Transcripts For CSPAN3 George Washingtons Mount Vernon 20240713

Washington, were joined by the education and reason to give their, the president and ceo of George Washingtons not vernon on this president s day. First, sir, explain the significance of that moment that is portrayed over your shoulder there, the swearing in of George Washington. Well, good morning, welcome to non vernon. Behind me you see George Washington, the first president being sworn in and it would have been in 1789, in april. How well where the duties and the powers of the office that he was about to step into, how well were we defined at this moment when they were sworn in . Well they werent defined at all, the presidency was a brandnew institution, or have never been anything like, it certainly in america and really in the world, that was the new experiment of an elected magistrate that would have, at one point, with the head of state, like a king, but at the same time also be the chief executioner of the laws, the chief executive in this case, the chief policy maker, and it was not exactly clear where the powers of the legislature, and where the powers of the president would be defined, so washington really created that office, and many of the president s, many of the things that we can think of as president ial really come down from his example in the office. April of 1789, 8 57 when he took the oath, what were his views at the time about expanding or restricting the power of the office that he was stepping into . Well, George Washington had already established the idea that civilians should be in control, that we needed to exercise restraint. On the other side, we need this new government needed to succeed, and certain powers needed to exist to make sure there would not be, as you call it, anarchy and confusion. So he knew that they wanted the ability to have one foreign policy, that would be in the office, we knew that we want to have one military voice in the country that would be in his office, and knew the government would be able to have the nation represented. The presidency is really the peoples office and an interesting way. The oval office that represented everybody in the legislative branch, of course the house of representatives, people represent their districts, in the senate they represent their states, and so as president he is the only elected officer that represents all of the people. So he also wanted to embody and help create a National Identity at a time when the really was not much holding these states together. George washington and the presidency is our topic in this hour of the washington journal, and we welcome in our viewers on American History tv on cspan 3 on this president s day, were talking with douglas brad for, and the president and ceo of George Washingtons about vernon, taking your phone calls as well as we talk about George Washington and the presidency. If you are in the eastern or central time zones, its 2 02 202747800. Will look for your Text Messages thats 2027878002. Did we know that it would involve, and he would be okay with that . Well, that is a really good question, and washington gives us a hint of what is in his mind with the presidency, he writes a great letter who is an english historian and a woman, which is remarkable for that time and she is a friend of the washingtons and a big fan of the american resolution and George Washington in general he writes an extraordinary letter to her january 1790 after the first session of congress, the new sessions coming back and says i, walk on trotting grounds, everything i do is subject to two interpretations. Everything i do is creating a precedent, so he understands very clearly that his role in that office is going to set in train the next generation of how the presidency will function. So he is worried about the news cycle, on the one hand, like all politicians must, but he also has his eyes on the long term, a long term vision, 30 years, what will the office of the presidency fee like . So he is very aware of how important it is that he sets these precedents and works through them and a lot of the things that we come to take for granted about the presidency he really had to create. Ill give you one example, the cabinet itself. The constitution says that from time to time the chief executive can ask the opinion of the heads of the executive departments, the secretary of the state, and does not say anything about meeting them regularly talking, so washington stays very strict with the rules, so to speak. And most early of his presidency, he gets advice from his executive officers in writing. He asks a series of questions to them and has them respond in writing, it only really is about 1793, so four years into the presidency, during the crisis from the french resolution when it gets really bloody and dangerous, 1792 that he starts meeting weekly with the cabinet so we come to think that its obvious that you would meet regularly with the cabinet, you think of the cabinet as this consulting body but the constitution is not really clear about that at all so washingtons manny management style and his innovations in that regard help create this whole function of the cabinet. How many cabinets were there for George Washington. A much smaller cabinet, so his secretary of war and Alexander Hamilton as the secretary of treasury, and then edmund ran off who is the attorney general at that time, interestingly john adams was not a member of the cabinet, and he was kept out. Washington saw him, he saw him as a legislator. And he did not want to have the executive in the legislative branch like that together so this is interesting as well because the constitution implies that the senate is going to be a consulting body of the president , and will get advice and consent to get a treaty ratified in the senate so they share the power but the senate was to political to be a good consulting body. First of all, he cannot get rid of senators, he had no control over their appointment. They were not secretive enough, and would be to empty for arguments to spread and get into the world, so the senate clearly was a deliberative body, and not a consulting one, so its interesting to see how they made this into this consulting body, that the senate was thought to be when the framers wrote the constitution itself. Doug brad vergne joins us from the Mount Vernon Museum and Education Center there on the grounds of George Washingtons historic amount vernon, asking you to join us in this segment of the washington journal, phone lines, if you are in the eastern or central time zone, 2 02, seven for eight, 8000. If you have a question, if youre in the mountain or a specific time zones, 2 02, seven for eight, 8001, in this hour, we will explore some of the collections of the museum and Education Center there, and i want to start with the copy of the acts of congress that George Washington owned and cared for. We visited the museum of Education Center, back in 2000, 12 just after that coffee of the acts of congress had been purchased. I want to show you what it looks like and what president George Washington did to learn about the powers of the presidency. George washington is very exhausting with his books and he takes great care of them, he has been beautiful glass fronted shelves in his personal library at mount vernon. Often putting a wonderful flourish of his grandson nature and the upper right hand corner of the title. Page also, he puts a terrific book plate, and this is a book plate that washington ordered from england, engraved in london. This this signature on the title page and washington makes notes in the margin, and we never see him writing any margin dalia. In several places, he carefully brackets his powers, and his role we saw an article one next to those duties and, how he has to follow the enacting of legislation. How they have bills ratified by congress and representatives and for approval and veto and in article two, you see him not, only as the president , but also powers, which is an interesting word that he uses. And he shows the powers that he has from appointing justices to the supreme court, to ratify treaties and to appoint ambassadors, he really understands exactly those powers that are his. And its interesting seeing the first president s handwriting there in that clip, talk a little bit about how else you learned about this office he was stepping into. George washington, of, course had been in the positions of command and leadership since he was a young man. He had been a colonel at age 21, so he had been in these roles, and served as the commander and chief of the American Army for eight years which is as much political as in military, role he basically represented the cause, of the American Revolution as the face of it, and had to deal with all the different state governments as well as the congress, a lot of local committees. So he is one of those greatest politicians that we have ever had. He and eisenhower come to mind as the great ones who are political generals, so he was also the president of the constitutional convention, so he was there when the office of the presidency was being created, one of the things that is interesting to remember is that article one, which lays out the legislative branch is strictly enumerating the powers that congress has, congress is not in session all the time, it only does its work during certain periods of time. Article three, which is all about the judiciary is very narrow jurisdictions of federal laws and will have the power to decide. Its very restricted, and what it needs as well, where article two is quite wide open, the president is on 365 days a year all the time and has this power to execute the laws of the nation. George washington was entering a very powerful role that washington was trying to constrain just by how the powers were laid out, so the constitutionality of the office itself, and also in the decorum in office, and his method of apartments and how it would choose to appoint people to positions. He made careful study, not only of the connections of people being put up for office, but also, as he would say, their character. And if people violated his trust, he would get rid of them. He wanted to make sure that the early government had no reputation for corruption, and wanted to use his office to set that standard early on. Washington understood power, and leadership, but it was a new office. And i do believe that the acts of congress, the extraordinary copy of the constitution that he writes and really shows the way washington, at the height of his powers work, every greater understands where they fit within an organization, where they fit within the organization, but we see that they are writing in the book, thats a great moment because it is on the eve of the first state of the union address, so its after he had been president already 14 months, and yet, there he is reading the constitution, rereading all the loss they passed in the last session and marking up the margins around those areas of his responsibilities. I particular like the part in article two under the take care clause where he says he shall take care of the loss faithfully executed. Its a remarkable moment where, he writes and the constitution like is using a highlighter. You see immense focus there, its not a commentary, but its like we do, what we want to focus on something, we highlight the passage, i think next to that, in the context of trying to understand what laws had been passed and what his duties were, it really gets an insight into why he was such an effective leader at the creation of something. As the crowds gather at Washingtons Mount Vernon this morning and the reenactors are there as well on the grounds, on this president s day, the crowd that gathered on our phone lines to chat with. You tom is up first out of the hampton connecticut, good morning. I am a history buff and a member of the huntington trust. He was president of the Confederation Congress when marshall was still general, and even though it was quite different, i want to Research Without papers, and how to use the papers online and other. There was tremendous Research Going on, if you go to the founders online, a free web page, you can find all the papers that have been currently digitized and put up. Theyre in washingtons case, i think you are little hampered because the revolutionary war papers are not quite there yet. And you get the whole entirety of the war, but the story is fascinating, and fascinating for the future growth of the political opportunities as, well the library of congress has, and the letters to the delegates, the First Congress are available, plus all the formal records of the congress are, theyre all serviceable, all digital and online. Back in the day when i did my dissertation, none of that stuff existed, and i had to go to the library and dick all of the stuff out, that is why i took my time, but you have the benefit to use the great things that are digitized and available. Online im happy to say that man vernon is a part of that work, we have one of the documentary that work here at the library, and we work in Great Partnership at the university of virginia, who are systematically, not only transcribing, but also annotating and publishing all of the papers of George Washington. Its a remarkable thing, when you think about that project starting in 1968, it was thought it would take 20 years, we just had our 50th anniversary up that project the year before last, and i think its going to take another ten years before they finally finished all the massive correspondence of George Washington. It might be a good time to talk about the museum and Education Center, how long youve been around and what you do there. I came to mount vernon in 2013, actually, when the Ladies Association opened the president ial library for George Washington. And upstate new york, and when the Ladies Association was opening this library, they wanted an academic to come down, and a couple of years, ago i was made the president over the whole shooting match, mount vernon is a remarkable institution because it is fully private, were not one of the smithsonian museums or part of the National Park service, we came about because a group of women in the 18 fifties, led by and pamela cunningham, save the house of George Washington from destruction, really, and made it a museum, made it open for the public, so we are celebrating our 158 year of being a public history psych, Whose Mission is to preserve mount vernon and educate people about his legacy, now, we educate folks on the grounds, and today im happy to say that were going to welcome somewhere about 15,000 visitors to mount vernon, because it is washingtons birthday observed. President s day, as you call it out there, and we are really excited about that. But not only can people see the mansion and his tomb, where he and Martha Washington are entombed, but they can come into the structure, which is our museum and Education Center. The museum itself is an extraordinary exhibit right now, called lives bound together, which is the story of the enslaved in melbourne, not only George Washingtons changing attitudes, but also biographies of people enslaved here. The Education Center where we are right now is basically a biography of George Washington. We feel that folks and when they come to melbourne and we want to make sure they have the opportunity to learn as much as they. Can well show our viewers a photo of not vernon in near ruins, just before the civil war in 1858. When did the effort to really preserve not vernon began . The effort really began in the 18 fifties, around 1850 to, 1853. A woman, a south carolinian who was on the potomac on a steamboat heading home, who saw mount vernon in moonlight, and saw that it was basically dilapidated, it was in danger of falling down, and she asked her daughter to begin a movement to try to save not vernon. The family, the last washington to owned amount vernon was the family, Don Augustine the third, George Washingtons great grandnephew. So he could no longer maintain the place, it was an expensive old wooden structure, built and never intended to last during 70, years let alone hundreds of years. So, it was in dire need of work. What was remarkable is that these women, he tried to sell mount vernon to the government, try to sell it to the state of virginia, but no one had anything to do with it. There was no National Park system at the time, no stone in institution at that time, so this woman came together, a National Movement and if they cannot save their countries at the, house the ladies shall. And they did. They still manages this place, they were able to raise 200 thousands players from all around the country at the time, they raised in one dollar and five dollars and little bits in pieces here and there. They raised it with lecture series, they raised by selling flowers, and then all the different ways that people raise money. Also mentally, they were able to purchase the house in 1858, and they open for business for tourists, essentially in 1860, right on the eve of the civil war. Cspans history live, on the grounds of mount vernon, this is resin old from houston, texas. I would just like to know that George Washington, and these other president had any things they regret about history. To this day, we dont have a museum that is talking about reparations, or repentance, so id like to know in all these, what do they stand we still have another form of slavery in the president ial complex, that eisenhower would talk about the herd of america following that. So are there any remorse and how do these 400 years of slavery last year, about some type of repair work. We got your point. Its a very good question they were born in a world in which slavery was legal and was common, all throughout the atlantic world, inherited his first place when he was ten years old. But washington sees the institution as a problem, not only in economic problem but also as a moral problem. The american resolution was a resolution that had the highest aspiration, the great ideals that we all strive to receive, and lafayette, Alexander Hamilton who are very much anti slavery to do more about slavery. George washington, in the 17 eighties did right about slavery being an institution of great regret, and institution that they thought should be educated by legislation. But the movement to create a new constitution, that we are now free states, that could not happen in the war. And in washington which we had a operation when they were built on compromise. Some got rid of it slavery, and washington understood that the union would not have existed in that form, in that moment if slavery did not still exist. So they were compromises made that washington and his political life felt that he could not attack the institution because of those compromises at the constitutional convention. Ultimately when washington came back to mount vernon he only look for another two and a half years after the presidency, he did write a new will in that time, in what became the last year of his life in which he freed all the slaves that he owned, hes the only president that owned slaves, and i think we have seven slave owning president s in this country that freed the slaves in as well. Washington was concerned about his own legacy, for sure, but also about the freedom of those individuals. He not only freed, them he provide for the education of young slaves, he provided for the maintenance and care of older slaves acetate was pulling out pensions, so washington certainly did not do enough from the perspective of the 21st century person, but at the time, washington did what he thought he was able to do. Its both what we do, so the debate about what are the lasting legacies of slavery is an important one an american thing to have in a forthright manner, do it with education, and thats one of the reasons we tell the story of slavery every day, we give slave tours at melbourne, and at our memorial to celebrate enslaved peoples, so to these institutions, want people, youre these important institutions of our president s but also cites of slavery need to be forthright and to help educate folks, so we can have useful conversations about this issue. Brian is next, thank you. Thanks for letting me ask a question, i understand the two others, and i think the implication might be that he might have been involved in greyhound racing. What about some of the other blood sports . Did he attend cockfights . Id like to hear your opinion on what that was all about. Did you get that . I think it was about blood sports that George Washington go to cockfights and greyhound racing. This is a question, and all my time here ive never gotten this. Its very interesting to think about. I think he did go, i dont know about greyhound racing, i dont think there was much a dog racing in virginia, horse racing was a big thing and he was a great horsemen himself, probably the greatest of the eight by Thomas Jefferson and being a gentleman farmer in virginia and being able to not only, buy and sell horses but to have great part of filling that role and washington was very knowing about horses themselves. He stopped gambling at horse races about the time that he and martha got married. I think he had a few more, efforts after that, i dont think he one very often. But i think he arraigned him in a little bit, that is very common for the virginia planner class, and the colonial period that were always part of the big country days. When there is also horse Races Associated with that, thats what we see washington, the great sports he was a part of in the age was fox hunting. Fox hunting was imported from great britain, he was really led into it by lord fairfax, who lived out but also the fairfax is that live next door to him. And kept pounds until in 17 nineties, but essentially those are the sport that we knew washington was a part of. Just under half an hour to go from George Washingtons historic melbourne but known as washingtons birthday officially in u. S. Code, the washingtons birthday is february 22nd. So what should we be celebrating today . Its a National Holiday and its washingtons birthday observed. We should celebrated again on the 22nd, but its an effort to present around lincolns birthdays, which are close together. I dont know if i care for a holiday that just celebrates all president s. You may know a lot about them and was only president for a couple of days. But George Washington certainly was. I dont think its the end of the world, i love the fact that melbourne is able to be free, we dont receive Government Funds or tax dollars to do our work here, but it is nice to allow families to learn about George Washington, have a great day together and it is one of my favorite days here. In kind of you to allow the cspan cameras there as well, and to enjoy as their. This is an exciting. Already on the grounds and checking out the exhibits, as we hear from mark in the bronx. Good morning. Good morning, and thank you very much, a lot of my questions have been answered. I was wondering what your background watch. And you say that he was the greatest horsemen, yes, i read that and if he was the greatest horsemen, that missed early, which might have been the second greatest, perhaps he had to keep up with him, maybe its not in your valley book but do we know what happened after washington let him know . Yes. Thats a great question. William lee, through the American Revolution hes one of the great heroes, he was there through it all. With washington, in the tenth, he probably knew him as well as any man knew him intimately, helped dress him every moment. He took care of his horses from him. He was injured at mount vernon, i think he broke his kneecaps, at least one, and then injured the other knee later on, and became more and more difficult for him to have his traditional role, so by the 17 nineties he was helping to make shoes around this state, he was freed on the moment George Washingtons bill became laws, so he was the only enslaved person that was freed automatically at George Washingtons death or, execution or will. So he was given the opportunity to leave melbourne or remain and receive a pension for the rest of his life, he chose to remain, he received a pension for the rest of his life and he lived here at melbourne and told stories, mount vernon had already been a pilgrimage site for americans since the 17 eighties, since the moment after american independence when George Washington was the most famous man in north america, people would come, and that continued after George Washingtons staff, so william lee would serve as one of the early tour guides, telling stories about the general, about the war, and he was often visited by his own comrades in arms. Hes a remarkable figure in our history, and an important one. Staying in new york, this is dan, thank you. Good morning. I read a lot about George Washington and there is a story once that he would sit on the porch in mount vernon and the man that he would served with in their travels would pass by and come off the long drive there and they chat, this was such a remarkable image to think about someone who had been the president. And im wondering if they knew the story. Thats a really good question, George Washington was visited regularly as he complained in a letter that he was a real was ordered tavern and people would stay in modern and they would give you the run of the place. Many met him one time or the other, that she would have any people to come visit. What they talked about, i think many were frustrated because George Washington psalm south as a farmer, and love to talk about his wheat crop, and the hash and slide that was destroyed. In fact, we have a number of stories of people who had dinner, and complained about the war. They did not reminisce about the battle, which a lot of Congress Veterans do not. They did not talk politics very much unless he knew somebody very very well because they knew that what he said would be repeated an independent newspapers. They would end up all over the place. They were very careful about the innermost man, particular to strangers, we didnt have enough stories when he was with people who were his acquaintances and i would say up and have a few glasses of champagne after dinner and tell old stories. And he did enjoy himself, but he was never going to be the most talkative person. Very self conscious, and determined to stay mute. Is that one of the most popular parts of the Visitor Experience . We call it a piano, which is what the washington called and it extends the length of the building, and that is important to recognize that the view has been preserved by the melbourne Ladies Association. In the 19 fifties when theres a lot of suburban growth during world war ii there was some danger of some sewage plan or oil Holding Areas across the area and the preserving of that view. But it was much like a forest because there were easements with that property, it restricts the kind of elements that can happen, so they can, since his time have experienced this. I do think it is a remarkable preservation and the power of place to really connect with each other through time in a way that we are proud of our leadership. Live pictures from George Washington, as we hear from dana, ocean ohio, good morning. Good morning. Thank you for taking my calls. Who are you giving George Washington the oath of office, and we have the bible that he used to take the oath . And secondly, when George Washington was in, serving as the president , who managed not vernon for him . Thank you. Thats three questions. The first was giving George Washington, and i believe it was chancellor livingston the, chancellor of the state of new york, the bible was owned by a Masonic Lodge in new york city. It was taken from that lodge because it was such a pick bible so they loaned it for the use of the inauguration there, and the other question was about who minutes melbourne and while he was away . Well, during the man, he was supported by Martha Washington who was there during a, i dont know much about him, i have to admit. I had one of his nephews manage melbourne in the late 17 eighties and he unfortunately died. Washington regularly correspond with these different state, and he would write correspondents and a lot of that had to do with the day today, weekly operations. He always thought that it was not as wrong as well ive if he was there, and i think thats true. He was very meticulous with the whole estate, always looking for ways to try something new. He started a distillery he, was the largest distiller in the country and his story is a remarkable one of innovation, as well as leadership. Were on with doug bradford,. Thank you for taking your call. As a child, growing up i had washingtons birthday off, which was great, because i was born on january 22nd. Well, maybe he was born on february 11th. And i said, google it, so i did. And i was so deflated, and a little confused, so what best estimate is it . February 22nd or 11th . Thats a great question. Great britain used the julian calendar, when during the owner challenger they change the gregoire cow under, still that is why every 22nd is the date under our current calendar. He would have written down, that when he was born, when he first wrote down when he was born, when he was ten years old he wouldve written february 11th, so that is an interesting phenomenon for a man to have to birthdays, of course we have two days to celebrate his birthday now, on president s day, and one is his actual birthday. So it fits. To slippery walk pennsylvania, mary, good morning. Thanks for taking. Michael i want to let you know that my husband and i took our children to not vernon for a visit back in 2000, 20 years ago. And it was right in the middle of the sorry, it was right in the middle of the bush g. A. R. Election what we did not know where the president was going to be. My question is, how long did it take for the news to travel through the colonies, to announce that there was a new president , and i want to do also thank you for mentioning the view across the river. I thought that was very interesting and forward thinking. I think thats one of the remarkable, things you mentioned bring your family there 20 years, ago families have been talking about vernon since 1860, or even before, but its something that each generation has shared, and childrens, children going back, and that is a powerful continuity of the work we are very proud of here. So the question about how long it would have taken news to travel, well, at the travels on where you were. But it was taken about a month to breach everybody in the whole union, so if you are out and far west kentucky at the time, when the new president was elected, say in 1790, six when john adams was the next president , that wouldve taken about a month to get out west. But most of the east coast wouldve traveled in about one week. It does not happen instantly, that would have taken one time. So it really is remarkable that, difference in travel, in the speed of communications and technology, George Washingtons world has more in common with ancient roam than the president. They still used win power, muscle power, animal power, those are the things that propelled them as large as they were. And much better because they had bigger roads. So it really is a very different world that George Washington inhabited. On the ground, pretty everyone actors as their often is, how many people get to play George Washington and any special training for those who to reenact the general and the president . Well, we like that kind of consistency and we dont use the George Washington daily, our guy is a wonderful actor who lives in philadelphia, he does special events for us, fourth of events for us. We have George Wellington on the estate, so it is not a daily thing. We do have character actors, six or seven of them, both full and part time who play, people from washingtons life, including tobias leader, who was one of his great personal secretaries. James anderson, one of his estate managers, and all these are professional actors who have trained to inhabit these roles to help people experience history in a different engaging fashion. We are really proud of our character as well. We have to active duty army regimen who perform ceremonial duties, dressed in traditional 18 century uniforms, when they saw some of the manual drill that was common in George Washingtons time, and they shoot up some muskets and things like that, so today its even more rich with the spirit of 78 76 when we come to mount. Vernon youve seen the stage there, what else is going to happen on the grounds today . On the grounds today, theres a lot of things that the tomb is how it begins, a lot of local political figures, county officials, masonic goops, heritage societies like the american resolution, the sound of the American Revolution, and then the president sending a wreath as well which will be laid at the tomb by Major General who is a command of the old guard spa. Then we will do an event and George Washingtons legacy, we will attack the stage, i will be on the stage and will have birthday cake as well. And wonder around, so theres a lot of things, so theres a wonderful chance to see this place on a very exciting. Day it was just a half hour ago that President Trump sent his tweet this morning, exclamation point from barry in person virginia. Good morning, i had the opportunity to live in several states and countries, developing countries around the world, and a corruption that is self enriching at public expense and bureaucracy, too many people are not necessarily, and with the corruption and the administration, much like Thomas Jefferson hand or bureaucracy. George washington times, the whole bureaucracy had to begin, there was no Civil Service exam. He had to appoint a lot of the first officials, and that was a lot of the work he did, he was very concerned about the potential for corruption. And the potential for there to be any, even rumor of corruption. So as i talk about a little earlier, he had that rigorous standard that he would look people through, try to figure out who they were and not only that they knew the job, but that they had the character of a gentleman, which meant, for him they would be honorable in their position, they would not take money from the public. Without proper reason. In fact, he was so concerned about the appearance of corruption, he is kind of like caesars wife, he would not allow anyone to be tarred with a reverse before he but let them go. For instance, his attorney general, edmund rand off went on to become secretary of state after Thomas Jefferson. Now, rand off got involved in the scandal, having to do with the british and whether or not he was taking money from the british, or he was giving information to the british, and rand off argued to George Washington that none of this was true. When in fact, George Washington immediately fired him, without really letting him go through the process of proving himself innocent. This would have a huge impact on rent off, but George Washington had been a friend going back to their youth, he had been this personal attorney so washington was so concerned about the reputation of this new experiment in government, and the idea that this would be seen as no better than monarchy, that it will be seen as a failure, that he was pretty rigorous in trying to keep it as clean as possible, even being unjust to his own friends, i think in this case. So washington was very much concerned about reputation. That helped to help create inefficient government, but lets be honest, the presidency that George Washington had in the 17 nineties was no moment of perfection. He had his own cabinet members, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton at each others throats he created the First Party System all around him, while he was trying to keep them working together and compromising. He had a terrible military defeats, he sent an army out into the ohio country, that was destroyed by native americans. In part because of corruption around the quality of the muskets, that was provided for that army, so washington dealt with a lot of the same challenges that any democracy deals with, and i do think we have to have a long perspective on our own challenges today. To understand that they are not new. History really gives us some perspective that should allow us to be confident, people have dealt with difficult things in the past and found ways to work together. They have found ways, even times of great partisanship to make sure that we rise to the challenge and keep this great experiment in democracy going. Just a little over five minutes left here on cspan, and cspan 3s American History tv, we are live from George Washingtons not vernon on this president s day, doug brad burn, president and ceo of not vernon is with us, the image of George Washingtons tomb this morning and the scene outside George Washingtons tomb, you can see it on your screen. One of our viewers tweets in to ask if George Washington buried at mount vernon. We believe that william lee is buried at mount vernon, but we have no idea where. There is no gravestone that is marked, no record of a position. So its a shame. We do have an African American Burial Ground where we have a memorial to the enslaved people who work in mount vernon, the first one was created in 1929, very early at a time when these kind of stories were not readily told, and was the leadership of one member of the board, one of the ladies that made that happen. That memorial stone was placed in an area that had traditionally been known as a place where formerly enslaved people were buried and was known as the enslaved Burial Ground. We do know that a lot of formerly insulate people of melbourne and were buried there, and we have been doing some archeological work to study and understand that Burial Ground we do not dig into the tombs, we reveal the topsoil to show where the shafts are so were able to document the number of shafts and their orientation as a way to better understand that place and all our visitors are welcome to go there and learn about it. And we have this wonderful memorial built in the 19 eighties, designed by architects to Howard University who put together this very special memorial at the time, the only memorial to enslaved people in north america anywhere. So we are proud of that story but somewhere in there and around there is where i would bet that william lee is buried. Time for one or two more questions. Robert, thanks for waiting. Thanks for taking my call, great program. My question is not about the presidency but about your thoughts on his remarkable mother and his remarkable sister betty and her husband and their influence. Theyre probably his longest female relationships. And id be interested in your thoughts, thank you. I did not catch the third part of that question, when you asked about George Washingtons mother and sister and i did not ask the third part, but about the mother, Mary Washington is really an extraordinary figure in her own right. It was hard to get at because theres not a lot of resources to understand, but she raised George Washington. George washington was raised by a single mother. Mary washington did not remarry after George Washingtons father died, and he was only 11 years old at the. Time so she really gave him a tremendous strength of character. She taught him very many things about how to manage and estate, she was known to be very religious, so its very clear that she read to him not only the bible but books on religion. She had to be a very strong woman. And i think George Washington was probably quite like his mother. She seems to be a no nonsense figure herself. Now, she has had an interesting reputation throughout American History because on the one hand, Mary Washington was held up as the great model of womanhood in america because she was the one who raised the greatest citizen so in this democracy, if you would have great citizens you need to have great mothers like Mary Washington. In fact, the First National monument to a woman in this country was created for Mary Washington in fredericksburg before the civil war. I think it was in the 18 thirties. But by the 20th century, interestingly Mary Washington started to get a bad reputation. This had a lot to do with historians who were heavily influenced by the new science of psychology. Segment freud argued that people who grew up with a strong mother tend to grow up to be weak men in some cases, if eminent men so we could not have George Washington, the most important figure, and that has been Lawrence Washington started to take on a bigger character overtime. Ive said enough about mary, i cant say anything else about betty lewis, but that was George Washingtons sister in fredericksburg. A very important figure in her own mind as well. But just under a minute to go, you mention a little bit earlier that the reenactor plane George Washington is going to be making a toast later today. What would be the toast that you would race to George Washington on this birthday . I would raise a glass to his memory and ask everyone to say three cheers three times in honor of his great legacy. The bad front is president and ceo of George Washingtons mount vernon we, appreciate your time and the folks that invited us there in this morning we, appreciate it. Thank you very much