Washington became a government servant before he became a voter, by
receiving in 1749, or when he was seventeen years of age, the appointment
of official surveyor of Culpepper County, the salary of which, according
to Boucher, was about fifty pounds Virginia currency a year. The office
was certainly not a very fat berth, for it required the holder to live in
a frontier county, to travel at times, as Washington in his journal noted,
over "ye worst Road that ever was trod by Man or Beast," to sometimes lie
on straw, which once "catch'd a Fire," and we "was luckily Preserved by
one of our Mens waking," sometimes under a tent, which occasionally "was
Carried quite of[f] with ye Wind and" we "was obliged to Lie ye Latter
part of ye night without covering," and at other times driven from under
the tent by smoke. Indeed, one period of surveying Washington described to
a friend by writing,--
"[Since] October Last I have not sleep'd above three Nights or four in a
bed but after Walking a good deal all the Day lay down before the fire
upon a Little Hay Straw Fodder or bearskin which-ever is to be had with
Man Wife and Children like a Parcel of Dogs or Catts & happy's he that
gets the Birth nearest the fire there's nothing would make it pass of
tolerably but a good Reward a Dubbleloon is my constant gain every Day
that the Weather will permit my going out and some time Six Pistoles the
coldness of the Weather will not allow my making a long stay as the
Lodging is rather too cold for the time of Year. I have never had my
Cloths of but lay and sleep in them like a Negro except the few Nights I
have lay'n in Frederick Town."
In 1751, when he was nineteen, Washington bettered his lot by becoming
adjutant of one of the four military districts of Virginia, with a salary
of one hundred pounds and a far less toilsome occupation. This in turn led
up to his military appointment in 1754, which he held almost continuously
till 1759, when he resigned from the service.
Next to a position on the Virginia council, a seat in the House of
Burgesses, or lower branch of the Legislature, was most sought, and this
position had been held by Washington's great-grandfather, father, and
elder brother. It was only natural, therefore, that in becoming the head
of the family George should desire the position. As early as 1755, while
on the frontier, he wrote to his brother in charge of Mount Vernon
inquiring about the election to be held in the county, and asking him to
"come at Colo Fairfax's intentions, and let me know whether he purposes to
offer himself as a candidate." "If he does not, I should be glad to take a
poll, if I thought my chance tolerably good." His friend Carlyle,
Washington wrote, had "mentioned it to me in Williamsburg in a bantering
way," and he begged his brother to "discover Major Carlyle's real
sentiments on this head," as also those of the other prominent men of the
county, and especially of the clergymen. "Sound their pulse," he wrote,
"with an air of indifference and unconcern ... without disclosing much of
mine." "If they seem inclinable to promote my interest, and things
should be drawing to a crisis, you may declare my intention and beg their
assistance. If on the contrary you find them more inclined to favor some
other, I would have the affair entirely dropped." Apparently the county
magnates disapproved, for Washington did not stand for the county.
In 1757 an election for burgesses was held in Frederick County, in which
Washington then was (with his soldiers), and for which he offered himself
as a candidate. The act was hardly a wise one, for, though he had saved
Winchester and the surrounding country from being overrun by the Indians,
he was not popular. Not merely was he held responsible for the massacres
of outlying inhabitants, whom it was impossible to protect, but in this
very defence he had given cause for ill-feeling. He himself confessed that
he had several times "strained the law,"--he had been forced to impress
the horses and wagons of the district, and had in other ways so angered
some of the people that they had threatened "to blow out my brains." But
he had been guilty of a far worse crime still in a political sense.
Virginia elections were based on liquor, and Washington had written to the
governor, representing "the great nuisance the number of tippling houses
in Winchester are to the soldiers, who by this means, in spite of the
utmost care and vigilance, are, so long as their pay holds, incessantly
drunk and unfit for service," and he wished that "the new commission for
this county may have the intended effect," for "the number of tippling
houses kept here is a great grievance." As already noted, the Virginia
regiment was accused in the papers of drunkenness, and under the sting of
that accusation Washington declared war on the publicans. He whipped his
men when they became drunk, kept them away from the ordinaries, and even
closed by force one tavern which was especially culpable. "Were it not too
tedious," he wrote the governor, "I cou'd give your Honor such instances
of the villainous Behavior of those Tippling House-keepers, as wou'd
astonish any person."
The conduct was admirable, but it was not good politics, and as soon as he
offered himself as a candidate, the saloon element, under the leadership
of one Lindsay, whose family were tavern-keepers in Winchester for at
least one hundred years, united to oppose him. Against the would-be
burgess they set up one Captain Thomas Swearingen, whom Washington later
described as "a man of great weight among the meaner class of people, and
supposed by them to possess extensive knowledge." As a result, the poll
showed Swearingen elected by two hundred and seventy votes, and Washington
defeated with but forty ballots.
This sharp experience in practical politics seems to have taught the young
candidate a lesson, for when a new election came in 1758 he took a leaf
from his enemy's book, and fought them with their own weapons. The
friendly aid of the county boss, Colonel John Wood, was secured, as also
that of Gabriel Jones, a man of much local force and popularity. Scarcely
less important were the sinews of war employed, told of in the following
detailed account. A law at that time stood on the Virginia statutes
forbidding all treating or giving of what were called "ticklers" to the
voters, and declaring illegal all elections which were thus influenced.
None the less, the voters of Frederick enjoyed at Washington's charge--
40 gallons of Rum Punch @ 3/6 pr. galn 7 0 0
15 gallons of Wine @ 10/ pr. galn 7 10 0
Dinner for your Friends 3 0 0
13-1/2 gallons of Wine @ 10/ 6 15
3-1/2 pts. of Brandy @ 1/3 4 4-1/2
13 Galls. Beer @ 1/3 16 3
8 qts. Cyder Royl @ 1/6 0 12 0
Punch 3 9
30 gallns. of strong beer @ 8d pr. gall 1 0
1 hhd & 1 Barrell of Punch, consisting of
26 gals. best Barbadoes rum, 5/ 6 10 0
12 lbs. S. Refd. Sugar 1/6 18 9
3 galls. and 3 quarts of Beer @ 1/ pr. gall 3 9
10 Bowls of Punch @ 2/6 each 1 5 0
9 half pints of rum @ 7-1/2 d. each 5 7-1/2
1 pint of wine 1 6
After the election was over, Washington wrote Wood that "I hope no
Exception was taken to any that voted against me, but that all were alike
treated, and all had enough. My only fear is that you spent with too
sparing a hand." It is hardly necessary to say that such methods reversed
the former election; Washington secured three hundred and ten votes, and
Swearingen received forty-five. What is more, so far from now threatening
to blow out his brains, there was "a general applause and huzzaing for
Colonel Washington."
From this time until he took command of the army Washington was a
burgess. Once again he was elected from Frederick County, and then, in
1765, he stood for Fairfax, in which Mount Vernon was located. Here he
received two hundred and eight votes, his colleague getting but one
hundred and forty-eight, and in the election of 1768 he received one
hundred and eighty-five, and his colleague only one hundred and forty-two.
Washington spent between forty and seventy-five pounds at each of these
elections, and usually gave a ball to the voters on the night he was
chosen. Some of the miscellaneous election expenses noted in his ledger
are, "54 gallons of Strong Beer," "52 Do. of Ale," "£1.0.0. to Mr. John
Muir for his fiddler," and "For cakes at the Election £7.11.1."
The first duty which fell to the new burgess was service on a committee to
draught a law to prevent hogs from running at large in Winchester. He was
very regular in his attendance; and though he took little part in the
proceedings, yet in some way he made his influence felt, so that when the
time came to elect deputies to the First Congress he stood third in order
among the seven appointed to attend that body, and a year later, in the
delegation to the Continental Congress, he stood second, Peyton Randolph
receiving one more vote only, and all the other delegates less.
This distinction was due to the sound judgment of the man rather than to
those qualities that are considered senatorial. Jefferson said, "I served
with General Washington in the legislature of Virginia before the
revolution, and, during it, with Dr. Franklin in Congress. I never heard
either of them speak ten minutes at a time, nor to any but the main point
which was to decide the question. They laid their shoulders to the great
points, knowing that the little ones would follow of themselves."
Through all his life Washington was no speechmaker. In 1758, by an
order of the Assembly, Speaker Robinson was directed to return its thanks
to Colonel Washington, on behalf of the colony, for the distinguished
military services which he had rendered to the country. As soon as he
took his seat in the House, the Speaker performed this duty in such
glowing terms as quite overwhelmed him. Washington rose to express his
acknowledgments for the honor, but was so disconcerted as to be unable to
articulate a word distinctly. He blushed and faltered for a moment, when
the Speaker relieved him from his embarrassment by saying, "Sit down, Mr.
Washington, your modesty equals your valor, and that surpasses the power
of any language that I possess."
This stage-fright seems to have clung to him. When Adams hinted that
Congress should "appoint a General," and added, "I had no hesitation to
declare that I had but one gentleman in my mind for that important
command, and that was a gentleman whose skill and experience as an
officer, whose independent fortune, great talents, and excellent universal
character, would command the approbation of all America, and unite the
cordial exertions of all the Colonies better than any other person in the
Union," he relates that "Mr. Washington who happened to sit near the door,
as soon as he heard me allude to him, from his usual modesty, darted into
the library-room."
So, too, at his inauguration as President, Maclay noted that "this great
man was agitated and embarrassed more than ever he was by the leveled
cannon or pointed musket. He trembled, and several times could scarce make
out to read [his speech], though it must be supposed he had often read it
before," and Fisher Ames wrote, "He addressed the two Houses in the
Senate-chamber; it was a very touching scene and quite of a solemn kind.
His aspect grave, almost to sadness; his modesty actually shaking; his
voice deep, a little tremulous, and so low as to call for close
attention,"
There can be little doubt that this non-speech-making ability was not
merely the result of inaptitude, but was also a principle, for when his
favorite nephew was elected a burgess, and made a well-thought-of speech
in his first attempt, his uncle wrote him, "You have, I find, broke the
ice. The only advice I will offer to you on the occasion (if you have a
mind to command the attention of the House,) is to speak seldom, but
to important subjects, except such as particularly relate to your
constituents; and, in the former case, make yourself perfectly master of
the subject. Never exceed a decent warmth, and submit your sentiments with
diffidence. A dictatorial stile, though it may carry conviction, is always
accompanied with disgust." To a friend writing of this same speech he
said, "with great pleasure I received the information respecting the
commencement of my nephew's political course. I hope he will not be so
bouyed by the favorable impression it has made, as to become a babbler."
Even more indicative of his own conceptions of senatorial conduct is
advice given in a letter to Jack Custis, when the latter, too, achieved an
election to the Assembly.
"I do not suppose," he wrote, "that so young a senator as you are, little
versed in political disquisitions, can yet have much influence in a
populous assembly, composed of Gentln. of various talents and of different
views. But it is in your power to be punctual in your attendance (and duty
to the trust reposed in you exacts it of you), to hear dispassionately and
determine coolly all great questions. To be disgusted at the decision of
questions, because they are not consonant to your own ideas, and to
withdraw ourselves from public assemblies, or to neglect our attendance at
them, upon suspicion that there is a party formed, who are inimical to our
cause, and to the true interest of our country, is wrong, because these
things may originate in a difference of opinion; but, supposing the fact
is otherwise, and that our suspicions are well founded, it is the
indispensable duty of every patriot to counteract them by the most steady
and uniform opposition."
In the Continental Congress, Randolph states, "Washington was prominent,
though silent. His looks bespoke a mind absorbed in meditation on his
country's fate; but a positive concert between him and Henry could not
more effectually have exhibited him to view, than when Henry ridiculed the
idea of peace 'when there was no peace,' and enlarged on the duty of
preparing for war." Very quickly his attendance on that body was ended by
its appointing him general.
His political relations to the Congress have been touched upon elsewhere,
but his attitude towards Great Britain is worth attention. Very early he
had said, "At a time when our lordly masters in Great Britain will be
satisfied with nothing less than the deprivation of American freedom, it
seems highly necessary that something should be done to avert the stroke,
and maintain the liberty, which we have derived from our ancestors. But
the manner of doing it, to answer the purpose effectually, is the point in
question. That no man should scruple, or hesitate a moment, to use a--s in
defence of so valuable a blessing, on which all the good and evil of life
depends, is clearly my opinion." When actual war ensued, he was among the
first to begin to collect and drill a force, even while he wrote, "unhappy
it is, though to reflect, that a brother's sword has been sheathed in a
brother's breast, and that the once happy and peaceful plains of America
are either to be drenched with blood or inhabited by slaves. Sad
alternative! But can a virtuous man hesitate in his choice?"
Not till early in 1776 did he become a convert to independence, and
then only by such "flaming arguments as were exhibited at Falmouth and
Norfolk," which had been burned by the British. At one time, in 1776, he
thought "the game will be pretty well up," but "under a full persuasion of
the justice of our cause, I cannot entertain an Idea, that it will finally
sink, tho' it may remain for some time under a cloud," and even in this
time of terrible discouragement he maintained that "nothing short of
independence, it appears to me, can possibly do. A peace on other terms
would, if I may be allowed the expression, be a peace of war."
Pickering, who placed a low estimate on his military ability, said that,
"upon the whole, I have no hesitation in saying that General Washington's
talents were much better adapted to the Presidency of the United States
than to the command of their armies," and this is probably true. The
diplomatist Thornton said of the President, that if his "circumspection is
accompanied by discernment and penetration, as I am informed it is, and as
I should be inclined to believe from the judicious choice he has generally
made of persons to fill public stations, he possesses the two great
requisites of a statesman, the faculty of concealing his own sentiments
and of discovering those of other men."
To follow his course while President is outside of the scope of this work,
but a few facts are worth noting. Allusion has already been made to his
use of the appointing power, but how clearly he held it as a "public
trust" is shown in a letter to his longtime friend Benjamin Harrison, who
asked him for an office. "I will go to the chair," he replied, "under no
pre-engagement of any kind or nature whatsoever. But, when in it, to the
best of my judgment, discharge the duties of the office with that
impartiality and zeal for the public good, which ought never to suffer
connection of blood or friendship to intermingle so as to have the least
sway on the decision of a public nature." This position was held to
firmly. John Adams wrote an office-seeker, "I must caution you, my dear
Sir, against having any dependence on my influence or that of any other
person. No man, I believe, has influence with the President. He seeks
information from all quarters, and judges more independently than any man
I ever knew. It is of so much importance to the public that he should
preserve this superiority, that I hope I shall never see the time that any
man will have influence with him beyond the powers of reason and
argument."
Long after, when political strife was running high, Adams said,
"Washington appointed a multitude of democrats and jacobins of the deepest
die. I have been more cautious in this respect; but there is danger of
proscribing under imputations of democracy, some of the ablest, most
influential, and best characters in the Union." In this he was quite
correct, for the first President's appointments were made with a view to
destroy party and not create it, his object being to gather all the talent
of the country in support of the national government, and he bore many
things which personally were disagreeable in an endeavor to do this.
Twice during Washington's terms he was forced to act counter to the public
sentiment. The first time was when a strenuous attempt was made by the
French minister to break through the neutrality that had been proclaimed,
when, according to John Adams, "ten thousand people in the streets of
Philadelphia, day after day, threatened to drag Washington out of his
house, and effect a revolution in the government, or compel it to declare
in favor of the French revolution and against England." The second time
was when he signed the treaty of 1795 with Great Britain, which produced a
popular outburst from one end of the country to the other. In neither case
did Washington swerve an iota from what he thought right, writing, "these
are unpleasant things, but they must be met with firmness." Eventually the
people always came back to their leader, and Jefferson sighed over the
fact that "such is the popularity of the President that the people will
support him in whatever he will do or will not do, without appealing to
their own reason or to anything but their feelings towards him."
It is not to be supposed from this that Washington was above considering
the popular bent, or was lacking in political astuteness. John Adams
asserted that "General Washington, one of the most attentive men in the
world to the manner of doing things, owed a great proportion of his
celebrity to this circumstance," and frequently he is to be found
considering the popularity or expediency of courses. In 1776 he said, "I
have found it of importance and highly expedient to yield to many points
in fact, without seeming to have done it, and this to avoid bringing on a
too frequent discussion of matters which in a political view ought to be
kept a little behind the curtain, and not to be made too much the subjects
of disquisition. Time only can eradicate and overcome customs and
prejudices of long standing--they must be got the better of by slow and
gradual advances."
Elsewhere he wrote, "In a word, if a man cannot act in all respects as he
would wish, he must do what appears best, under the circumstances he is
in. This I aim at, however short I may fall of the end;" of a certain
measure he thought, "it has, however, like many other things in which I
have been involved, two edges, neither of which can be avoided without
falling on the other;" and that even in small things he tried to be
politic is shown in his journey through New England, when he accepted an
invitation to a large public dinner at Portsmouth, and the next day, being
at Exeter, he wrote in his diary, "a jealousy subsists between this town
(where the Legislature alternately sits) and Portsmouth; which, had I
known it in time, would have made it necessary to have accepted an
invitation to a public dinner, but my arrangements having been otherwise
made, I could not."
Nor was Washington entirely lacking in finesse. He offered Patrick Henry a
position after having first ascertained in a roundabout manner that it
would be refused, and in many other ways showed that he understood good
politics. Perhaps the neatest of his dodges was made when the French
revolutionist Volney asked him for a general letter of introduction to the
American people. This was not, for political and personal reasons, a thing
Washington cared to give, yet he did not choose to refuse, so he wrote on
a sheet of paper,--
"C. Volney
needs no recommendation from
Geo. Washington."
There is a very general belief that success in politics and truthfulness
are incompatible, yet, as already shown, Washington prospered in politics,
and the Rev. Mason L. Weems is authority for the popular statement that at
six years of age George could not tell a lie. Whether this was so, or
whether Mr. Weems was drawing on his imagination for his facts, it seems
probable that Washington partially outgrew the disability in his more
mature years.
When trying to win the Indians to the English cause in 1754, Washington in
his journal states that he "let the young Indians who were in our camp
know that the French wanted to kill the Half King," a diplomatic statement
he hardly believed, which the writer says "had its desired effect," and
which the French editor declared to be an "imposture." In this same
campaign he was forced to sign a capitulation which acknowledged that he
had been guilty of assassination, and this raised such a storm in Virginia
when it became known that Washington hastened to deny all knowledge of the
charge having been contained among the articles, and alleged that it had
not been made clear to him when the paper had been translated and read.
On the contrary, another officer present at the reading states that
he refused to "sign the Capitulation because they charged us with
Assasination in it."
In writing to an Indian agent in 1755, Washington was "greatly enraptured"
at hearing of his approach, dwelt upon the man's "hearty attachment to our
glorious Cause" and his "Courage of which I have had very great proofs."
Inclosing a copy of the letter to the governor, Washington said, "the
letter savors a little of flattery &c., &c., but this, I hope is
justifiable on such an occasion."
With his London agent there was a little difficulty in 1771, and
Washington objected to a letter received "because there is one paragraph
in particular in it ... which appears to me to contain an implication of
my having deviated from the truth." A more general charge was Charles
Lee's: "I aver that his Excellencies letter was from beginning to the end
a most abominable lie."
As a ruse de guerre Washington drew up for a spy in 1779 a series of
false statements as to the position and number of his army for him to
report to the British. And in preparation for the campaign of 1781 "much
trouble was taken and finesse used to misguide and bewilder Sir Henry
Clinton by making a deceptive provision of ovens, forage and boats in his
neighborhood." "Nor were less pains taken to deceive our own army," and
even "the highest military as well as civil officers" were deceived at
this time, not merely that the secret should not leak out, but also "for
the important purpose of inducing the eastern and middle states to make
greater exertions."
When travelling through the South in 1791, Washington entered in his
diary, "Having suffered very much by the dust yesterday--and finding that
parties of Horse, & a number of other Gentlemen were intending to attend
me part of the way to-day, I caused their enquiries respecting the time of
my setting out, to be answered that, I should endeavor to do it before
eight o'clock; but I did it a little after five, by which means I avoided
the inconveniences above mentioned."
Weld, in his "Travels in America," published that "General Washington told
me that he never was so much annoyed by the mosquitos in any part of
America as in Skenesborough, for that they used to bite through the
thickest boot." When this anecdote appeared in print, good old Dr. Dwight,
shocked at the taradiddle, and fearing its evil influence on Washington's
fame, spoiled the joke by explaining in a book that "a gentleman of
great respectability, who was present when General Washington made the
observation referred to, told me that he said, when describing those
mosquitoes to Mr. Weld, that they 'bit through his stockings above the
boots.'" Whoever invented the explanation should also have evolved a type
of boots other than those worn by Washington, for unfortunately for the
story Washington's military boots went above his "small clothes," giving
not even an inch of stocking for either mosquito or explanation. In 1786,
Washington declared that "I do not recollect that in the course of my
life, I ever forfeited my word, or broke a promise made to any one," and
at another time he wrote, "I never say any thing of a Man that I have the
smallest scruple of saying to him."
From 1749 till 1784, and from 1789 till 1797, or a period of forty years,
Washington filled offices of one kind or another, and when he died he
still held a commission. Thus, excluding his boyhood, there were but seven
years of his life in which he was not engaged in the public service. Even
after his retirement from the Presidency he served on a grand jury, and
before this he had several times acted as petit juror. In another way he
was a good citizen, for when at Mount Vernon he invariably attended the
election, rain or shine, though it was a ride of ten miles to the polling
town.
Both his enemies and his friends bore evidence to his honesty. Jefferson
said, "his integrity was most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have
ever known, no motives of interest or consanguinity or friendship or
hatred, being able to bias his decision. He was indeed in every sense of
the words, a wise, a good, and a great man." Pickering wrote that "to the
excellency of his virtues I am not disposed to set any limits. All his
views were upright, all his actions just" Hamilton asserted that "the
General is a very honest Man;" and Tilghman spoke of him as "the honestest
man that I believe ever adorned human nature."
