at fourteen years of age, which he had copied out 67 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:12,800 Speaker 1: of several books, and which were rules for being a gentleman. 68 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:18,360 Speaker 1: And he wanted very much to have respect. He wanted 69 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:22,720 Speaker 1: what the Romans had called vertuo, the sense that you 70 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:26,080 Speaker 1: are a virtuous person, not in our modern sense of sin, 71 00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:29,039 Speaker 1: but in the sense that you have served the community. 72 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:31,960 Speaker 1: You are bigger than normal history. You're going to live 73 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:34,440 Speaker 1: on in history as a person who's done his job. 74 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:39,680 Speaker 1: And so Washington wanted to project this sense of authority, 75 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:42,520 Speaker 1: the sense of I am and it said, in fact, 76 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:45,480 Speaker 1: I'm noble in a world where her there's no nobility 77 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:47,640 Speaker 1: in the new world. At that point, it was a 78 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:53,560 Speaker 1: famous story of Washington in Philadelphia, and I think at 79 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:59,159 Speaker 1: the Constitutional Convention and Governor Morris takes a five pound 80 00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:03,000 Speaker 1: bet he can walk over and slap Washington on the shoulder, 81 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:07,320 Speaker 1: and he goes over, he gets close, he gets closer, 82 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:10,680 Speaker 1: Washington turns and looks down on him, because Washington looks 83 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:14,680 Speaker 1: down on everybody except Jefferson, and Morris stands and looks 84 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 1: at him and says, good evening in the general Washington, 85 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:21,159 Speaker 1: he walks back over the eyes. That's your five pounds. 86 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:25,839 Speaker 1: It is physically impossible to touch Washington because he is 87 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:31,520 Speaker 1: projects this almost force field of dignity that you can't penetrate. 88 00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:35,880 Speaker 1: And he used that to enormous effect. Now, ironically, when 89 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:39,440 Speaker 1: he was a general, for example, serving the places that 90 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:42,280 Speaker 1: were pretty desperately valley forged in the winter, he would 91 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:44,839 Speaker 1: go out and throw medicine balls with the troops. He 92 00:05:44,839 --> 00:05:47,359 Speaker 1: would do He's physically very engaged. So it's not that 93 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:50,719 Speaker 1: he was incapable of being close. He loved to dance. 94 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:54,440 Speaker 1: He was capable of being close. But when he decided 95 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:57,920 Speaker 1: that he was aloof, he was a loof beyond anyone 96 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:01,240 Speaker 1: normally being able to deal with them. And that was 97 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:04,440 Speaker 1: very important that he didn't start that way, but he 98 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:08,600 Speaker 1: grew into that person. He started as a relatively poor kid, 99 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:11,840 Speaker 1: went to the Caribbean, got a slight case of smallpox, 100 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:14,279 Speaker 1: which turned out to be really valuable because it meant 101 00:06:14,279 --> 00:06:17,960 Speaker 1: that he was in fact vaccinated. He also was in 102 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:23,000 Speaker 1: a position where he watched life in the Caribbean and 103 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:26,240 Speaker 1: realized he didn't particularly like that life. Came back home. 104 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:30,920 Speaker 1: Was not wealthy. Personally, he's adequately well off, but he 105 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:32,880 Speaker 1: knew he'd have to earn a living, so became a surveyor. 106 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:35,960 Speaker 1: By the time he is nineteen years of age, he 107 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:38,360 Speaker 1: is surveying. In fact, if he had a little Washington, 108 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:41,839 Speaker 1: which is a town that has a remarkable inn called 109 00:06:41,880 --> 00:06:44,960 Speaker 1: the End of Washington, which is a Michelian the first 110 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:49,559 Speaker 1: place to get a Micheline star in America. Washington laid 111 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:52,200 Speaker 1: out the entire town at nineteen years of age. Now 112 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:53,839 Speaker 1: to give you a sense of how the world's different. 113 00:06:53,880 --> 00:06:58,839 Speaker 1: Look at a map Little Virginia and is about seventy 114 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:01,880 Speaker 1: miles west of Washington, at about fifty miles south. That 115 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:06,960 Speaker 1: was the frontier, not Kentucky, not Texas. I mean Western 116 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:10,680 Speaker 1: Virginia was the frontier. And Washington spent a large part 117 00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:13,600 Speaker 1: of his youth in the frontier, first as a surveyor, 118 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:16,480 Speaker 1: where he aren't fairly good money. He also learned something 119 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:21,880 Speaker 1: people tend to forget. Surveyors can look at topography, so 120 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:25,200 Speaker 1: as when he's a general officer later he looks at 121 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:28,600 Speaker 1: a battlefield with a level of technical knowledge that no 122 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:32,120 Speaker 1: other general officer has because he knows how, he knows 123 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:36,000 Speaker 1: the distances, because he's surveyed, he knows the rolling hills, 124 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:38,400 Speaker 1: he knows how to look for gullies, he knows how. 125 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:40,920 Speaker 1: In an age when he didn't have helicopters, he didn't 126 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:43,640 Speaker 1: have tanks, and he didn't have cars, even a small 127 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:45,480 Speaker 1: rise is a big deal if the other guy's got 128 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:48,480 Speaker 1: to come up in because it wears them out and 129 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:52,040 Speaker 1: slows them down. And so he's very good at looking 130 00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:54,680 Speaker 1: at terrain and he learned all this by the time 131 00:07:54,720 --> 00:07:57,080 Speaker 1: he was nineteen to twenty years of age. He's given 132 00:07:57,080 --> 00:07:59,960 Speaker 1: an assignment. He's very precocious. He's very close to the 133 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:03,600 Speaker 1: Fairfax family and they're among the largest landowners in the 134 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:07,280 Speaker 1: colony of Virginia. He gets an assignment to go west. 135 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:09,880 Speaker 1: This is supposed to be a peaceful assignment. The French 136 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:13,480 Speaker 1: have come down from Canada. They have occupied the place 137 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:17,360 Speaker 1: where the Ohio River is formed by two rivers coming 138 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:21,040 Speaker 1: together and where three River Stadium is nowadays. He's given 139 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:23,080 Speaker 1: a letter to take to them that says you got 140 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:26,680 Speaker 1: to get out of here, and the French basically think 141 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:29,600 Speaker 1: you're a nice young guy. We're not getting out of here. 142 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:32,560 Speaker 1: So Washington picks a fight. He's not as he was 143 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:35,200 Speaker 1: not assigned to pick a fight. He's just very pugnaciously, 144 00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:38,319 Speaker 1: very young. And he then ends up at a place 145 00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:42,319 Speaker 1: called Fort Necessity, where they stop. And I've been out 146 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:46,400 Speaker 1: visiting Fort Necessity, which still exists as a national historical monument, 147 00:08:47,040 --> 00:08:50,760 Speaker 1: and this is clearly a sign that he's not applying 148 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:53,280 Speaker 1: his survey or skills, because the fort is in the 149 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:56,200 Speaker 1: bottom of a valley where the other guys up above 150 00:08:56,240 --> 00:08:59,520 Speaker 1: are shooting down at you. Furthermore, they have huge rain, 151 00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:03,760 Speaker 1: the place gets totally wet, their powder gets wet. They 152 00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:07,000 Speaker 1: have no choice except the surrender. Very fortunate for America 153 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:09,800 Speaker 1: he wasn't killed. I mean, at that point, the French 154 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:12,640 Speaker 1: and Indians, who are their allies, are really pissed off 155 00:09:12,640 --> 00:09:15,520 Speaker 1: at Washington, and here's this young guy out here picking 156 00:09:15,559 --> 00:09:19,439 Speaker 1: a fight. And you can literally argue that the Seven 157 00:09:19,520 --> 00:09:21,920 Speaker 1: Years War, which we call the French Indian War, the 158 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:25,200 Speaker 1: Seven Years War, which is a global war in India. 159 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:27,880 Speaker 1: He goes in Europe, it's in North America, it's in 160 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:32,079 Speaker 1: the Caribbean. It's started by George Washington, who just picks 161 00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:34,840 Speaker 1: this fight, and the fight starts going down. The Washington 162 00:09:34,880 --> 00:09:38,120 Speaker 1: comes back home. Imagine this the early twenties, your first 163 00:09:38,120 --> 00:09:40,360 Speaker 1: big assignment. It's a total mess. So what does he do. 164 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:43,760 Speaker 1: He writes a pamphlet. He says, I was really right. 165 00:09:43,800 --> 00:09:45,559 Speaker 1: I did exactly the right thing, the only thing you 166 00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:47,480 Speaker 1: could have done, and none of it was my fault. 167 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:49,800 Speaker 1: And I'm really proud of the well I played well. 168 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:51,880 Speaker 1: The average person doesn't know anything all what's going on. 169 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:55,240 Speaker 1: There's no television, there's no live coverage from Fort Necessity, 170 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:59,119 Speaker 1: and so the only explanation of what happened is Washington's 171 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:03,280 Speaker 1: copies of it get to London, and he's now a persona, 172 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:07,520 Speaker 1: He's a real person. So along comes the British. Finally 173 00:10:07,559 --> 00:10:09,400 Speaker 1: said okay, this is going to be real war. We 174 00:10:09,520 --> 00:10:12,840 Speaker 1: got to get engaged. They send an army and Washington 175 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:15,319 Speaker 1: gets some of his first basic lessons. And this is 176 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:20,199 Speaker 1: selling people often forget Washington learned a lot about war 177 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:23,560 Speaker 1: by being at war. He didn't learn about war by 178 00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:29,800 Speaker 1: reading theoretical works. And so they need a colonial advisor. Now, 179 00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:35,000 Speaker 1: the British aristocracy was totally contemptuous to the colonials. And 180 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:37,800 Speaker 1: I thought they were basically stupid and lazy and cowardly, 181 00:10:37,920 --> 00:10:41,120 Speaker 1: and furthermore, they want British aristocrats. They were also contemptuous 182 00:10:41,320 --> 00:10:44,440 Speaker 1: of British soldiers, and there contemptuous of Heshman mercenaries because 183 00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:48,600 Speaker 1: they're British aristocrats. So Washington is a signed and he 184 00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:51,160 Speaker 1: has some advice for him. He says, it is not 185 00:10:51,320 --> 00:10:53,200 Speaker 1: helpful to march down the middle of the road in 186 00:10:53,240 --> 00:10:56,959 Speaker 1: red outfits because the other side will cheat and they 187 00:10:56,960 --> 00:10:59,640 Speaker 1: will fire from behind trees and you're going to get killed. 188 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:03,679 Speaker 1: And General Braddock explains to them, you obviously don't understand 189 00:11:04,559 --> 00:11:08,520 Speaker 1: European warfare, but just relax. They actually leave. If you 190 00:11:08,559 --> 00:11:11,160 Speaker 1: go to the Army War College at Carlisle, you can 191 00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:14,079 Speaker 1: see the post from which they left, and they might 192 00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:16,840 Speaker 1: again remember the Carlile, Pennsylvania, which is next to Harrisburg, 193 00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:20,640 Speaker 1: is the beginning of the frontier. So they're now marching 194 00:11:20,679 --> 00:11:25,080 Speaker 1: through the Pennsylvania forest and surprise, surprise, they get attacked 195 00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:29,480 Speaker 1: by people who are cheating. They're wearing outfits that blend 196 00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:32,280 Speaker 1: into the forest, and the French are not wearing the 197 00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:36,199 Speaker 1: normal white French uniforms, which they do when they're informal warfare, 198 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:38,720 Speaker 1: but when they're fighting in the woods, they're wearing stuff 199 00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:41,000 Speaker 1: that fits the woods. The Indians, of course, have no 200 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:44,720 Speaker 1: uniforms anyway, and so the combined French and Indian force attacks. 201 00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:49,240 Speaker 1: Braddock has killed almost immediately. The British force is disintegrating. 202 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:52,720 Speaker 1: I mean, they're confused, they're scared, they've lost the commander. 203 00:11:53,280 --> 00:11:56,800 Speaker 1: And the one guy who's on the tallest horse is Washington, 204 00:11:57,760 --> 00:12:00,560 Speaker 1: and so Washington starts to rally them, get them organized, 205 00:12:00,559 --> 00:12:02,600 Speaker 1: get them the hell out of the way, because they're 206 00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:05,400 Speaker 1: in real danger of being a massacred. Washington, in that 207 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:09,079 Speaker 1: fight has four bullet holes in his coat and has 208 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:11,600 Speaker 1: two horses shot out from He reached his brother the 209 00:12:11,640 --> 00:12:14,319 Speaker 1: next day that God must have really been protecting him, 210 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:16,719 Speaker 1: because at some point one of those bulls should have 211 00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:19,040 Speaker 1: hit him and it was lucky. And then he began 212 00:12:19,160 --> 00:12:22,040 Speaker 1: insists on being up on these horses, which is important 213 00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:24,480 Speaker 1: for his men's morale because they can see they at 214 00:12:24,559 --> 00:12:26,720 Speaker 1: least have a leader, even if his a colonial, But 215 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:28,840 Speaker 1: at the same time it sort of makes your target. 216 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:32,320 Speaker 1: About a decade later, he runs into an Indian chieftain 217 00:12:32,360 --> 00:12:35,240 Speaker 1: of a tribal council and the chieftain says, God must 218 00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:37,400 Speaker 1: have some big role for you, because I personally shot 219 00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:40,040 Speaker 1: at you thirteen times. He said, all of us are 220 00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:42,240 Speaker 1: trying to kill you because he were so obvious, and 221 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:46,840 Speaker 1: we just couldn't hitch you. That's important later because Washington, 222 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:49,920 Speaker 1: after that fight, in his own mind as a man 223 00:12:49,960 --> 00:13:10,439 Speaker 1: of destiny. So he goes back home, marries a very 224 00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:15,640 Speaker 1: wealthy widow who brings him Mount Vernon and I think 225 00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:18,920 Speaker 1: a genuine love match. She has two children. They never 226 00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:21,920 Speaker 1: have children on their own. Washington raises the children as 227 00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:24,840 Speaker 1: his own, and he and Martha entertainment. This is one 228 00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:29,559 Speaker 1: of the things to remember Colonial Virginia. If you were 229 00:13:29,559 --> 00:13:34,240 Speaker 1: reasonably wealthy in Washington. In Land was the wealthiest columnist, 230 00:13:34,800 --> 00:13:38,120 Speaker 1: not as wealthy as the Fairfaxes. But the Fairfaxes eventually 231 00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:40,840 Speaker 1: leave during the Revolution, at which point he becomes the 232 00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:44,440 Speaker 1: wealthiest person in America in Land, not in money. But 233 00:13:44,559 --> 00:13:47,160 Speaker 1: you always entertain. If you look at if you to 234 00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:49,360 Speaker 1: Mount Vernon and you look at the register of who 235 00:13:49,440 --> 00:13:53,640 Speaker 1: comes by, there are always people coming to visit. I mean, 236 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:58,560 Speaker 1: at one point later in his life, James Madison comes 237 00:13:58,559 --> 00:14:01,760 Speaker 1: over and spends I think six weeks living with Washington 238 00:14:01,840 --> 00:14:06,079 Speaker 1: writing arguing and writing about the Constitution, and just used 239 00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:09,960 Speaker 1: to this. This is their life. Washington regularly will ride 240 00:14:10,040 --> 00:14:13,040 Speaker 1: up to Alexandria, and if you want to, you can 241 00:14:13,080 --> 00:14:16,680 Speaker 1: go to Gatsby's Tavern, which still exists, which was the 242 00:14:16,760 --> 00:14:20,400 Speaker 1: site of Washington's birthday parties, and he would they'd all 243 00:14:20,440 --> 00:14:22,400 Speaker 1: ride up together and have a great party and have 244 00:14:22,440 --> 00:14:25,720 Speaker 1: a few drinks. Intended to party during the daytime so 245 00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:30,480 Speaker 1: they could get home around dark. But this was all real. 246 00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:32,280 Speaker 1: It was a social life, it was a nice life. 247 00:14:32,360 --> 00:14:35,000 Speaker 1: And Washington's faced with the same problem as every other American, 248 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:40,840 Speaker 1: which is you are trying to have a cash based 249 00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:44,520 Speaker 1: economy with no cash and you're dealing with British merchants 250 00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:47,400 Speaker 1: who are constantly cheating you, cheating you in the sense 251 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:49,200 Speaker 1: that they want to pay you less for what you 252 00:14:49,280 --> 00:14:51,720 Speaker 1: sell and charge you more for what they sell. So 253 00:14:51,840 --> 00:14:55,600 Speaker 1: you're always juggling this very tight financial burden and you're 254 00:14:55,600 --> 00:15:00,400 Speaker 1: not particularly happy with the British. And Washington is serving 255 00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:03,440 Speaker 1: in public life as a legislator, but mostly he's a 256 00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:07,560 Speaker 1: farmer and a gentleman who is nice to people who 257 00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:10,840 Speaker 1: come wandering through. And then the British decide that they're 258 00:15:10,840 --> 00:15:13,120 Speaker 1: going to pay for the debt coming out of the 259 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:16,800 Speaker 1: Seven Years War by raising taxes on the Americans, and 260 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:20,560 Speaker 1: their rationale is not crazy. The rationale is, look, we 261 00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:22,920 Speaker 1: saved you from the French, we saved you from the Indians. 262 00:15:23,160 --> 00:15:27,360 Speaker 1: Things are relatively safe. You ought to pay your fair share. Now. 263 00:15:27,480 --> 00:15:30,080 Speaker 1: The American attitude is very different. The American attitude is, 264 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:33,160 Speaker 1: you know, it's not our fault that you're a profigate 265 00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:35,440 Speaker 1: government in London and that you waste all your money 266 00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:38,360 Speaker 1: and that you're surrounded by corruption, and no, we're not 267 00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:40,960 Speaker 1: going to pay anything. We're happy to have you around. 268 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:43,240 Speaker 1: But frankly, since we no longer have any threat from 269 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:45,800 Speaker 1: the French, why do we need you? And so you 270 00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:48,920 Speaker 1: have this weird moment where the British think the generosity 271 00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:51,200 Speaker 1: is going to leave the Americans out of gratitude. Do 272 00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:53,560 Speaker 1: you want to pay taxes? And the Americans are saying no, 273 00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:56,080 Speaker 1: the very fact that you won means we don't need you. 274 00:15:56,640 --> 00:15:59,320 Speaker 1: And Washington's in the faction. That's fine. You know, I 275 00:15:59,320 --> 00:16:01,200 Speaker 1: don't think I want to pay any Texas. I mean, 276 00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:03,720 Speaker 1: I don't like those guys anyway. They always trying to 277 00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:06,120 Speaker 1: cheat me. He's not a fire Brown. He's not out 278 00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:09,240 Speaker 1: there saying let's rebel, let's do some but he's clearly 279 00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:14,520 Speaker 1: in the group around Patrick Henry and others who want 280 00:16:14,560 --> 00:16:17,040 Speaker 1: to stand up to the English. And then, of course 281 00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:20,720 Speaker 1: you end up with a series of events. Again thinking 282 00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:24,640 Speaker 1: yourself as a planter sitting on the Potomac River having 283 00:16:24,680 --> 00:16:28,200 Speaker 1: a nice life. You're not connected by cable TV, you're 284 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:31,240 Speaker 1: not connected by internet. You know, you don't get any 285 00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:34,640 Speaker 1: text messages. You occasionally read things, and so one day 286 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:37,320 Speaker 1: you read or you hear from somebody who's riding through 287 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:41,400 Speaker 1: spending the night that there was the massacre in Boston 288 00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:45,240 Speaker 1: and the British, the British troops had shot Americans who 289 00:16:45,280 --> 00:16:49,240 Speaker 1: were protesting. Well, you sort of start thinking about that, 290 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:53,560 Speaker 1: could that happen here? Could it happen at Williamsburg? Do 291 00:16:53,640 --> 00:16:55,360 Speaker 1: I feel a little pissed off that the British are 292 00:16:55,400 --> 00:17:01,080 Speaker 1: shooting Americans? And the alienation starts to build, and a 293 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:05,200 Speaker 1: call goes out to come to Philadelphia and let's talk 294 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:08,000 Speaker 1: about how bad this is getting. When the British decide 295 00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:10,720 Speaker 1: to impose taxes that the Americans really get mad about, 296 00:17:11,280 --> 00:17:16,600 Speaker 1: a particularly tax on tea, which leads to the Bostonians 297 00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:20,080 Speaker 1: dressing up as Indians and having a tea party, throwing 298 00:17:20,119 --> 00:17:23,720 Speaker 1: all the Indian East Indian Company tea into the river. 299 00:17:23,920 --> 00:17:27,000 Speaker 1: And ironically, the British thought they were being clever because 300 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:29,960 Speaker 1: they actually had organized it so that the price of 301 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:33,840 Speaker 1: tea would be less under the new rules, even though 302 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:37,400 Speaker 1: you paid taxes and the Americans got none. No, it's 303 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:40,960 Speaker 1: the principle, we don't care that it's cheaper. We care 304 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:43,280 Speaker 1: that part of the money goes to you, and we're 305 00:17:43,320 --> 00:17:46,360 Speaker 1: not going to pay your money. And so they're cheerfully 306 00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:48,960 Speaker 1: throwing all of these bales of tea, which are very valuable, 307 00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:52,920 Speaker 1: into the Boston harbor, which really makes the British pretty mad. 308 00:17:53,359 --> 00:17:55,280 Speaker 1: And so the British decided that they're going to close 309 00:17:55,320 --> 00:17:59,040 Speaker 1: down on Boston and ultimately isolate the city of Boston 310 00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:01,960 Speaker 1: to punish it, in the theory that that will then 311 00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:05,080 Speaker 1: scare the rest of the Americans into being obedient. But 312 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:07,720 Speaker 1: what it really does is just makes him angry. So 313 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:11,040 Speaker 1: the call goes out, they meet and what is called 314 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:13,960 Speaker 1: the Continental Congress, which is a huge breakthrough. I mean, 315 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:17,760 Speaker 1: these people hadn't thought of themselves as Americans. They were Virginians, 316 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:23,040 Speaker 1: they were Georgians. They were Massachusetts. They spoke very different 317 00:18:23,080 --> 00:18:25,640 Speaker 1: dialects in the sense of the tone of their language, 318 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:29,320 Speaker 1: the patterns they ate differently, and they hadn't really begun 319 00:18:29,359 --> 00:18:33,119 Speaker 1: to identify that they were Americans. And now they have 320 00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:35,320 Speaker 1: this problem. And Washington's one of the people who is 321 00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:38,760 Speaker 1: drifting towards being more and more alienated and more and 322 00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:41,560 Speaker 1: more angry, and he's ultimately affected, I think in part 323 00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:46,200 Speaker 1: by Benjamin Franklin. Franklin is a world class scientist recognized 324 00:18:46,240 --> 00:18:49,600 Speaker 1: all over the world. He is a very successful businessman 325 00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:53,000 Speaker 1: who makes enough money by forty to sell his businesses 326 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:56,679 Speaker 1: and devote himself to public life. He writes for Richard's 327 00:18:56,680 --> 00:19:00,440 Speaker 1: Almanac every year and is very widely known as the 328 00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:05,760 Speaker 1: first postmaster General of the colonies, and therefore has connections 329 00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:07,920 Speaker 1: at all of the colonies because he handles the mail. 330 00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:11,560 Speaker 1: And he is sent by the Colony of Pennsylvania to 331 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:15,480 Speaker 1: London to plead with the British and to basically say, look, 332 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:18,960 Speaker 1: there's some things we need solved, and we can be nice. 333 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:23,800 Speaker 1: He spends about seven or eight years in London, and 334 00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:29,520 Speaker 1: he ends up suddenly realizing they'll never accept it. They're aristocrats, 335 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:32,360 Speaker 1: he's not an aristocrat, even though he's a world famous scientist, 336 00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:36,480 Speaker 1: even though he's wealthier than some of the aristocrats. There'll 337 00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:41,000 Speaker 1: never be anything in British society. And it just totally 338 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:45,119 Speaker 1: infuriates And somebody once wrote that he left America as 339 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:49,000 Speaker 1: an Englishman and he returned as an American, and so 340 00:19:49,119 --> 00:19:53,040 Speaker 1: his spirit mean he's very widely respected. People like Washington 341 00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:55,560 Speaker 1: look to him and say, you know, you've been there, 342 00:19:55,640 --> 00:19:59,280 Speaker 1: you've lived there, what do you think And he's basically saying, 343 00:19:59,480 --> 00:20:01,760 Speaker 1: I don't think have any choice. These people are never 344 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:05,200 Speaker 1: going to treat us fairly. They think they were servants. 345 00:20:05,880 --> 00:20:09,560 Speaker 1: And so the spirit begins to build, and the British 346 00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:12,760 Speaker 1: begins sending troops to Boston because they're determined to crush 347 00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:15,159 Speaker 1: the spirit of resistance, and they think that if they 348 00:20:15,160 --> 00:20:19,720 Speaker 1: can break Boston that that will symbolically shift the whole country. Now, 349 00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:23,480 Speaker 1: one of the myths about Washington is that he's sort 350 00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:28,600 Speaker 1: of self effacing, that he's this guy who really wasn't ambitious. 351 00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:30,800 Speaker 1: But I've always saw one of the most telling things 352 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:33,760 Speaker 1: in the Continental Congress, there is only one person wearing 353 00:20:33,760 --> 00:20:37,760 Speaker 1: a military uniform. He's also the one of the two 354 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:40,920 Speaker 1: biggest people of jeffsoning the other Jeffers in thin but tall, 355 00:20:41,080 --> 00:20:44,480 Speaker 1: very call that Washington is big. I say, this huge 356 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:48,000 Speaker 1: guy walking around in the uniform of a Virginia militia 357 00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:52,960 Speaker 1: and saying to everybody, of course, I wouldn't want to 358 00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:56,159 Speaker 1: go to Boston. I don't want you to think I'm 359 00:20:56,200 --> 00:20:59,320 Speaker 1: a military man just because I'm standing here in my uniform. 360 00:20:59,600 --> 00:21:01,640 Speaker 1: But I just seen him was the appropriate thing to wear. 361 00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:04,960 Speaker 1: And gradually they all look round and he's thinking, Aha, 362 00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:09,000 Speaker 1: because they have a problem politically. They need a Southerner 363 00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:13,800 Speaker 1: to go to Boston because they need to unify the columns. 364 00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:17,640 Speaker 1: They can't appoint a Bostonian or a New Hampshire Rite 365 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:20,399 Speaker 1: to be commander of the army because they'll have no 366 00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:24,080 Speaker 1: linkage to New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Virginia is the 367 00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:27,760 Speaker 1: biggest colony in wealth and population at that point, so 368 00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:32,439 Speaker 1: they could turn to Washington. He says, with great reluctance, 369 00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:35,840 Speaker 1: I will accept this burden, although I fear that I 370 00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:39,880 Speaker 1: will be inadequate and probably will fail. But as long 371 00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:43,840 Speaker 1: as you recognize that I'm only doing this because you 372 00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:47,680 Speaker 1: wanted me to, I will go to Boston and I 373 00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:50,280 Speaker 1: think it's hard for us to realize, you're this guy 374 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:55,199 Speaker 1: who's in many ways an aristocrat. He's very wealthy. You know, 375 00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:57,879 Speaker 1: he rides a horse very well in a style of 376 00:21:57,920 --> 00:21:59,800 Speaker 1: the wrist. If you're a farmer, you don't ride a 377 00:21:59,840 --> 00:22:02,399 Speaker 1: hole the way George Washington does. He rode to the 378 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:05,200 Speaker 1: Foxes and he shows up, and you have to think 379 00:22:05,240 --> 00:22:09,760 Speaker 1: about this. You have a new England Army and this 380 00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:12,680 Speaker 1: weird guy shows up from Virginia, speaking in a slightly 381 00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:16,199 Speaker 1: strange English and with an attitude of being sort of 382 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:20,720 Speaker 1: a little austere and little, you know, And he's got 383 00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:23,520 Speaker 1: to really think about this because he realizes he's gott 384 00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:25,760 Speaker 1: to find a way to get all these wonders to 385 00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:29,879 Speaker 1: follow him or he's got a problem. And so he 386 00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:32,040 Speaker 1: really works at it, and he spends a lot of 387 00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:35,439 Speaker 1: time with the troops. And again, I think there's an 388 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:40,000 Speaker 1: advantage that we underestimate. If you imagine this as a 389 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:43,400 Speaker 1: movie scene, you'd have this, as I said, a guy 390 00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:45,560 Speaker 1: in the modern era who's the size of an NFL 391 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:50,720 Speaker 1: offensive lineman. He's walking around the camp. Well, it's pretty 392 00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:53,600 Speaker 1: obvious when he walks around the camp because he towers 393 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:58,120 Speaker 1: over everybody. He's also the strongest guy in the army. Well, 394 00:22:58,119 --> 00:23:01,000 Speaker 1: that gives them a certain sense of immediate acceptance that 395 00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:04,440 Speaker 1: he should be the leader. And he designs a very 396 00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:08,320 Speaker 1: intelligent strategy and they move the cannon in a position 397 00:23:08,359 --> 00:23:11,480 Speaker 1: where the British have to flee. And so Washington, in 398 00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:13,119 Speaker 1: a matter of a couple of months has driven the 399 00:23:13,119 --> 00:23:17,560 Speaker 1: British out of Boston, which is an enormous achievement. And 400 00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:21,200 Speaker 1: at that point you can imagine everybody's excited, everybody's positive, 401 00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:25,040 Speaker 1: and there's a problem because of the British had a 402 00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:29,439 Speaker 1: navy and they're not leaving. They just left Boston. They 403 00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:32,440 Speaker 1: went to Canada to regroup, and they're probably going to 404 00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:34,399 Speaker 1: come back to New York, which is many ways the 405 00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:38,600 Speaker 1: key town for the whole war is it's a big port. 406 00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:41,880 Speaker 1: It leaks that if you can break New York, then 407 00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:44,040 Speaker 1: you cut off New England from the rest of the country. 408 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:48,040 Speaker 1: So Washington takes his army and marches to New York, 409 00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:52,360 Speaker 1: and they feel him pretty good about themselves, and in 410 00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:56,760 Speaker 1: his first grade outing, he's been very successful and he 411 00:23:56,880 --> 00:24:02,400 Speaker 1: has the definition independence read there everybody, and they're all 412 00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:06,560 Speaker 1: pumped up, and they have a real problem it's not 413 00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:09,959 Speaker 1: a very good army, they're not trained very well, they 414 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:12,919 Speaker 1: don't have very good equipment, and they're up against the 415 00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:17,000 Speaker 1: best starving in the world and the British land and 416 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:21,200 Speaker 1: just knock them all over the place, Capture a bunch 417 00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:23,520 Speaker 1: of them, kill a bunch of them, and they're in 418 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:27,160 Speaker 1: real danger of being annihilated. And one of those miracles 419 00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:30,280 Speaker 1: of Washington refers to and when he has said later 420 00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:34,719 Speaker 1: in life that anybody who thinks that God wasn't watching 421 00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:40,720 Speaker 1: over us he used the word providence misunderstands how it happened. 422 00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:45,720 Speaker 1: Because what happens is the Gloucester fishermen common say, look, 423 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:48,840 Speaker 1: we can we can get the army across and get 424 00:24:48,840 --> 00:24:52,200 Speaker 1: you out of Brooklyn before you're annihilated. If we go 425 00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:55,680 Speaker 1: at night and the Royal Navy probably won't see us, 426 00:24:56,200 --> 00:24:59,320 Speaker 1: and we'll get certainly a large part of you across. Well, 427 00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:02,280 Speaker 1: the night that I had to do this, a huge 428 00:25:02,359 --> 00:25:07,520 Speaker 1: fog grows in and the British can't see anything. And 429 00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:10,880 Speaker 1: so Washington's getting these troops and he goes last. He's 430 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:13,520 Speaker 1: getting all these troops in these boats. They're rowing across 431 00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:17,760 Speaker 1: to Manhattan, but they've been beaten there's no question. They 432 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:20,000 Speaker 1: just they just ran head out into the British and lost. 433 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:25,840 Speaker 1: They get into Manhattan, well they're this huge problem. One 434 00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:30,600 Speaker 1: British man of war has more artillery than the entire 435 00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:34,120 Speaker 1: American army has at any point in the govern These 436 00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:37,600 Speaker 1: are big ships, the equivalent of modern naval aircraft. Payers 437 00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:41,440 Speaker 1: they're powerful, and if you're close to the water, they're 438 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:44,879 Speaker 1: going to just knock you about with artillery. And so 439 00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:49,040 Speaker 1: they're driven out of Manhattan where they losing it. And 440 00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:53,439 Speaker 1: at one point General Green of Rhode Island has probably 441 00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:56,320 Speaker 1: his best general, has this clever idea. We're going to 442 00:25:56,400 --> 00:25:59,399 Speaker 1: name this fort Fort Washington, and the moral effect of 443 00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:04,400 Speaker 1: defending Fort Washington, three thousand men will stand firm well 444 00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:08,399 Speaker 1: for Washington falls because in fact they're not capable of 445 00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:13,240 Speaker 1: fighting verision. So Washington suggests agree that in the future 446 00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:17,000 Speaker 1: they should probably not try gimmicks, and he flees across 447 00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:19,919 Speaker 1: to White Plains, and then he flees across into New Jersey, 448 00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:25,200 Speaker 1: and a week by week he gets smaller, tirer, more defeated. Washington, 449 00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:29,120 Speaker 1: who's a very smart guy about people, in a way 450 00:26:29,119 --> 00:26:32,639 Speaker 1: that you wouldn't expect given his austerity. Washington knows that 451 00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:36,920 Speaker 1: Thomas Paine has written tremendously important pamphlet on the revolution 452 00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:42,080 Speaker 1: and probably the best selling pamphlet describing the revolution, and 453 00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:43,879 Speaker 1: so he goes to him and he says, look, you 454 00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:47,479 Speaker 1: wrote that when everything was great in the summer. Now 455 00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:49,840 Speaker 1: we got a problem because all of us thought we 456 00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:52,960 Speaker 1: were going to win easily, and now we're getting beat 457 00:26:53,119 --> 00:26:57,200 Speaker 1: and I need a new pamphlet, and so said, I 458 00:26:57,200 --> 00:26:59,160 Speaker 1: don't need you to be a rifle. And Pain's actually 459 00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:01,960 Speaker 1: in the army and he says, you'd ridden common sense. 460 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:05,800 Speaker 1: It's the most widely read explanation of the revolution, and 461 00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:09,040 Speaker 1: he says, go to Philadelphia and write, explain to us 462 00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:14,240 Speaker 1: what we're living through. And so Pain writes the Crisis, 463 00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:21,320 Speaker 1: which begins these are the times the trimensuls and people 464 00:27:21,359 --> 00:27:24,040 Speaker 1: read it and they sudden go, oh, yeah, this is 465 00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:28,239 Speaker 1: what I'm living through. And Pain basically says, look, you know, 466 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:30,360 Speaker 1: hell is going to grab on to you as long 467 00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:32,359 Speaker 1: as it can, and it's not going to be easy 468 00:27:32,359 --> 00:27:35,080 Speaker 1: to beat, and you've got to be and he compares 469 00:27:35,119 --> 00:27:37,600 Speaker 1: basically fighting the British to trying to fight your way 470 00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:41,640 Speaker 1: out of hell. And people read it and they go, look, okay, 471 00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:43,560 Speaker 1: it's not going to be easy. It's not going to 472 00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:47,240 Speaker 1: be this week. So Washington ends up at Christmas Day. 473 00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:52,359 Speaker 1: The week before Christmas, he's dropped from thirty thousand men 474 00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:58,600 Speaker 1: to five thousand. Of the five thousand twenty five hundred 475 00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:02,720 Speaker 1: or sick, so he's actually got twenty five hundred effecties. 476 00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:06,520 Speaker 1: Of the twenty five hundred effectives, one third do not 477 00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:10,600 Speaker 1: have boots and are actually marching in burlet bags, leaving 478 00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:14,200 Speaker 1: a trail of blood. So Washington is sitting here twenty 479 00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:17,840 Speaker 1: five hundred men left. Across the river in New Jersey, 480 00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:21,520 Speaker 1: Washington's and Pennsylvania cross the river in New Jersey is 481 00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:25,080 Speaker 1: the British Army, and Washington brings all of his generalism 482 00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:29,520 Speaker 1: and says, we have a really big problem. We don't 483 00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:33,800 Speaker 1: win a victory. Most of our men actually expire in 484 00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:39,360 Speaker 1: their enlistment sometime in January. If they don't have some 485 00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:43,920 Speaker 1: reason to stay, we will have no army left. So 486 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:49,040 Speaker 1: we have to win something. So I propose, let's cross 487 00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:53,080 Speaker 1: the Delaware at night during a snowstorm in the ice, 488 00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:59,080 Speaker 1: march eleven miles to Treadden. Surprise, the British Army, actually 489 00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:04,880 Speaker 1: the Hessian who were there, who were paid mercenaries, which 490 00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:09,000 Speaker 1: is an honorable job back then, and then we'll have 491 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:11,040 Speaker 1: won a great victory and then people will be excited 492 00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:13,920 Speaker 1: and be Okay. Every one of his generals looks at 493 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:18,400 Speaker 1: him like he's insane, and they go, we've been losing 494 00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:23,240 Speaker 1: now since September. We've shrunk down from thirty to twenty five. 495 00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:28,120 Speaker 1: And Washington has a plan which has three units that 496 00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:30,280 Speaker 1: are going to cross the river at three different places 497 00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:33,560 Speaker 1: in the coordinated attack, which even a first class professional 498 00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:36,320 Speaker 1: army would have had a hard time doing. And they're 499 00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:39,640 Speaker 1: just staring at it. And it's really important at this 500 00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:46,000 Speaker 1: point to go back and think about Washington in the ambush, 501 00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:48,440 Speaker 1: because he's sitting there as a guy who's had two 502 00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:50,760 Speaker 1: horses shot out from under him and four bullet holes, 503 00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:53,440 Speaker 1: and he's thinking, you got to take risks. You know, 504 00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:56,040 Speaker 1: there are all guys who hadn't had that experience, and 505 00:29:56,040 --> 00:29:57,880 Speaker 1: they're going, I don't want to take are you crazy? 506 00:29:58,080 --> 00:29:59,920 Speaker 1: I don't want to take this risk. And then he 507 00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:04,080 Speaker 1: has the winning argument. He says, look, this army disappears. 508 00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:09,920 Speaker 1: The revolution's over. The revolution's over. We're all going to 509 00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:16,200 Speaker 1: be hung, so you don't have anything to rest so 510 00:30:16,240 --> 00:30:19,040 Speaker 1: we might as well try to run, because at least 511 00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:22,040 Speaker 1: that way we have a shot. So they cross over, 512 00:30:22,120 --> 00:30:26,400 Speaker 1: and interestingly he has the officers who can read, reading 513 00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:29,800 Speaker 1: pains the crisis to the troops as they get in 514 00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:33,720 Speaker 1: the boats. Again, this is not this is a very 515 00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:37,720 Speaker 1: subtle man. He's got to get the morale up and 516 00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:41,320 Speaker 1: the instry line. Malzi Dunelan said all power comes out 517 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:44,920 Speaker 1: of the end of a rifle, and somebody corrected it 518 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:47,600 Speaker 1: and said, no, all power comes from the person who's 519 00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:52,200 Speaker 1: willing to shoot the road man. It's exactly right. You've 520 00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:55,000 Speaker 1: got to keep morale up. So he takes his twenty 521 00:30:55,080 --> 00:30:59,400 Speaker 1: five hundred men and then, in a situation which can 522 00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:03,600 Speaker 1: only a discuss as a miracle, they cross over. There's 523 00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:08,120 Speaker 1: this huge snowstorm coming from the north, which means it's 524 00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:10,400 Speaker 1: coming to their back, but it's coming to the face 525 00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:16,960 Speaker 1: of the Hessian troops. The Hessians run into a small 526 00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:19,960 Speaker 1: Virginia unit which is often its own without any authority, 527 00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:22,400 Speaker 1: which arouses them about two or three in the morning. 528 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:25,160 Speaker 1: They jump up with the standed arms. They're all getting 529 00:31:25,160 --> 00:31:28,240 Speaker 1: cold and wet, and this small unit takes off. Washington 530 00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:31,280 Speaker 1: runs into this unit and thinks they've ruined the chance 531 00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:34,520 Speaker 1: of success. The Hessians are going to be awake, probably 532 00:31:34,520 --> 00:31:37,880 Speaker 1: going to get slaughtered about what the hell with no choice. Well, 533 00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:41,000 Speaker 1: just the opposite happened. The Hessians stand outside for about 534 00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:44,120 Speaker 1: an hour, they get totally soaked. They realize that this 535 00:31:44,280 --> 00:31:46,800 Speaker 1: was just a griller unit that was wandering through. They 536 00:31:46,840 --> 00:31:49,080 Speaker 1: all go to bed. It's not that the Hessians were drunk. 537 00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:51,200 Speaker 1: The Hessians were in the middle of a snowstorm. Now 538 00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:54,600 Speaker 1: here's the key thing to remember. In Europe, there are 539 00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:59,680 Speaker 1: no real battles fought in winter. I think seventeen sixty 540 00:31:59,760 --> 00:32:04,040 Speaker 1: seven to nineteen forty four, the German army never launches 541 00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:07,800 Speaker 1: a winter offenses. Fredericks create launches the last one I 542 00:32:07,840 --> 00:32:10,800 Speaker 1: think it's in seventy sixty seven, and then the Battle 543 00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:15,040 Speaker 1: of Belgian forty four because winter is hard. I mean 544 00:32:15,120 --> 00:32:18,920 Speaker 1: it's cold and it's miserable. Americans deer hunt in the winter. 545 00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:22,880 Speaker 1: Americans are all in the woods in the winter. So 546 00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:25,760 Speaker 1: the Americans are gone, Oh we had a snowstone. Okay, 547 00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:28,000 Speaker 1: the Hessions are gone. We got a snowstone. Let's stay 548 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:30,800 Speaker 1: in the house. Because no rational European army would be 549 00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:35,560 Speaker 1: out in the snowstone, so they're safe. Well, they wake 550 00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:37,920 Speaker 1: up in the morning and Trenton back then is a 551 00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:41,960 Speaker 1: very small town and has just two streets, and so 552 00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:44,720 Speaker 1: if you put cannon at the end of the two streets, 553 00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:48,240 Speaker 1: you control the town. And the Hessians are all in 554 00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:51,840 Speaker 1: these little houses and they can't get out of them, 555 00:32:52,120 --> 00:32:56,080 Speaker 1: and they finally get a semi organized Washington captures eight 556 00:32:56,200 --> 00:33:00,560 Speaker 1: hundred first class professional soldiers for the Loss of America 557 00:33:01,760 --> 00:33:04,600 Speaker 1: and then does a very intelligent thing. They run like 558 00:33:04,720 --> 00:33:09,200 Speaker 1: hell because the British army's coming, and they get across 559 00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:12,880 Speaker 1: the river before the British can get there. Now victory 560 00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:15,960 Speaker 1: really matters. They go from twenty five hundred effectives within 561 00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:19,320 Speaker 1: two weeks to fifteen thousand because people, this is cool, 562 00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:23,200 Speaker 1: we're winning. Same the fact that as a football you know, 563 00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:24,960 Speaker 1: people like to go to the game where they win. 564 00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:27,080 Speaker 1: So they show up and Washington now has enough troops 565 00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:29,520 Speaker 1: to go back across the river. And one of the 566 00:33:29,560 --> 00:33:34,440 Speaker 1: most important examples of Washington system, they get to trent 567 00:33:35,320 --> 00:33:38,120 Speaker 1: this time corn Wallace and the British are ready. They 568 00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:44,080 Speaker 1: are charging down the road from Princeton. Washington calls a 569 00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:47,000 Speaker 1: council of War and in the Council of War. There 570 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:52,000 Speaker 1: are two farmers, and I always said, I'm teaching military courses. 571 00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:55,160 Speaker 1: I always say that the officers, why do you think 572 00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:57,880 Speaker 1: there are two farmers? Because they are the only two 573 00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:01,320 Speaker 1: people who knew the territory. So the British would never 574 00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:04,240 Speaker 1: have done this because as an aristocrat, you don't listen 575 00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:07,440 Speaker 1: to farmers. They haven't had military training. They only have 576 00:34:07,440 --> 00:34:10,400 Speaker 1: one great advantage, they actually know the neighborhood. Well, it 577 00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:13,680 Speaker 1: turns out that there is a sunken road on the 578 00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:17,680 Speaker 1: south side of Trenton. He goes from Trenton to Princeton 579 00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:20,680 Speaker 1: that you cannot see if you're on the northern road 580 00:34:20,719 --> 00:34:24,399 Speaker 1: from Princeton to trent So Washington takes his entire army 581 00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:27,280 Speaker 1: runs down the road and the British are running towards Trenton. 582 00:34:27,320 --> 00:34:31,920 Speaker 1: He's running towards Princeton. And my favorite Washington painting is 583 00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:37,080 Speaker 1: Washington at Princeton with the cannon sitting there and the 584 00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:40,440 Speaker 1: British captured British flags behind it, and Washington, at this 585 00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:44,719 Speaker 1: point is about forty four years old, is standing jauntily 586 00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:48,480 Speaker 1: leaning on a British cannon, looking like the fox Huenter 587 00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:52,160 Speaker 1: who's caught the Fox. I mean it's the best picture 588 00:34:52,160 --> 00:34:54,520 Speaker 1: because we tend to see Washington backwards. We see the 589 00:34:54,520 --> 00:34:57,719 Speaker 1: guy who's president late in his life. This is still 590 00:34:57,719 --> 00:35:05,759 Speaker 1: a young, energetic, aggressive guy. So the revolution has survived 591 00:35:06,080 --> 00:35:09,840 Speaker 1: and Washington's now in a position to continue to develop 592 00:35:09,840 --> 00:35:14,880 Speaker 1: the army. But it's important remember this is not everybody 593 00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:18,560 Speaker 1: worships Washington. I mean, if you're not in the army 594 00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:21,080 Speaker 1: with Washington, you're thinking, this guy's not had a very 595 00:35:21,120 --> 00:35:23,960 Speaker 1: good run here. I mean, okay, did okay in Boston, 596 00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:26,920 Speaker 1: got cleaned out in New York, cleaned out in New Jersey, 597 00:35:27,440 --> 00:35:31,319 Speaker 1: I mean, can we do better? Of course, during this period, 598 00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:36,680 Speaker 1: when the Americans win at Saratoga with the British army collapses, 599 00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:40,760 Speaker 1: you suddenly have an interest in somebody other than Washington. 600 00:35:41,120 --> 00:35:43,960 Speaker 1: So this's about a third of the continent of Congress 601 00:35:44,440 --> 00:35:48,719 Speaker 1: would like to fare Washington and is actively plotting. And 602 00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:51,080 Speaker 1: one of the reasons when Washington ends up the next 603 00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:54,719 Speaker 1: year going into Valley Forge, where he'd been promised to 604 00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:59,000 Speaker 1: be food there'd be equipment to build houses, etc. And 605 00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:19,000 Speaker 1: they had nothing. People in Congress are deliberately setting him 606 00:36:19,080 --> 00:36:22,440 Speaker 1: up to fail because they want to get rid of 607 00:36:22,480 --> 00:36:26,560 Speaker 1: it and again, you get a sense of Washington settled it. Washington, 608 00:36:26,960 --> 00:36:30,880 Speaker 1: who had no children himself, had basically adopted the Marquis 609 00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:33,839 Speaker 1: de Lafayette, who was in his early twenties, as kind 610 00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:38,400 Speaker 1: of like a stepson. He loved Lafayette, Lafayette loved him, 611 00:36:38,880 --> 00:36:41,560 Speaker 1: and so Lafayette happens to write a letter to the Congress. 612 00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:46,120 Speaker 1: It says, you know, French King thinks so highly of 613 00:36:46,160 --> 00:36:50,680 Speaker 1: General Washington that if something were to happen to him 614 00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:54,200 Speaker 1: and he was no longer in command, I really fear 615 00:36:54,320 --> 00:36:59,960 Speaker 1: that all French money, French ammunition, French uniforms, French assistant 616 00:37:00,080 --> 00:37:04,040 Speaker 1: would disappear. And I, certainly, because of my deep belief 617 00:37:04,080 --> 00:37:08,560 Speaker 1: in the Revolution, wouldn't want that to happen. Well, that's it. 618 00:37:09,520 --> 00:37:14,000 Speaker 1: Washington has reasserted that he's in charge. He also understands 619 00:37:14,040 --> 00:37:16,439 Speaker 1: that he still doesn't have a very good army. And 620 00:37:16,480 --> 00:37:21,120 Speaker 1: the guy shows that named Stuyvan, who is a character 621 00:37:21,160 --> 00:37:24,000 Speaker 1: in his own water. I mean almost somebody could do 622 00:37:24,040 --> 00:37:30,319 Speaker 1: an entire novel about He's a German officer, claims more 623 00:37:30,480 --> 00:37:33,360 Speaker 1: credit than he really deserves, claims higher rank than he 624 00:37:33,400 --> 00:37:37,480 Speaker 1: really deserves, shows up and says, you know, I can 625 00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:40,160 Speaker 1: train your army, and this is one of those miracles. 626 00:37:40,200 --> 00:37:43,120 Speaker 1: A little bit like Washington listening to farmers, is when 627 00:37:43,160 --> 00:37:46,319 Speaker 1: Stuyman looks around for a little while and realizes, if 628 00:37:46,360 --> 00:37:50,760 Speaker 1: I try to apply European systems, they will all rebeil 629 00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:55,080 Speaker 1: because of they're Americans. So I can't just go in and 630 00:37:55,239 --> 00:37:58,480 Speaker 1: force obedien. In Europe, I can force obedience because the 631 00:37:58,480 --> 00:38:02,799 Speaker 1: peasants expect me to. In the US, all you know, 632 00:38:02,800 --> 00:38:05,799 Speaker 1: does just throw me out. And so he figures out, 633 00:38:05,920 --> 00:38:09,799 Speaker 1: you have to tell Americans why you're doing it. But 634 00:38:09,880 --> 00:38:11,800 Speaker 1: if you'll tell them why you're doing it, they actually 635 00:38:11,880 --> 00:38:15,520 Speaker 1: learn faster than the Europeans. And so he begins to 636 00:38:15,560 --> 00:38:19,400 Speaker 1: train this army. And when they're in Valley Forge, Washington 637 00:38:19,440 --> 00:38:23,000 Speaker 1: again is very careful about a number of things. They 638 00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:25,200 Speaker 1: have a huge bakehouse which makes all the bread for 639 00:38:25,239 --> 00:38:30,839 Speaker 1: the army, and they turn it into a theater, and 640 00:38:30,880 --> 00:38:33,680 Speaker 1: so they bake bread good morning in the evening. They 641 00:38:33,719 --> 00:38:38,160 Speaker 1: have plays. Washington's favorite play is Cato, which is a 642 00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:43,440 Speaker 1: remarkable study. In eighteenth century Britain, you could not directly 643 00:38:43,480 --> 00:38:47,280 Speaker 1: attack the king because that'll be treason. So they tended 644 00:38:47,280 --> 00:38:49,320 Speaker 1: to write about the Romans because you could write about 645 00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:52,560 Speaker 1: tyranny and corruption in Rome, and that's not really attacking 646 00:38:52,600 --> 00:38:55,000 Speaker 1: the king, although everybody who sees the play knows you're 647 00:38:55,000 --> 00:39:00,840 Speaker 1: talking about the king. So Cato is about the the 648 00:39:00,960 --> 00:39:06,600 Speaker 1: Roman senator who, at the time of Caesar, refuses to 649 00:39:06,800 --> 00:39:12,160 Speaker 1: accept Caesar as the head of the government, and Caesar 650 00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:16,839 Speaker 1: ultimately chases him across the Mediterranean and ends up face 651 00:39:16,920 --> 00:39:20,000 Speaker 1: to face and says, look, I want you to live. 652 00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:23,279 Speaker 1: You're my friend, I really believe in you. All you 653 00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:27,000 Speaker 1: have to do is swear loyalty and you'll be rich 654 00:39:27,040 --> 00:39:31,560 Speaker 1: and happy to rest joy and Cato basically says, you know, 655 00:39:31,600 --> 00:39:34,759 Speaker 1: my son's already been killed. Freedom is worth everything. I 656 00:39:34,840 --> 00:39:39,800 Speaker 1: would rather die as a free person than live swearing loyally. 657 00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:42,799 Speaker 1: View This is Warshington's favorite play. He cried every time 658 00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:45,360 Speaker 1: he saw it, and it was the center, in a 659 00:39:45,400 --> 00:39:49,520 Speaker 1: way of Washington's own belief that he is in rebellion 660 00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:52,319 Speaker 1: because he is a free man and he is not 661 00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:55,600 Speaker 1: going to give him and so they would. I think 662 00:39:55,640 --> 00:39:59,040 Speaker 1: they showed it three times that winter, and then they 663 00:39:59,080 --> 00:40:01,960 Speaker 1: showed other things. He was very concerned about morale, I mean, 664 00:40:02,200 --> 00:40:04,120 Speaker 1: how do you keep morale up? And they began to 665 00:40:04,120 --> 00:40:06,960 Speaker 1: build a real army. They collided with the British shortly 666 00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:10,640 Speaker 1: after Valley Forge, and they beat them head to head, 667 00:40:10,880 --> 00:40:13,560 Speaker 1: and the British suddenly realized that they have a real problem. 668 00:40:13,960 --> 00:40:16,239 Speaker 1: They can no longer count on the American's breaking down. 669 00:40:17,120 --> 00:40:21,080 Speaker 1: Washington then chases them across New Jersey. At the British 670 00:40:21,200 --> 00:40:24,160 Speaker 1: ended up going back into New York City, where the 671 00:40:24,280 --> 00:40:27,319 Speaker 1: Royal Navy can sustain them. Now by this stage you've 672 00:40:27,320 --> 00:40:29,560 Speaker 1: also got a French army showing up, you have the 673 00:40:29,600 --> 00:40:32,799 Speaker 1: French Navy occasionally showing up, your French money showing up, 674 00:40:32,800 --> 00:40:39,240 Speaker 1: which is really important. But Washington can't win. He cannot 675 00:40:39,239 --> 00:40:42,480 Speaker 1: break into New York. You can't drive the British out 676 00:40:42,520 --> 00:40:44,960 Speaker 1: of New York. And what the British have done is 677 00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:49,319 Speaker 1: they've got Washington sucked into basically laying siege to New 678 00:40:49,400 --> 00:40:53,120 Speaker 1: York while the British army is moving troops into South 679 00:40:53,120 --> 00:40:57,279 Speaker 1: Carolina and Georgia and trying to reconquer the colonies from 680 00:40:57,320 --> 00:41:00,480 Speaker 1: the South coming north, which turns out but also to 681 00:41:00,480 --> 00:41:04,440 Speaker 1: fail because Washington, since Green was his best general, and 682 00:41:05,600 --> 00:41:10,520 Speaker 1: they organized guerrilla warfare and altimately organized regular warfare and 683 00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:13,600 Speaker 1: gradually start chewing up the British in the South. But 684 00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:17,400 Speaker 1: the Southern War is a really miserable, nasty war, and 685 00:41:17,440 --> 00:41:19,200 Speaker 1: it was good that Washington couldn't go there because he 686 00:41:20,040 --> 00:41:23,720 Speaker 1: would not have liked it. It isn't who he wanted. 687 00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:27,280 Speaker 1: He believed deeply you had to have a regular army 688 00:41:27,719 --> 00:41:30,799 Speaker 1: that had discipline, because it was the base of civilization. 689 00:41:31,719 --> 00:41:33,719 Speaker 1: And he did not want to be involved in Guyal War. 690 00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:36,480 Speaker 1: He knew how to me. He thought he'd fought the Indians, 691 00:41:36,520 --> 00:41:38,960 Speaker 1: he understood a lot about how to fight at Gulal War. 692 00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:41,720 Speaker 1: He thought in the end it would be so bitter 693 00:41:41,760 --> 00:41:45,080 Speaker 1: and so bloody that it would shatter the society. And 694 00:41:45,120 --> 00:41:47,520 Speaker 1: so he really worked hard at keeping the army to go. 695 00:41:48,360 --> 00:41:50,239 Speaker 1: And one of the great gambles if you, if you 696 00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:52,960 Speaker 1: ever get a chance, is look at him out Washington 697 00:41:53,120 --> 00:41:57,640 Speaker 1: sitting in New York. The French army is actually sitting 698 00:41:57,640 --> 00:42:02,000 Speaker 1: in Rhode Island. And all of a sudden, Cornwallis who 699 00:42:02,040 --> 00:42:06,680 Speaker 1: has a large British army, finds himself cooped up at 700 00:42:06,800 --> 00:42:10,560 Speaker 1: Yorktown in Virginia. I remember this is people are marching 701 00:42:10,600 --> 00:42:15,359 Speaker 1: with no trains, no airplanes, no cars, and Washington has 702 00:42:15,400 --> 00:42:21,799 Speaker 1: to make a decision if I leave New York. There's 703 00:42:21,840 --> 00:42:25,440 Speaker 1: people are really getting terrible matter for seven years. I 704 00:42:25,719 --> 00:42:31,080 Speaker 1: leave New York, I march down through Philadelphia and get 705 00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:38,480 Speaker 1: to Yorktown. Will Cornwallis still be there? Will the French 706 00:42:38,680 --> 00:42:42,560 Speaker 1: navies show up? And will the French army walk with me? 707 00:42:42,640 --> 00:42:46,520 Speaker 1: Go with me? And can I raise the money to 708 00:42:46,560 --> 00:42:51,920 Speaker 1: pay the troops? And if it works, I might be 709 00:42:51,960 --> 00:42:54,760 Speaker 1: able to win the battle that will lead the victory 710 00:42:54,760 --> 00:42:58,520 Speaker 1: in the war. If it fails, we may well collapse 711 00:42:58,719 --> 00:43:01,600 Speaker 1: because we've been at this so long and were so tired. 712 00:43:02,520 --> 00:43:04,560 Speaker 1: This is one of the great strategy. Again. I'll take 713 00:43:04,600 --> 00:43:09,440 Speaker 1: some normal if you imagine the courage to sit there 714 00:43:09,480 --> 00:43:12,319 Speaker 1: and think this through and go. You know what I'm 715 00:43:12,320 --> 00:43:16,800 Speaker 1: gonna do is I'm gonna move. I'm going to decoy 716 00:43:16,840 --> 00:43:20,120 Speaker 1: the British with justin our forces left behind that they 717 00:43:20,160 --> 00:43:22,759 Speaker 1: think I'm still in New York and We're going to 718 00:43:22,840 --> 00:43:25,960 Speaker 1: march as fast as we can. And when I get 719 00:43:25,960 --> 00:43:28,080 Speaker 1: to Philadelphia, I'm going to see Governor wants some big 720 00:43:28,719 --> 00:43:30,480 Speaker 1: him to bring together all the rich people in the 721 00:43:30,480 --> 00:43:33,319 Speaker 1: city to seven is enough money to pay the army 722 00:43:33,320 --> 00:43:36,919 Speaker 1: to keep moving and hopefully by the time I get 723 00:43:36,960 --> 00:43:40,960 Speaker 1: to Yorktown, if you're marching. This is a long march. 724 00:43:41,840 --> 00:43:44,560 Speaker 1: Hopefully by then the French navy will have shown up 725 00:43:45,600 --> 00:43:47,920 Speaker 1: so we can cut Cornwalls off. So we can't a 726 00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:54,239 Speaker 1: British navy can't take him off York Town. Well, it 727 00:43:54,320 --> 00:44:01,960 Speaker 1: is said that when Washington crossed the last rod and 728 00:44:02,040 --> 00:44:06,160 Speaker 1: could see Yorktown and beyond Yorktown could see the French fleet, 729 00:44:06,520 --> 00:44:10,720 Speaker 1: that he physically jumped off his horse and did a jig. 730 00:44:11,920 --> 00:44:13,759 Speaker 1: The only people said it's the only time in the 731 00:44:13,840 --> 00:44:16,680 Speaker 1: entire war that he saw him just lose control. He 732 00:44:16,800 --> 00:44:21,720 Speaker 1: was so excited because he had him. So the French 733 00:44:21,719 --> 00:44:23,400 Speaker 1: and the British, I mean the French of the Americans, 734 00:44:24,239 --> 00:44:29,680 Speaker 1: lay siege. Cornwallis, who's a good professional British officer later 735 00:44:29,760 --> 00:44:32,799 Speaker 1: on goes on to become a very successful governor general 736 00:44:32,840 --> 00:44:37,440 Speaker 1: of India, recognizes after a couple of days that you know, 737 00:44:37,480 --> 00:44:41,560 Speaker 1: he can't win. So he sends the word that he's 738 00:44:41,600 --> 00:44:46,439 Speaker 1: prepared to surrender to the French, and the French send 739 00:44:46,440 --> 00:44:49,719 Speaker 1: the way back. Now he swire to Washington, and then 740 00:44:49,840 --> 00:44:53,160 Speaker 1: Cornwalla says, I am not swinning to Washington. I'm sending 741 00:44:53,160 --> 00:44:56,919 Speaker 1: a junior officer, at which point Washington says fine, I'm 742 00:44:57,000 --> 00:45:00,359 Speaker 1: sending a junior uficer so General Lincoln as I think 743 00:45:00,360 --> 00:45:03,319 Speaker 1: a brigadier general at the time, except the surrender of 744 00:45:03,320 --> 00:45:06,680 Speaker 1: the British and supposedly the band plays the world turned up. 745 00:45:06,680 --> 00:45:17,560 Speaker 1: Said that Now Washington at that point does the most 746 00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:23,800 Speaker 1: like that, which people really undervalue. They go back north 747 00:45:24,040 --> 00:45:27,000 Speaker 1: because the war's not over. I mean, the fighting's over 748 00:45:27,400 --> 00:45:29,640 Speaker 1: now the diplomats are negotiating. You got to work out 749 00:45:29,680 --> 00:45:31,680 Speaker 1: all the details. So you have to keep an army 750 00:45:31,680 --> 00:45:34,719 Speaker 1: in bed, and his officers get really angry because they're 751 00:45:34,760 --> 00:45:37,560 Speaker 1: not getting paid. The Congress in that period was setting 752 00:45:37,560 --> 00:45:40,920 Speaker 1: a standard to the current Congress's match. It was often irresponsible, 753 00:45:41,680 --> 00:45:43,680 Speaker 1: often tailed to do what it should do, often had 754 00:45:43,800 --> 00:45:46,399 Speaker 1: really dumb policies, and in this period they weren't paying 755 00:45:46,400 --> 00:45:50,320 Speaker 1: the army. So a group of the officers get together 756 00:45:50,360 --> 00:45:54,520 Speaker 1: and decide that Washington should become a dictator. And there 757 00:45:54,560 --> 00:45:57,560 Speaker 1: was a precedent for this because one hundred years earlier 758 00:45:57,560 --> 00:46:01,280 Speaker 1: in the English Civil War, Cromwell had merged and established 759 00:46:01,320 --> 00:46:04,319 Speaker 1: a dictation. And in fact a lot of people had 760 00:46:04,320 --> 00:46:07,160 Speaker 1: worried about Washington. You need to be too powerful and 761 00:46:07,200 --> 00:46:11,440 Speaker 1: too popular, precisely because he would become Cromwell. There's a 762 00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:14,760 Speaker 1: great scene where the officers have met in the schoolroom 763 00:46:15,080 --> 00:46:19,719 Speaker 1: and Washington's in and as he recounted, he took out 764 00:46:19,760 --> 00:46:24,279 Speaker 1: his glasses in order to remind him that he'd grown 765 00:46:24,320 --> 00:46:28,000 Speaker 1: old in the service of his country. And he pulls 766 00:46:28,000 --> 00:46:30,680 Speaker 1: out this letter and he feeds the letter, the essence 767 00:46:30,719 --> 00:46:34,400 Speaker 1: of which is, do you really think that we rebelled 768 00:46:34,400 --> 00:46:38,680 Speaker 1: against George the Third to create George the First? This 769 00:46:38,719 --> 00:46:43,319 Speaker 1: would destroy everything that we fought for for the years. 770 00:46:44,280 --> 00:46:48,520 Speaker 1: The officers all go, okay, won't be dictator. I guess 771 00:46:48,520 --> 00:46:53,000 Speaker 1: we'll continue. He then does something that is remarkable, and 772 00:46:53,120 --> 00:46:57,319 Speaker 1: George the Third says, if Washington gives up power, it'll 773 00:46:57,320 --> 00:47:01,040 Speaker 1: be the greatest man of the century. Sohington on the 774 00:47:01,040 --> 00:47:03,880 Speaker 1: way home, having been I always tell people when they 775 00:47:03,920 --> 00:47:06,000 Speaker 1: get frustrated, they get tired of trying to do something. 776 00:47:06,320 --> 00:47:09,600 Speaker 1: Washington spends eight years in the field, he's a non 777 00:47:09,640 --> 00:47:12,680 Speaker 1: burning for two weeks in the entire war, and he 778 00:47:12,760 --> 00:47:16,359 Speaker 1: loves mon So now he's on the way home. So 779 00:47:16,400 --> 00:47:19,480 Speaker 1: he goes to Annapolis with the Condinal Congresses meeting, and 780 00:47:19,520 --> 00:47:21,960 Speaker 1: you can actually go to the State House. They still 781 00:47:21,960 --> 00:47:24,200 Speaker 1: have the room, and they have it set up with statues. 782 00:47:25,040 --> 00:47:29,920 Speaker 1: The Congress is sitting, Washington is standing in the Congress 783 00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:37,120 Speaker 1: is sitting to show that he is obedient to them, 784 00:47:37,360 --> 00:47:39,920 Speaker 1: but that they are his superior to collectively, and he 785 00:47:39,960 --> 00:47:42,799 Speaker 1: gives them his sword. He literally says, I've now done 786 00:47:42,840 --> 00:47:45,400 Speaker 1: my job. I'm returning to you the sword that I 787 00:47:45,440 --> 00:47:49,560 Speaker 1: was given back in Philadelphia. And he then goes home. 788 00:47:49,719 --> 00:47:55,799 Speaker 1: He's at home, he's happy, he's being a farmer. Martha's happy. 789 00:47:55,840 --> 00:47:59,040 Speaker 1: And things don't work pretty well. And it turns out 790 00:47:59,120 --> 00:48:03,960 Speaker 1: people forget this. Virtually every state, as they've now become 791 00:48:04,000 --> 00:48:08,040 Speaker 1: ceased to be Colomism, has to rewrite his constitution. They 792 00:48:08,080 --> 00:48:12,200 Speaker 1: all fail, and so yet people getting pretty good practice 793 00:48:12,239 --> 00:48:17,680 Speaker 1: of writing constitutions, and people get involved in a variety 794 00:48:17,719 --> 00:48:23,480 Speaker 1: of fairly dumb ideas, repudiating the debt, inflating the currency, 795 00:48:24,040 --> 00:48:26,160 Speaker 1: and people begin to write Washington and say, you know, 796 00:48:26,680 --> 00:48:28,279 Speaker 1: we're going to have to do something to fix this. 797 00:48:28,400 --> 00:48:31,920 Speaker 1: And this is not working and it's creating a vacuum 798 00:48:31,960 --> 00:48:34,239 Speaker 1: where the British and the French and the Spanish can 799 00:48:34,280 --> 00:48:38,000 Speaker 1: come in and exploit us. Washington writes several of his 800 00:48:38,080 --> 00:48:42,560 Speaker 1: friend and says, no, people aren't tired enough yet they've 801 00:48:42,560 --> 00:48:45,920 Speaker 1: got to finish celebrating. We've got to finish getting over this. 802 00:48:47,080 --> 00:48:49,480 Speaker 1: And I'm not going to go now because if I 803 00:48:49,560 --> 00:48:53,080 Speaker 1: go now, it'll be too soon. And so he's very patient. 804 00:48:53,280 --> 00:48:56,040 Speaker 1: Now again, everybody in their brother is coming to Mount 805 00:48:56,120 --> 00:48:58,640 Speaker 1: Vernon to spend the night, to have dinner, to chat 806 00:48:58,680 --> 00:49:01,400 Speaker 1: with him. He's receiving letter small over the country. Finally, 807 00:49:01,440 --> 00:49:03,400 Speaker 1: a group gets together in Annapolis and they get him 808 00:49:03,400 --> 00:49:06,799 Speaker 1: to come to the meeting and they say, we've got 809 00:49:06,840 --> 00:49:10,800 Speaker 1: to fix the Articles of Confederation because they're not working. 810 00:49:11,000 --> 00:49:14,000 Speaker 1: We need to have a meeting to fix the current system. 811 00:49:14,640 --> 00:49:18,319 Speaker 1: So he's the center of this. If he's willing to 812 00:49:18,360 --> 00:49:22,560 Speaker 1: sign the letter, people will show up. If he doesn't 813 00:49:22,600 --> 00:49:25,520 Speaker 1: sign the letter, it would never happen. So he agrees, 814 00:49:25,840 --> 00:49:29,480 Speaker 1: he's the lead signer. Basically says, I'm going to go 815 00:49:29,520 --> 00:49:31,200 Speaker 1: to Philadelphia and try to fix this. Why don't you 816 00:49:31,239 --> 00:49:34,799 Speaker 1: come join me. So every state sends a delegation to 817 00:49:34,880 --> 00:49:41,080 Speaker 1: Philadelphia in seventeen eighty seven, and again it's very different 818 00:49:41,080 --> 00:49:44,920 Speaker 1: than people think. First of all, when they meet for 819 00:49:44,960 --> 00:49:49,480 Speaker 1: fifty five days, it's in secret. There's no press corps, 820 00:49:49,560 --> 00:49:56,120 Speaker 1: there's no press secretary. Don't tell anybody anything second. At 821 00:49:56,160 --> 00:49:59,000 Speaker 1: several points it almost breaks down. At one point, the 822 00:49:59,040 --> 00:50:03,160 Speaker 1: oldest man there, Bendamin Franklin, says, we need to stop, 823 00:50:03,280 --> 00:50:05,880 Speaker 1: have a day of fast and prayer and get our 824 00:50:05,880 --> 00:50:08,359 Speaker 1: head on straight, because right now we're just scrown up. 825 00:50:08,719 --> 00:50:12,680 Speaker 1: They do that, They get a sermon, they pray, they fast, 826 00:50:12,760 --> 00:50:16,480 Speaker 1: they're together, they talk, and people who study carefully make 827 00:50:16,560 --> 00:50:20,080 Speaker 1: the point that I think it is often very misunderstood 828 00:50:20,080 --> 00:50:27,600 Speaker 1: about Washington. Washington is presiding inevitably, and so he's sitting 829 00:50:27,680 --> 00:50:30,399 Speaker 1: up here and you actually go and look at the room, 830 00:50:30,440 --> 00:50:36,120 Speaker 1: and occurs in in Philadelphia. But at lunch, at breakfast, 831 00:50:36,280 --> 00:50:42,960 Speaker 1: at dinner, he's constantly political. What if we did this, 832 00:50:43,400 --> 00:50:46,080 Speaker 1: what if we fixed that, What if we pulled this together. 833 00:50:46,480 --> 00:50:48,160 Speaker 1: Maybe if you work with so and so, you can 834 00:50:48,200 --> 00:50:53,640 Speaker 1: work something out. So his underlying influence is enormous, but 835 00:50:53,719 --> 00:50:58,239 Speaker 1: it's all private. It's not public speeches, it's not you know, 836 00:50:58,960 --> 00:51:04,239 Speaker 1: speaking from the chair. He represents the whole convention, and 837 00:51:04,280 --> 00:51:07,560 Speaker 1: they do something which is really quite remarkable. They're sent 838 00:51:07,600 --> 00:51:11,400 Speaker 1: there to fix the articles of Confederation, and by the 839 00:51:11,440 --> 00:51:13,160 Speaker 1: time they all get there, they go, this is stupid. 840 00:51:13,400 --> 00:51:15,920 Speaker 1: They are not going to work. Let's just write a constitution. 841 00:51:16,400 --> 00:51:18,759 Speaker 1: So what you technically have a coup daytime. I mean 842 00:51:19,160 --> 00:51:21,480 Speaker 1: you a group of people who decide they're going to 843 00:51:21,520 --> 00:51:25,319 Speaker 1: fix the whole thing. They have no authority to do it, 844 00:51:25,840 --> 00:51:29,160 Speaker 1: they just assert it. They then publish it. And again 845 00:51:29,600 --> 00:51:33,920 Speaker 1: Washington when this thing started, and Madison in particular, was 846 00:51:33,960 --> 00:51:35,840 Speaker 1: all over Washington, you got to go do this, you 847 00:51:35,880 --> 00:51:38,239 Speaker 1: got to go do this. The reason Madison ends up 848 00:51:38,360 --> 00:51:41,279 Speaker 1: living in Mount Vernon Foull was Washington, Fine, you come here, 849 00:51:41,600 --> 00:51:43,840 Speaker 1: you do the reading, you put the other writing, you 850 00:51:43,920 --> 00:51:45,759 Speaker 1: do all the work, and when you get that done, 851 00:51:45,760 --> 00:51:48,920 Speaker 1: I'll think aloud, going, but I'm not going to do 852 00:51:48,960 --> 00:51:51,359 Speaker 1: all that junk. You're the intellectual. I'm not. I'm going 853 00:51:51,400 --> 00:51:55,200 Speaker 1: to run my farm. So Washington's happily entertaining at night 854 00:51:55,280 --> 00:51:58,520 Speaker 1: and walk going around running this farm. Poor Madison's trapped. 855 00:51:58,600 --> 00:52:00,879 Speaker 1: Who loves it? This trap in a room with Mount 856 00:52:01,000 --> 00:52:05,120 Speaker 1: Vernon thinking through the whole thing. They then do something 857 00:52:05,120 --> 00:52:08,680 Speaker 1: that's quite remarkable. They go to the thirteen states and 858 00:52:08,719 --> 00:52:12,319 Speaker 1: they say, basically, you have to vote. We will not 859 00:52:12,440 --> 00:52:17,400 Speaker 1: be legitimate unless you vote. And the greatest political brochure 860 00:52:17,400 --> 00:52:21,520 Speaker 1: in history is the Federalist Papers, because that's what it is. 861 00:52:21,560 --> 00:52:25,600 Speaker 1: It's a campaign doctor and Jay and Hamilton and Madison 862 00:52:25,800 --> 00:52:32,359 Speaker 1: write it, and you get Washington sending a letter out 863 00:52:32,400 --> 00:52:35,520 Speaker 1: to the whole country saying basically, this is what we've done. 864 00:52:35,800 --> 00:52:38,799 Speaker 1: We need you to vote yes. This is important. Not 865 00:52:38,880 --> 00:52:43,279 Speaker 1: an overwhelming margin. The country says yes and they adopt constitutional, 866 00:52:43,320 --> 00:52:45,560 Speaker 1: which point, of course, they turn a meeting and go, gosh, 867 00:52:45,600 --> 00:52:49,359 Speaker 1: we're going to need a first president now. Washington saying, 868 00:52:49,440 --> 00:52:53,319 Speaker 1: wait a second, I am in Mount Vernon, I've done 869 00:52:53,360 --> 00:52:55,719 Speaker 1: my share. No, no, no, You've got to come up. 870 00:52:56,760 --> 00:52:59,120 Speaker 1: So he agrees. He and Martha go to New York 871 00:53:00,080 --> 00:53:02,319 Speaker 1: by the end of the first term, and he's very 872 00:53:02,320 --> 00:53:05,719 Speaker 1: conscious he is setting the precedents which we still live by, 873 00:53:06,239 --> 00:53:09,080 Speaker 1: and he knows that and he operates that way. He 874 00:53:09,160 --> 00:53:11,920 Speaker 1: convinces Jefferson and Hamilton to serve in the cabinet. They 875 00:53:11,960 --> 00:53:15,960 Speaker 1: hate each other, they each subsidize the newspaper to attack 876 00:53:16,000 --> 00:53:18,719 Speaker 1: the other, and he doesn't care. He says, you guys 877 00:53:18,760 --> 00:53:21,200 Speaker 1: are invaluable. You're got to stay here now. If I 878 00:53:21,239 --> 00:53:38,480 Speaker 1: got to be here, you got to be here. Late 879 00:53:38,560 --> 00:53:41,560 Speaker 1: in the first term, New York newspapers are attacking Martha 880 00:53:41,960 --> 00:53:45,200 Speaker 1: for holding high tea, which they regard as the first 881 00:53:45,239 --> 00:53:50,440 Speaker 1: step towards a monarchy. Washington is so angry that he says, 882 00:53:50,560 --> 00:53:54,759 Speaker 1: I'm going home. I've served a term. It's over. I 883 00:53:54,800 --> 00:53:57,000 Speaker 1: am not going to subject my wife Martha to this 884 00:53:57,080 --> 00:54:00,360 Speaker 1: kind of vicious behavior. The threat of war rush and 885 00:54:00,480 --> 00:54:04,799 Speaker 1: leaving is so central to the survival of the United 886 00:54:04,840 --> 00:54:08,279 Speaker 1: States as a concept that Jefferson and Hamilton, who have 887 00:54:08,360 --> 00:54:13,920 Speaker 1: become bitter opponents, put aside their hostility, get together jointly 888 00:54:14,520 --> 00:54:17,760 Speaker 1: go to see him, and they say, you can't go home. 889 00:54:18,480 --> 00:54:23,240 Speaker 1: The country's not stable enough without your leadership, without your prestige, 890 00:54:23,640 --> 00:54:26,960 Speaker 1: the country won't last. You have to stay for one 891 00:54:27,000 --> 00:54:31,560 Speaker 1: more term. He very grudgingly agrees, if he really is 892 00:54:31,600 --> 00:54:34,560 Speaker 1: so angry about the news media treatment of his wife, 893 00:54:35,040 --> 00:54:39,520 Speaker 1: but they convince him that for the country he has 894 00:54:39,600 --> 00:54:42,560 Speaker 1: to stay, and as a patriot in the end, he's 895 00:54:42,600 --> 00:54:45,160 Speaker 1: going to do what the country needs. And it's a 896 00:54:45,239 --> 00:54:49,880 Speaker 1: very important, very difficult period. Britain and France are engaged 897 00:54:49,920 --> 00:54:52,840 Speaker 1: in a deep war which will last until eighteen fifteen. 898 00:54:53,200 --> 00:54:55,600 Speaker 1: He's trying to make sure the United States doesn't get 899 00:54:55,680 --> 00:54:58,960 Speaker 1: drawn in on either side, because he understands they will 900 00:54:59,000 --> 00:55:02,280 Speaker 1: just tear the country apopt so he's being very careful 901 00:55:02,800 --> 00:55:07,200 Speaker 1: about not getting into European politics and not getting into conflict. 902 00:55:07,680 --> 00:55:11,719 Speaker 1: At the same time, on our western frontier, particularly in Pennsylvania, 903 00:55:12,360 --> 00:55:16,759 Speaker 1: farmers have gotten really angry about a tax break which 904 00:55:16,880 --> 00:55:19,840 Speaker 1: was designed to help big distillers in the east and 905 00:55:19,960 --> 00:55:22,640 Speaker 1: actually hurts the small farmers in the west who are 906 00:55:22,640 --> 00:55:26,240 Speaker 1: producing corn whiskey in small batches, and so they're refusing 907 00:55:26,320 --> 00:55:29,440 Speaker 1: to pay their taxes. And there's what became known as 908 00:55:29,480 --> 00:55:33,400 Speaker 1: the Whisky Rebellion. And it takes the prestige of Washington 909 00:55:34,280 --> 00:55:37,400 Speaker 1: to insist that the law be enforced, and he literally 910 00:55:37,520 --> 00:55:40,840 Speaker 1: organizes an army which they're about to send into western 911 00:55:40,880 --> 00:55:45,200 Speaker 1: Pennsylvania in order to force people to pay their taxes. 912 00:55:45,680 --> 00:55:50,359 Speaker 1: Confronted by Washington's prestige and by Washington's seriousness and by 913 00:55:50,440 --> 00:55:53,840 Speaker 1: the size of the army he's raising, the farmers ultimately caved. 914 00:55:54,239 --> 00:55:56,279 Speaker 1: The laws are changed a little bit so that they 915 00:55:56,280 --> 00:55:59,880 Speaker 1: have a face saving way out. The Whisky rebellion disappears. 916 00:56:00,200 --> 00:56:03,360 Speaker 1: But that's the kind of thing going on that indicates 917 00:56:03,680 --> 00:56:07,520 Speaker 1: how shaky this new country is and how little people 918 00:56:07,640 --> 00:56:11,160 Speaker 1: understand the concept of a central government and that it 919 00:56:11,200 --> 00:56:13,640 Speaker 1: has power which can reach all the way to the 920 00:56:13,640 --> 00:56:18,080 Speaker 1: boundaries of the country. Without Washington's prestige, that might not 921 00:56:18,200 --> 00:56:21,720 Speaker 1: have been survivable. He does stay, and then he really 922 00:56:21,760 --> 00:56:23,720 Speaker 1: has done. And one of the greatest things he does 923 00:56:24,160 --> 00:56:29,120 Speaker 1: is he goes home. And that's really important because it 924 00:56:29,280 --> 00:56:32,960 Speaker 1: sends a signal that power is loan to you, you 925 00:56:33,040 --> 00:56:36,120 Speaker 1: don't own it, and that you have a duty to 926 00:56:36,239 --> 00:56:39,520 Speaker 1: limit yourself, to be disciplined. And with the exception of 927 00:56:39,560 --> 00:56:43,200 Speaker 1: President Franklin D. Roosevelt in World War Two, no president 928 00:56:43,239 --> 00:56:47,080 Speaker 1: has violated the Washington principle of a maximum of two terms. 929 00:56:47,120 --> 00:56:50,560 Speaker 1: And in fact, after Roosevelt, we passed the Constitutional Amendment 930 00:56:51,000 --> 00:56:54,160 Speaker 1: to block anybody from serving more than two terms. So 931 00:56:54,320 --> 00:56:58,600 Speaker 1: Washington set the principle that he served the people. They 932 00:56:58,600 --> 00:57:04,040 Speaker 1: didn't serve him. The power was deliberately limited. He goes home, finally, 933 00:57:04,200 --> 00:57:07,840 Speaker 1: to Mount Vernon, a place he loves. He relaxes, he 934 00:57:07,880 --> 00:57:11,320 Speaker 1: goes back to being a gentleman farmer. He's just drowning 935 00:57:11,360 --> 00:57:14,520 Speaker 1: in visitors because everybody wants to drop by and see 936 00:57:14,600 --> 00:57:18,600 Speaker 1: the great man. He's out riding on a wet, cold, 937 00:57:18,800 --> 00:57:24,000 Speaker 1: rainy day. He comes down with a fever. In that generation, 938 00:57:24,200 --> 00:57:26,320 Speaker 1: the doctors thought they would help you by bleeding you. 939 00:57:26,360 --> 00:57:30,320 Speaker 1: They put leeches on him, probably hurting him by draining 940 00:57:30,400 --> 00:57:33,760 Speaker 1: some of his blood, although there are some modern studies 941 00:57:33,800 --> 00:57:37,360 Speaker 1: that indicate the leeches actually had for some kind of diseases. 942 00:57:37,360 --> 00:57:40,560 Speaker 1: They were actually very helpful because they had certain things 943 00:57:40,600 --> 00:57:42,920 Speaker 1: that they actually put in your body. But in the 944 00:57:42,920 --> 00:57:46,320 Speaker 1: case of Washington, they probably further weakened him. His throat 945 00:57:46,400 --> 00:58:08,960 Speaker 1: seized up, and he finally died. Marca was left alone. 946 00:58:09,400 --> 00:58:12,600 Speaker 1: She propably did something which every historian ever since has regretted. 947 00:58:13,040 --> 00:58:17,240 Speaker 1: She burned all of their personal letters because she felt 948 00:58:17,240 --> 00:58:19,720 Speaker 1: it was private. She didn't want people to see what 949 00:58:19,960 --> 00:58:22,320 Speaker 1: Washington had written to her, or she'd written to Washington, 950 00:58:22,840 --> 00:58:28,080 Speaker 1: and so she literally shortly after his death, eliminates all 951 00:58:28,120 --> 00:58:30,600 Speaker 1: of the personal records, which had grown up over a 952 00:58:30,640 --> 00:58:35,640 Speaker 1: long lifetime and would have been fascinating. The country warns him, 953 00:58:36,200 --> 00:58:39,280 Speaker 1: the country realizes that he really had been the father 954 00:58:39,360 --> 00:58:42,840 Speaker 1: of the country, that he really was first in their hearts, 955 00:58:43,720 --> 00:58:47,680 Speaker 1: and that he was the symbol of what a free 956 00:58:47,720 --> 00:58:50,080 Speaker 1: society was supposed to be, which is why our national 957 00:58:50,080 --> 00:58:52,840 Speaker 1: capital is named for him, and why the Washington Monument 958 00:58:52,920 --> 00:58:57,200 Speaker 1: stands there as a memorial to a man who had 959 00:58:57,240 --> 00:59:01,720 Speaker 1: literally created the modern some of freedom under the rule 960 00:59:01,760 --> 00:59:04,960 Speaker 1: of law that we've come to take for granted. So 961 00:59:05,600 --> 00:59:08,320 Speaker 1: when you look around the world and you see countries failing, 962 00:59:08,560 --> 00:59:11,920 Speaker 1: you see people who are in desperate trouble, you see 963 00:59:12,200 --> 00:59:15,400 Speaker 1: places where the rule of law doesn't exist, you look 964 00:59:15,440 --> 00:59:20,960 Speaker 1: at kleptocracy, corruption, dictatorship, it's really important to remember that 965 00:59:21,000 --> 00:59:24,120 Speaker 1: the United States could have been that kind of country. 966 00:59:24,800 --> 00:59:27,919 Speaker 1: It's still consumedly be that kind of country, but that 967 00:59:28,680 --> 00:59:33,160 Speaker 1: people can make an enormous difference. The founding fathers, collectively 968 00:59:33,720 --> 00:59:35,640 Speaker 1: and by their commitment to the rule of law, to 969 00:59:35,680 --> 00:59:40,680 Speaker 1: the Constitution, made that difference. And the person who was indispensable, 970 00:59:40,720 --> 00:59:44,640 Speaker 1: who really surmounted all of the others. They all looked 971 00:59:44,680 --> 00:59:47,920 Speaker 1: up to him, they all followed his judgment. Who was 972 00:59:48,000 --> 00:59:52,560 Speaker 1: President Washington, first as a general, then as president, but 973 00:59:52,640 --> 00:59:57,040 Speaker 1: above all as a human being. Washington personified the kind 974 00:59:57,200 --> 01:00:00,960 Speaker 1: of dignified patriotism that was at the heart of the 975 01:00:01,040 --> 01:00:05,560 Speaker 1: rule of law. Each of us can learn from Washington. 976 01:00:05,920 --> 01:00:10,640 Speaker 1: Each of us can learn about freedom, about discipline, about persistence. 977 01:00:11,400 --> 01:00:15,320 Speaker 1: Each of us can come to understand why he loved 978 01:00:15,320 --> 01:00:17,800 Speaker 1: America so much and why he loved freedom so much. 979 01:00:18,400 --> 01:00:22,040 Speaker 1: And then we can teach others that anybody anywhere on 980 01:00:22,080 --> 01:00:25,320 Speaker 1: the planet can learn to be free, can learn to 981 01:00:25,360 --> 01:00:28,240 Speaker 1: live under the rule of law, can learn to pursue happiness, 982 01:00:28,800 --> 01:00:32,439 Speaker 1: and Washington, in that sense is a person for all 983 01:00:32,480 --> 01:00:36,120 Speaker 1: of humanity, not just America, and a person for all time, 984 01:00:36,600 --> 01:00:45,760 Speaker 1: not just the eighteenth century. I want to thank my 985 01:00:45,880 --> 01:00:49,960 Speaker 1: longtime writing partner and fellow George Washington historian, Go Fortune. 986 01:00:50,080 --> 01:00:52,840 Speaker 1: I also want to thank the Fred W. Smith National 987 01:00:52,920 --> 01:00:56,000 Speaker 1: Library for the study of George Washington at Mount Vernon, 988 01:00:56,240 --> 01:00:58,360 Speaker 1: and frankly, the person who did more than anybody else 989 01:00:58,400 --> 01:01:10,640 Speaker 1: to create that library, Gay Gaines. Newtsworld is produced by 990 01:01:10,640 --> 01:01:14,960 Speaker 1: Gangish three sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is Guarnsey Sloan. 991 01:01:15,240 --> 01:01:18,400 Speaker 1: Our researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for the show 992 01:01:18,760 --> 01:01:21,880 Speaker 1: was created by Steve Penley. Special thanks to the team 993 01:01:21,920 --> 01:01:25,080 Speaker 1: at Gingish three sixty. If you've been enjoying Newtsworld, I 994 01:01:25,200 --> 01:01:27,920 Speaker 1: hope you'll go to Apple Podcasts and both rate us 995 01:01:27,960 --> 01:01:31,000 Speaker 1: with five stars and give us a review so others 996 01:01:31,040 --> 01:01:33,880 Speaker 1: can learn what it's all about. Right now, listeners of 997 01:01:33,960 --> 01:01:37,960 Speaker 1: Newtsworld can sign up for my three free weekly columns 998 01:01:38,160 --> 01:01:42,760 Speaker 1: at gingersthree sixty dot com slash newsletter. I'm new Gingrish. 999 01:01:43,040 --> 01:01:44,080 Speaker 1: This is newsworld