This week on Bad Things in History we revisit the complicated figure of George Washington.
If you spent your childhood in the United States, then you were probably taught that he was the
father of your country, or at least one of them, that he was a great man who did great things.
But how great was he? Although history books celebrate George Washington s accomplishments, he
made a lot of mistakes. And when he failed people tended to pay the price with their lives.
Today we are going to look at some of the worst mistakes made by George Washington.
By the end you should have a decent idea whether he was a great man, or a lucky loser.
French And Indian War During the 17th and 18th centuries,
the British and the French were at war all the time. And
these conflicts were exported to their North American allies and colonies.
In the 1750s the British and French were competing for territory in the Ohio Valley. They were
building forts all along the territory and armed conflict seemed likely.
George Washington was serving in the Virginia militia at the time.
He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1754 and given command of a regiment.
Around the same time, a small crew was trying to build a British fort in Western Pennsylvania.
They were confronted by a small French force which forced the workers to leave.
Washington was told to take his regiment to this area and protect the construction crew.
British and French forces frequently encountered each other along the frontier.
It was customary to send an official warning to trespassers before engaging in hostilities.
The French Canadians were practicing good manners when they sent a force
of thirty-five men along with an ambassador named
Jumonville. Their orders were to see if Washington was supervising the construction of a fort.
If he was, then they were supposed to ask him to leave. They arrived in late May.
The French were not authorized to attack Washington or those working on the fort.
When Washington heard of this small force he decided to attack. He commanded a combined force
of militia and warriors from the Mingo tribe. As Washington s warriors descended upon the French
camp, Jumonville ordered his men to stop firing and tried to deliver the letter to Washington.
Nobody knows if Washington ordered his troops to start killing or they
were simply beyond his control. In one account of the battle a Mingo
warrior smashed Jumonville s head. As brains leaked out, he wiped them all over himself.
Then he took Jumonville s scalp as a trophy. The French that survived were taken prisoner.
There were conflicting accounts concerning what happened. Some of those present
said that Washington ordered the massacre. Others claimed that he wasn t at the battle
and had already retreated to his tent when hostilities began. Whatever really happened,
a French ambassador was dead, and George Washington was the man in charge.
On June 28 Jumonville s brother arrived with a force of six hundred soldiers. They surrounded
Washington and his forces at a newly constructed fort. He was forced to surrender. As part of
that surrender Washington signed a document admitting that he killed a French Ambassador.
Washington didn t speak French and therefore didn t understand what he was signing.
He would later claim that translators did a poor job of explaining the document.
The result was a diplomatic disaster for the British.
Negotiations failed and war with France would wage for the next seven years.
George Washington s blunder helped ignite a world war.
Defense Of New York Washington resigned his military
commission in 1758. But he returned to service as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in
1775. His previous military experience was one of the main reasons why he was nominated.
As war with the British raged in 1776, George Washington faced off against his opponent General
Howe. Both men thought that New York was the key to holding all the colonies. Howe was determined
to take it. And Washington intended to make it as deadly as possible for the British.
In early 1776 the Continental Army began building earthworks in the city. They created
defensive positions preparing themselves for the battle that was sure to come.
On July 2nd a British Armada sailed unopposed into New York Harbor. It
looked like the entire British army was being brought into the city.
On August 22 the British attacked. They smashed the American forces and sent them into retreat.
Washington watched from a distance as a group of fighters from Maryland sacrificed themselves.
They died so that others could escape. He was reported to have said,
What brave fellows must I lose this day! The only thing that kept all the forces under
Washington from being destroyed was good luck. On the night of August 29th fog and wind arrived. The
Americans were able to retreat, and the British couldn t see well enough to attack them.
General Howe could have pursued the fleeing forces once the weather cleared. Instead,
he chose to continue attacking New York. It was another fortunate turn of events for Washington,
though it didn t seem lucky at the time. From New Jersey he watched as the last
fortifications in New York were destroyed by the British. Over 2,800 men died as New York burned.
Washington supposedly just stood there watching and weeping.
His poor strategic planning had almost lost the war.
Only good luck and poor choices by the British saved the Continental Army.
Presidency Despite making
numerous mistakes, Washington did lead American forces to victory.
And on April 30, 1789, he became the first President of the United States of America.
As he led this new nation George Washington made several questionable decisions. In 1791
he told General Arthur St. Clair to go into the Northwest Territories and defeat the natives that
lived there. They resisted and delivered the worst military defeat in US history.
We have an entire episode devoted to this if you want to learn more.
Soon after forming the new Federal Government,
the next order of business was to pay debts incurred by years of war against England.
Representatives decided to do this by placing a tax on whiskey in 1791. Grain farmers were
enraged. They considered this to be no different than what happened under the British.
Tax collectors were threatened. Some were beaten for trying to do their jobs.
Washington asked the state governments to intervene, but they were unwilling to help.
Finally, he called militia from the states and ordered them to suppress the rebellion.
One hundred and fifty prisoners were taken. Two were condemned
to death but Washington pardoned them. Although rebelling against the British had worked,
fighting against the new United States government had not. The farmers had to pay their taxes.
The first President also had to pick nominees for the Supreme Court. Sometimes his choices did
not work out. On June 28, 1795, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Jay,
resigned. He had been elected governor of New York and decided to serve in that position instead.
Washington assigned John Rutledge as Chief Justice.
He would hold that position until Congress met to confirm his appointment.
Unfortunately, John couldn t keep his mouth shut long enough to earn that confirmation.
In July he began speaking forcefully against a treaty that had been signed with Britain. He
said that if he had a choice, he would choose war instead. Almost everyone else was tired of war.
So, when the Senate met in December to consider his appointment, they voted against it.
John Rutledge was extremely upset at this rejection.
He resigned from the court two days later. Then he jumped off a wharf into the ocean to kill himself.
Two slaves who witnessed the event rescued him. The worst failures of George Washington as both a
person and a President involved owning human beings.
Slavery Freedom was not something
everybody was allowed to experience in the 18th century. Slaves didn t have rights even before
the Revolutionary War. They certainly didn t gain any with the formation of the United States.
George Washington was born in Virginia and owned a plantation. For the first
half of his life his views on slavery were the same as others who shared his social status.
They were property and nothing more. During his lifetime Washington owned at
least 577 slaves. He either purchased them, inherited them, or acquired them through
marriage. He used them to work at his plantation, and they also helped build the White House.
At some point Mount Vernon switched from growing tobacco to grain crops.
The result was a surplus of slaves that still needed food, shelter, and clothing.
Washington began questioning slavery s economic feasibility.
During the events of the Revolutionary War, he expressed in private that he no longer
considered slavery moral. But his actions did little to express this belief.
In 1791, while Washington was President, two pieces of legislation were proposed that would
abolish slavery. He did not think the new nation would survive the passage of anti-slavery laws.
He helped ensure they were never signed into law. But in 1793 Washington did sign the Fugitive Slave
Act which allowed slave owners to recover their property anywhere in the nation.
He showed a little more sympathy for the enslaved at the end of his life.
In his will George Washington said that all his slaves would be freed upon the death of
Martha Washington. He wasn t willing to give them freedom if it meant Martha would be left alone.
A year after George Washington died Martha signed an order that freed all the slaves. Many of them
had never lived anywhere else but Mount Vernon and did not want to leave Martha. Those who chose
to do so remained on the plantation. The funds left for their care lasted until the 1830s.
Was He Great? Despite his failings, and there were many,
George Washington did accomplish great things. As a military leader he made a series of poor
decisions. But as a strategic thinker he was undoubtedly brilliant. Although he
needed good luck at times, Washington kept the British from capturing or destroying his army.
In many ways he was able to win the Revolutionary War simply because he would not stop fighting.
Persistence was his most powerful attribute. While serving as President he also made many poor
decisions. He arrested protestors, attacked Native Americans, and appointed Supreme Court justices
who spoke against their own government. However, his control of the government was not absolute.
In many cases Washington could issue orders, but he couldn t control how they were executed.
By the end of his second term George Washington was also under attack from all sides.
He was accused of being greedy by both political opponents and the press. Today he is celebrated
for resigning after two terms rather than trying to be a President for life. But to a large extent
the resignation happened because he no longer commanded universal respect as a leader.
In terms of slavery, it is difficult to consider his actions heroic.
The First President did almost nothing to abolish the institution of slavery.
In the end, it seems fair to say that despite many
failures George Washington did accomplish great things.
He was not necessarily a great person. --------------
George Washington was a complicated figure. He seemed to make completely idiotic decisions.
But through good luck and perseverance he somehow succeeded.
What do you think about this Founding Father of the United States? Was he a great man despite
his failings? Or if you take slavery and the slaughter of Native Americans into account,
is it hard to celebrate anything about him? Let us know your opinion in the comments below.
If you learned something interesting from this episode, then it would be great if
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Eventually someone is likely to start a rebellion against taxes. But for now,
it seems we must pay them. Thank you for watching Bad
Things in History. --------------