Of the president would be defined. And so washington really created that office. Many of the precedents, many of the t down from his example in the office. April of 1789, age 57 when he took the oath, what were h cour representatives, people represent their districts. In the senate they represent the states. And so as president , he is the only elected officer that represents all the people. And s been purchased for some 10 million. I want to show viewers a bit of what it looks like and what president George Washington did to learn about the powers of the presidency. George washington is very, very exacting with his books. We see that he takes great care of them. He has them in beautiful glass fronted shelves in his personal library at mt. Vernon. Often putting a wonderful flourish of his grand signature in the upper righthand corner of the title page which he does with this volume. He also, especially on very important papers, puts a book plate. This is a book plate washington ordered from england, engraved in london. This volume was pretty special because it has his engraved book plate, his signature on the title page, but what is even more distinctive and more unusual is that washington makes notes in the margin, and we almost never see washington writing any marginalia. In several places he very carefully brackets his powers and his role as president. We see him, for instance, in article 1 of the constitution here bracketing and writing the words president next to those duties that he is to follow and how he is to follow the enacting of legislation. How you have bills that are ratified by congress in the house of representatives and in the senate and then sent on to George Washington as president for either approval or veto. And then again in article 2, you see him bracketing not only putting president but also powers which is an interesting word that he uses, and it shows the powers that he has to appoint justices to the supreme court, to ratify treaties, to appoint ambassadors. So hes really sort of understanding exactly those he also, of course, served as the commander in chief of the American Army for eight years, which was as much a political as a military role. In th that standard early on. So washington understood power. He understood leadership. But it was a new into why he was such an effective leader at the creation of something. Aswashington. I had been a professor of history up at Suny Binghamton university in upstate new york. When the Ladies Association was opening this library, they wanted an academic to come down. A couple years ago i was made the president over the whole shooting match. Mt. Vernon is a remarkable institution because its fully private. Were not one of the smithsonian museums, were not part of the National Park service. We came about because a group of women in the 1850s led by Ann Pamela Cunningham saved thehen e want to make sure that they have the opportunity to learn as much as they can. Were going to show our viewers a picture of mt. Vernon in near ruins just before the civil war in 1858. When did the effort to really save, preserve mt. Vernon begin . Yeah, the effort really began in the 1850s, around 1852, 1853. There was a woman, south carolinian on the potomac on a steamboat heading home who saw mt. Vernon in moonlight and saw that it was basically dilapidated, that it was in danger of falling down. She asked her daughter to begin a movement to try to save mt. Vernon. The family, the last washingtons who owned mt. Vernon was a family John Augustine washington iii who was George Washingtons great grand nephew. So he could no longer maintain the place. It was expensive, old wooden structure built in the middle of the 18th century, never intended we tell the story s, let alone of slavery every day. We give slave tours at mt. Vernon. We have a Memorial Service for the enslaved every day at our memorial, which was the first one built in the country to celebrate enslaved peoples. And so i think that these institutions, mt. He was called the greatest horseman of the age by thomas jefferson. Being a gentleman farmer in virginia and being able to not only buy and sell horseshim . Thanks for the questions. Thank you. I think thats three questions actually. The first was who is giving George Washington the oath, and i believe its chancellor william livingston, who was the chancellor of the state of new york at the time. The bible is owned by i cant remember the exact name but its owned by a Masonic Lodge in new york city. It was taken from t