Free Blood of Tyrants: George Washington & the Forging of the Presidency by Logan Beirne

 

    This unfinished—and unflattering—portrait by Gilbert Stuart ironically came to be the most famous depiction of Washington. Martha Washington criticized it as not a “true resemblance.” Photograph © 2013 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution / Art Resource, NY

     

    Martha and George Washington entertained a great many visitors at their grand Mount Vernon estate beside the Potomac. In fact, the visitors became so frequent that George resorted to removing signage in order to confuse would-be houseguests. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-pga-01228

     

    This print depicts Independence Hall at the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. This building served as the principle seat of government, except for periods when Congress was forced by the advancing British forces to evacuate. With the postwar government failing, Washington and other patriot leaders returned in 1787 for the Constitutional Convention. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-pga-04142

     

    With the help of his assistants, Washington produced an amazing 140,000 documents during the Revolutionary War. Foreseeing his letters’ value to posterity, he checked virtually all of the scribes’ work and held each letter to exacting standards. He spent his nights documenting his actions and explaining to Congress what was needed to conduct the war. This image of his inaugural address depicts Washington’s own fine penmanship. National Archives (Records of the U.S. Senate)

     

    Washington was born into a family of relatively modest means but worked (and married) his way into wealth. This depiction of Washington as a child is titled “Father, I cannot tell a lie: I cut the tree,” and perpetuates the cherry tree myth. Washington indeed told a great many lies, and his knack for deception enabled the United States to outwit the British and win the war. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-pga-02152

     

    The Sons of Liberty punish a Loyalist for his opposition to the Revolution. The practice of “tarring and feathering” had originated in 1189 with Richard the Lionheart during the Crusades, but was not used extensively until the colonists revived it during their revolt against Britain. National Archives photo no. 148-GW-436 (The George Washington Bicentennial Commission)

     

    Throwing caution to the wind, Ethan Allen launches a daring surprise attack on Fort Ticonderoga in May 1775. The sleeping British did not even have time to dress, let alone put up a fight. National Archives photo no. 111-SC-94758 (Signal Corps Photographs of American Military Activity)

     

    This portrait depicts Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson poring over a draft of the Declaration of Independence at Jefferson’s lodgings in Philadelphia in June 1776. In an early draft, Jefferson referred to the American people as “subjects.” While he simply crossed out other errors in the draft, this was the only word that he obliterated with furious strokes of his pen. The American people were no longer “subjects” of any king. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-USZC4-9904

     

    George Washington organizes a masterful secret retreat from Long Island during a violent storm in August 1776. According to one soldier’s diary, the troops, “strictly enjoined not to speak, or even cough,” silently filed into the boats, and New England fishermen used their unique skill set to ferry them to safety in Manhattan. National Archives photo no. 148-GW-174 (The George Washington Bicentennial Commission)

     

    During that winter of 1777–1778 at Valley Forge, Washington pleaded with Congress for food, clothing, and supplies, writing, “I am now convinced, beyond a Doubt that unless some great and capital change suddenly takes place in that line, this Army must inevitably be reduced to one or other of these three things.