George Washington by James MacGregor Burns and Susan Dunn

Having just read Mary Higgins Clark, Mount Vernon Love Story, I thought it might be worth my while to read a biography of George Washington as a natural follow-up.  This book, not really a biography, is part of a series called The American Presidents edited by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.  It is the only book on George Washington that I found in the Harker Heights library. It’s a small library, what can I tell you.

Though our soldier-hero-president George Washington wasn’t the central theme of Clark’s Mount Vernon Love Story, she brought him to life effectively and I realized just how very little I knew about our first president.  From Clark’s book I learned that George Washington had an overbearing and stern mother, Washington’s mother being his father’s second wife. Washington had dreams of being a sailor but his mother prohibited it. Washington was not considered an educated man by the standards of his day or ours for that matter.  He was not from the upper crust of colonial landed gentry, his father being only a second or third tier landowner. Washington was, as we all know, physically commanding standing at over 6 feet.  He was athletic, a fine horseman, a brave soldier, a courageous leader and he was a good dancer, a prized quality with dancing being a popular pastime of his era. 

I read this short book in a focused manner using what I'd read about Washington in Clark's book as a starting point.  Clark's depiction of Washington was very accurate. Here are the salient points of this book for me.

Washington was unanimously elected Commander in Chief of the Revolutionary Army.

Washington was unanimously elected President of the Constitutional Convention in 1787

Washington was unanimously elected President of the United States in 1789

Washington served for two terms from 1789 to 1797.

He worked hard to control his emotions, preferring instead to present always a calm manner and a voice of reason, reason being a quality he valued highly.

He had the somewhat daunting task of establishing parameters for and shaping the nature of the executive branch in this new and experimental form of government. He rose to the occasion.   He did not particularly like the idea of political parties and he often found himself negotiating between Hamilton (Federalism) on the one hand and Jefferson (Republic-anism) on the other.