Ron Chernow’s Washington: A Life is a riveting read on one of the most consequential figures of history. George Washington was an amazing leader in a pivotal time in history. He was truly “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”
Washington’s leadership was marked by an overriding desire to do what was good for the country and to administer his role within the boundaries of the Constitution. As Chernow writes, “again and again the American people had entrusted him with power, secure in the knowledge that he would exercise it fairly and ably and surrender it when his term of office was up.”
Washington was an imperfect man. He could be an overbearing taskmaster, to servant and slave alike. Chernow is unflinching about his contradictory positions on slavery–privately supporting abolition, but unwilling to publicly back attempts by the Quakers (and Benjamin Franklin) for broad emancipation. Nevertheless, Washington freed his slaves upon his death and had the insight to write, “I can clearly foresee that nothing but the rooting out of slavery can perpetuate the existence of our union, by consolidating it in a common bond of principle.”
Chernow’s biography is thorough, as the page count suggests. My favorite part was its review of Washington’s presidency, how he was hoping to only serve for 2 years, but ended up serving for 8–and could have easily remained in that office for life, had he chose to. The intrigue between the Federalists (e.g., Washington, Adams, Hamilton) and the “Democratic-Republicans” (e.g., Jefferson, Madison, Monroe) is covered well and is fascinating. In many ways, you can see the beginnings of the schism that would break out in the Civil War.