Images here, these images are of three of our noteworthy president s. Every ten years or so, about 700 political scientists and historians across the country rank our president s. Now, who knows how our current president is going to rank . Nonetheless, whenever those rankings come out, generally these three guys here rank at the top. Sometimes itll be lincoln, sometimes washington, sometimes f. D. R. But the interesting thing about this is that we do not know what george really looked like. We have images of lincoln. We have photograph images. And you can follow those photographs over time and see how he changed, how he aged. And of course we have images of f. D. R. We even have some images of him in his wheelchair. And generally the press did not take images of him in his wheelchair. But with George Washington, he was there before photography so we dont have photographs of him. What we have instead are artists representations and those are not always very accurate. I mean, you look at some representational abstract art and does it really look like a cube . I dont know. Maybe not. Well, George Washington, weve spent the better part of 14 weeks already kind of addressing him, talking about him. We know that he is a famous man. We know he was commander of the Continental Army. We know that he had served in the Continental Congress for a short period of time before he accepted command. We know that he is subsequently going to become president , first president of the United States. So obviously he is a famous man in our history. But he is also a man who had faults. A man who had insecurities. A man who had vices. He is a man who was a human being just like all of us. Because he was a human being he was also a complex man. A many sided man. The problem with paintings is they dont show that kind of complex character. What i want to do is spend a little time talking about the myths of George Washington and then we will then talk about how he made choices that ultimately brought him to the point where he became their most revered man in america. Well, you probably know that george is considered the father of our country. But do you know george, when he married martha, he wasnt able to sire children. He wasnt able to give martha children. And could he really be the father of our children if he couldnt sire children himself . I mean, think about when the country decided to make a monument to him. What did they choose to make . The monument is this giant phallic shaped symbol which is kind of ironic for the man who couldnt sire children himself. But even though he couldnt, here is the George Washington shown with marthas children and when he married martha he did accept her children. He became a paternalistic, loving father to her children. So in that respect, you know, it shows the character of a person who accepted her children. It showed paternalism, acceptance. Now, most of the stories that we have of washington came from the first real biography of washington written by mason weems and it was published just shortly after washingtons death. The washington that weems talks about is a man that is like thor, a man who was larger than life. Weems talks about George Washington throwing a Silver Dollar across the Potomac River. A couple problems with that story. The first is there were no Silver Dollars. So how could he throw a Silver Dollar that didnt exist . The second, the Potomac River where mount vernon is, is about a mile wide. I dont care if youre nolan ryan or Roger Clemens youre probably not going to throw a Silver Dollar across a mile wide river. Well, one of washingtons grand sons did say that as a young man George Washington had thrown a piece of slate across his the river at his childhood home, which was on the rappahannock, not quite as wide. You know what happens when you throw slate . If you throw it right itll skim and bounce across the river. So that might have been possible. But what weems is trying to do is give you an image of a man who is larger than life, who had this great, physical ability, this great, athletic prowess. We know that george is a large man. He stood about 63, about my height. He had a long, straight nose, high cheek bones. At his heaviest he was significantly less than i am somewhere in the neighborhood of 220 or so. At his lightest he was probably about 175, 180. That day and age they didnt have the obesity problems we experience today. But virtually every school kid learns that George Washington had what kind of teeth . Wooden. Wooden, false teeth. Yeah. And that is just absolutely wrong. I mean, here you can see his a pair of his dentures. Whats interesting about it, you notice right here, thats a spring. Its a lead base that is Spring Loaded so that when you put this in, your jaw keeps it shut and when your mouth opens the spring pops it open. The teeth, themselves, are animal teeth, human teeth, pieces of ivory, and i am convinced if you had to wear that thing in your mouth it would probably be far more uncomfortable than wooden teeth. Well, those teeth here always play a central role in washingtons life. Youll see right here, theres no tooth there because even at the time of his presidency george had one of his own teeth and the dentures slipped right down over the tooth. So he is able to highlight his tooth as well. That mouth and those teeth become a big part of the story about who George Washington is. Now, this portrait right here, this portrait one of the most famous of washington is done by the artist Gilbert Stewart. Stewart, when he painted washington at this time, he was a young painter. This was one of his earliest commissions, and stewart was just absolutely terrified to meet the great general. So during the setting, stewart tried to make washington more at ease. He said something to the effect of, to washington, general washington, you must let yourself forget that you are general washington and i am stewart the painter. Well, washington gave a well intentioned reply. He said something to the effect that, well theres no need for me to forget that i am general washington and you are but stewart the painter. Kind of insulted stewart. He felt that washington was giving him a backhanded slap. Well, because of that, Gilbert Stewart got to portray washington, one of those images that we have of him, and this is one of the most famous, and when you look at that, what is the central feature of that painting . What is it . The mouth. Look at it. Its kind of clenched. And it looks like hes in some discomfort. Some kind of pain and from that image the view that we have of washington is that he is glum, that he is awkward, he is unapproachable, he is grumpy, perhaps. And that is not so. He wasnt a square jawed stiff shirt as this image of washington by stewart portrays him. I mean, the George Washington that we know, that historians have documented, was a George Washington who loved to have a good time. But you remember what ive told you about washington is that he believed that there is the personal man and then theres the public man and those people who had the personal relationship would not display that personal relationship in public. The private man had a public persona. And youve stayed outside of arms reach. Well, this was a George Washington who enjoyed playing cards. He enjoyed cock fights, horse races. This is the George Washington who loved to dance. It was reported that george was the best dancer in all of virginia. This is the George Washington who loved to hunt and fish. He loved going to the theater. In fact, his favorite play was tragedy of kato and if you know anything about this performance, its the story of a young, selfless patriot who sacrifices himself to the greater patriot cause. Maybe because washington felt that he was that guy. He also liked hamlet. He also liked julius caesar. Those were a couple of his favorites. And this was the George Washington who had an eye for the attractive women. In the 18th century she was considered an attractive woman. Not only was she an attractive woman, she was the widow of a gentleman and she was very wealthy. So george is going to end up marrying up. He is not this squarejawed stuffed shirt. He is not unapproachable. But he is the man that is going to keep himself in proper decorum. Ive referenced this to you several times about how he couldnt control his anger. He always had trouble controlling his anger. And this particular episode happens during the Constitutional Convention and well reference it again on thursday. How Gouverneur Morris a new yorker, a man of questionable virtue, was good friends and drinking buddies with Alexander Hamilton and he was boasting that he could treat washington just like he would treat any other of his best friends. And morris and hamilton made a wager. Hamilton said, if morris could treat him treat washington like any other friend in public, then hamilton would buy dinner and wine for morris and 12 of his friends. Well, on the night in question, a public event, George Washington as we know will become the president of the Constitutional Convention and he was hosting an event that evening and Gouverneur Morris comes in. It was a public event, big crowd. Morris comes in and immediately reaches out his hand to shake georges hand. A gentleman would do that. But as they shook hands, morris took that second hand and brought it up and began patting george on the shoulder and saying, general washington, my dear friend, its so good to see you looking so well. What had happened, that familiarity, washington pulled his hand back. He took three steps back. And he just glared at morris with this evil, angry stare. And the people who were there froze. They simply stood and watched. And morris slinked off into the crowd. Morris later told hamilton that, i had won the bet. I will collect my wine and dinner. But that is nothing i will ever do again. Because morris and washington would never be close enough that morris could come up and pat him on the shoulder and treat him with the familiarity that you would treat a close, personal acquaintance. Well, thats because washington maintained that dignity, that personal space. Now, did that mean that washington had an uncontrollable anger he could not control . No. It just means that he believed in proper decorum. Now, probably the greatest or most famous image of george, which was not done during his lifetime, this image here, does it look familiar . Where is the original . Down the street at the Carter Museum. Absolutely. Go down, take a look at it. But this came from the story of mason weems. Mason weems says that the young george, for his 6th birthday, his father gave him a new hatchet. And the young boy was so excited about getting this gift that he went around and began barking literally every tree he could find. And he barked one of his fathers favorite, english cherry trees. And when his father approached him, according to weems, young george simply threw his hands up and said, i did it, father. You know i cannot tell a lie. Well, thats the image that school kids for the last 200 plus years have been told. This 1939 painting, by grant wood, which as i said is down at the Carter Museum just about a mile or so away from here, shows mason weems pulling back the curtain. And it shows the young george being truthful to his father, but the thing that i find particularly interesting about this image is, look. The same head as you have on the dollar bill. Thats the young head. This is the old head. They essentially look the same. Now, the interesting thing about this story . Never happened. Theres no evidence that this ever happened. Weems had simply made the story up to portray washington as a man of great honesty. That even when the trouble might bring problem for young george, he had to be honest to his father. Well, weems also tells us another story about the young George Washington the surveyor who is out on the frontier and bad weather is setting in. He finds a local tavern where he can spend the night and he goes in and he orders a dram of whiskey. And the barkeep gives him a dram of whiskey and george offers a skin. He offers a coon skin in payment. Well, the barkeep takes the coon skin and in return gives washington 158 rabbit skins. Thats a lot of rabbit skins to carry around. Well, according to weems, george began buying drinks for everyone in the establishment. And during the evening, he turned 158 rabbit skins back over to the barkeep. Now, what weems is trying to tell us in that story is that this is the George Washington who was generous. This is the George Washington who is kind. This is the George Washington that we want to remember. So you think of these images that weems has been telling us. Hes honest. Hes got this great, physical skill. He is generous and kind. He has a temper, but he can control it. Well, this is the man that has come down to us as the, you know, more or less the savior of american mankind. This is the story of the man who, remember how we talked about providential inspiration . This is george as providential inspiration. And even some years later, chief Justice Joseph story made the comment from his commentaries on the constitution that george was the boast of all america, the first in war, the first in peace, and the first in the hearts of his countrymen. So what makes him first in the heart of his countrymen . Well, george, as a young man, before the scope of this course, you know, george is born on february 11th, 1731. Is that the day we celebrated his birthday . No. That was the julian calendar. And in the early 1750s, they changed to the gregorian calendar so it moved his birthday 11 days ahead, so february 22nd, 1731. And as a young man, he was obsessed with becoming a gentleman. And what did a gentleman entail . It meant having wealth, owning property. Potentially owning slaves. Having a spouse. Being successful. Well, the young george when he was 11 his father died. And young george ended up having to live with his older half brother, lawrence. Now, lawrence was a gentleman. He had a grand home that he had named after admiral edward vernon, who he had served under during king georges war. And from that, young george saw what it meant to be a gentleman. He saw that status equated to wealth, so he wanted to become wealthy. And you remember time and again ive said that george is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. But he does learn from others. And while he was staying with his half brother, he learned that he, too, could become successful if he made the right choices. So as a young man, he became a surveyor. And at the time, being a surveyor was on par with a doctor, a lawyer, because surveyors were always going out on the frontier to survey land. If youre good at it, you have a trained eye, you see the land that is advantageous, the land that is not. Often times you could take your payment in land. Land is something that could bring wealth for the future. So the young man began acquiring land. Now, the problem is, in 1752, lawrence died. And the question was who would inherit mount vernon . Ultimately one of lawrences daughters inherited it. She died shortly thereafter. And it passed down to young george. By 1753, here was the guy who had the grand plantation home. This is the view that most of us have of mount vernon. That view is the view from the veranda, the porch. Looking out on to the Potomac River. Is that the front of the house . Or is that the front of the house . Thats the other side. You know, its interesting. When lawrence was alive, he considered the front of the house this. Because it was there on the Potomac River. The potomac was the highway to the sea. The sea took you to england and he saw himself as an englishman. As george takes over the home, george will consider this to be the front of the house, because this faces to the frontier. That face to the land that he would eventually own. Well, i think thats a huge difference for lawrence and for george. It helps define really who george is. George saw himself not so much as an englishman, but more as an american. George also had the good fortune in 1758 to marry Martha Dandridge custis who was reportedly the wealthiest woman in virginia. By marrying her, he married the widow of a gentleman, so by marrying her george became a gentleman. With her wealth and his drive and determination to secure wealth, the washingtons would become one of the wealthiest couples in america. He was a plantation owner, farmer, initially growing tobacco, but coming to the realization that tobacco was a crop that was declining in value and so by the time of the revolution what was he starting to cultivate . Wheat. Remember you guys read breams book Tobacco Culture how the Tobacco Culture was playing out. Well, this is the George Washington who by the time of his death will own 11,000 acres. He had this ambition for wealth. It made him inquisitive, sometimes contentious. And even after he had established himself, he would insist upon exact payment of every debt owed to him. In his youth, young george wanted to be a British Military officer. At the beginning of this course remember we had made r