Coming up next on the presidency, author Warren Bingham talks about his book George Washington 1791 southern tour 689 he discusses the newly election to the southern states, and promote the constitution. George Washingtons Mount Vernon hosted this hour and 20 minute event. All right. Good evening, everybody. Its great to see such a full house tonight. Im rob shenk. I want to welcome you all this evening to the ford evening book talk. Weve got a great topic for tonight. The Washington Library is proud to offer free monthly book talks as part of our mission to disseminate knowledge about the colonial revolutionary and founding eras. I want to pause to thank ford motor company. Ford has been a supporter of mount vernon for more than 90 years. [ applause ] tonights guest is Warren Bingham. Hes a speaker, broadcaster, free lance writer, and author. He earned a b. A. In history from the university of North Carolina. Go heels. An m. A. From hollins university. His career includes nearly 25 years of success in sales, in marketing of financial and philanthropic services. He has a special interest in the history of north and South Carolina. George washington and george c. Marshal. So carolina and george seems to be a theme. Hes the creator of carolina color, a series of live radio vignettes that offer historical perspectives on North Carolina people, places, events and products, and he contributed to a number of books, including the dictionary of North Carolina biograp biography, sloencyclopedia of nh carolina. I hope you brought some hush puppies or barbecue or something with you. Being a tech person myself, i always appreciate warren because he has a very active twitter account. Follow him Warren Bingham. So tonights event, warren will discuss his newest book, George Washington 1791 southern tour, which considers the history and lore of the president s visit to the south. This is a topic thats near and dear to my heart. I had the opportunity a few years back to work on a project called washingtons World Interactive map. That sounds pretty daunting. Its an interactive map on our website today that has more than 1,000 places that washington visited during his lifetime. If youre really into washington geography, i highly recommend it. You can kind of see the different journeys and paths that he visited. Its really remarkable to think in the 18th century context, to think how far washington moved from north to south and east to west, particularly in north america. If youre looking for that, you can find it on our home page. But also, mount vernon. Org washingto vernon. Org washingtonsworld, one word. While washington never visited europe, i do contend that washington probably was the most traveled of the Founding Fathers when you consider north america. When we think about his epic journey to ft. Le buff in 1763 u the journey across the wilderness, to this 1900 mile grand journey that warrens going to discuss, this is a man that throughout his life was on the move. He was a man who wanted to see the world with his own two eyes. And he accomplished so much in that regard in his journeys, theyre really true epics. In studying these travels in the diary entries, i personally found you found a more human washington when you look at washington on the move. You see a man that you can relate to. And i think mr. Bingham agrees, because im going to quote from his introduction, so when i visualized a tired, aching and nearly 60yearold washington, plugging away on a long journey, that passed within 50 miles of my hometown, he became human and flesh and blood. So without much further ado, please join me in welcoming mr. Warren bingham. [ applause ] thank you, rob. And thanks, everyone. A who are you yall anyway . I need to get a list of everyones name. I just cant believe youre all here to hear me talk about this. Because its a thrill fob me to be in mount vernon, and then to have this great audience here to hear it is very special for me. Ive been sharing this topic for over 20 years. And so the book is sort of a cap of my longtime interest in this subject. Over the years, in my washingtonsouthern tour. Its not a military campaign. It wasnt a fine wine, or one of washingtons whiskeys that he distilled here, but it was literally a trip. And some folks have a hard time believing that. But it really was a trip. And the southern tour, i think it to be true, the other travels washington took as president to the middle states and to the north, new england, were a little bit morrow teen compared to the southern tour. George washingtons southern tour was the third of three major trips that he took to visit the 13 states during his first term as president. It was nearly 1900 miles and it took nearly 3 1 2 months. The capital was in philadelphia. And washington held this trip to the last because he knew it was the most challenging. And one other reason is that North Carolina, my home state, was a little reluctant to join the union. In North Carolina, weve long been ones not to want to commit to anything. Didnt really want to commit to the union, didnt rem i want to commit to the confederacy. We had the shadow of virginia, and South Carolina surrounding us, and those states used to poke fun at us. We were slow to move. We were not a particularly United States in North Carolina, a very diverse state early on. So we were slow to join the union. But we signed the constitution in november of 1789. Washington was then cleared to come on down south to see all of the southern states. And that would be virginia, the carolinas and georgia. Why did washington visit the 13th states and make this southern tour . He was salesman in chief. He was selling the new federal government, which believe it or not was not especially something that a lot of people were in love with from the getgo. Just like they arent today. Some things dont change. And he was selling that new constitution. Washington was a strong federalist. He believed in a strong sim central government, at least as they thought of it in those days. Many in the south, particularly, werent that really strongly in favor of that at all. Except in certain pockets. Charleston, South Carolina, was a place where washington had a lot of federalist friends. And plus, that was the fourth largest city in the United States at the time. So washington wanted to get to charleston in particular during his southern tour. Washington was a keen observer. So he learned a lot. As rob said, he was learning all his life, and travel really informed him. You can tell from reading his die race how he got more of a kick out of observing a river or canal or progress on some sort of industry rather than meeting with any particular people. So he learned by looking. And by doing. And so thats what was going on, on these tours. Most especially the southern tour. He had never been south of virginia until the southern tour in 1791. The exception being he probably was in parts of northeastern North Carolina, in the dismal swamp. As my mother would say, that does not constitute a proper visit to North Carolina. [ laughter ] washington knew that it was important to use his presence to influence people. He was the hero of the American Revolution and he stood 62 or 63. That went a long ways towards impressing people. And so washington was beloved at that time. He was like elvis and the pope combined. And with that influence, he wanted to get out among the people, and impress the importance of a stronger federal government. This new government and the new constitution. And washington enjoyed being out of the office. He was never an office kind of guy. He was a farmer, he was a surveyor, he liked to be out. And it was thought at that time that it was so good to be out in the fresh air, and to ride horseback in particular. Thats why in the 1950s they created all of those quirky machines that exercised the body in strange ways. I dont know if that really works or not, but i would think riding a horse is probably good exercise. And George Washington was an excellent horseman and he wanted to be out. So those are the reasons why washington, who was a man of action, said that in his early days as president , he wanted to visit all 13 states. He asked for john adams thoughts on that. And asked for his cabinets opinions, im not sure what they all said, because i think president washington was going to go out to the states regardless. And he didnt waste much time. So in 1789, 1790, 1791, in less than two and a half years in office, washington had visited all 13 states. Pretty remarkable given the challenges at the time. I had been interested in this subject ever since hearing about it my senior year in college. In a North Carolina history class. The professor shared anecdotes of washingtons visit to North Carolina, my home state, and for the first time it dawned on me that George Washington, and i was a 22yearold, but i just figured out that George Washington was not like paul bun on, but he was a real man. He was flesh and blood. When i learned about some of the things that occurred in our state, and towns that i knew, and visited all my life, washington for the first time seemed real. And that meant a lot to me. 15 years after that class, i decided to start doing some public speaking, and this became one of my primary topics, and ive been doing it now as i say over 20 years. And finally in a book as well. So it has been a treat to share this topic, because i think its a way that i can its a device. To bring George Washington to life, to make him more interesting, to make him more relatable to the to any of us. To average people. He seemed so much like a man in bronze, or a man in marble. He did live his entire life in the 1700s. It was as if god meant for him not to make it to 1800 when he died two weeks shy of 1800. So hes a little hard to relate to to the average person. So i think this is a wonderful way to look at washington, any of these trips, to read his diari diaries, and find out the challenges he had in travel, and what his thoughts were. I also think that looking at his trips make for a great interdisciplinary study. Its a great way to look at the architecture at the time, the pop culture of the time, travel at the time. So many ways to look at these tours. And thats what ive been doing for so long. George washingtons southern tour took him south from philadelphia. Washington was a man of detail. He was a bit of a controlling man. He liked to make his own decisions, and advise himself, but he loved to get great advice from a vast array of people, and from diverse opinions. Who else would bring Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton together in the same room. But washington did. He wanted to get the thoughts of these bright, bright minds and be advised from them. So washington made his decisions about his travel itinerary, but he would bring in people to help him. His secretary, they were all male, of course, in this era, as well as friends from the revolution, and congressmen. Folks that he knew in the south. And gentlemen were most of the travelers that made round trips. Most other folks were just going somewhere, they were going to stay, they were going to settle. It was a challenging thing, but most of the men out traveling were gentlemen who went from their homes to somewhere and back. These gentlemen would recommend where to cross waters and soo forth. One thing that the south really stood out for in that era was how bad the roads and inns were. So they were very unreliable. And how to cross water was very challenging, uncertain thing. On the southern tour, there were several incidents on water that put the president in harms way. But washington selected this route. And as you see, hes going from philadelphia down to charleston. And eventually savannah. He came on the fall line and coastal plain, and there were places where he could have chosen to go a little bit different here and there. But he really wanted to pick an expeditious route to charleston, because that was really key to get to charleston. But otherwise, he wanted a representative visit over land to these other places. One thing i like to point out is that of the early president s, George Washington was the only one to really make an effort to tour the states, and most especially to go south. Thomas jefferson never put a foot in North Carolina. Im personally affront by that. ] laughter ] john adams never came south. He barely got in virginia, i believe. James monroe visited the south, but mostly along the coast. Made some coastal incursions. Andrew jackson became president in 1839, ta person who had a fel for prominent places. When washington got to charleston, it was down to savannah, and up to augusta, georgia, and back through piedmont of the south. As you see, mount vernon is on the map there somewhere. There we go. Mount vernon, it was a particular treat for washington to stop at mount vernon. He stopped, i believe it was roughly a week as he went south and about two weeks as he went north. And of all his years as president , i believe and mary thompson, who has been a wonderful help to me on the staff here told me that 12 times did he get to mount vernon as president. So two of the times were on the southern tour. So that was a special treat for washington as well. But he chose the route. And he wanted to keep a schedule. He called it his line of march. The old military man that he was. One reason he wanted to do it that way, well, one, he was controlling and he liked to get everything just right and he was into details. But more importantly, as he was traveling south in particular, he was with the line of will mail. The kings highway, primarily, excuse me, im getting excited. The kings highway coming down on the east, was the main line of the mail in the United States, from boston down to charleston, eventually savannah. So he knew that if his cabinet or someone needed him, they might have a shot of getting some mail to him as he went south. But when he turned up to augusta and went back north through the piedmont, even though he was leaving the itinerary that he stuck pretty close to, during those dates that he said he would be here and there, nevertheless it would have been challenging to get a message or letters to him as he went through the piedmont. So it was important that he stick with his route as best he could. He was gone nearly three and a half months. Thomas jefferson wrote in late may that mr. President , theres really nothing of note to report to you. So it shows it was a little bit of a different time in our history. You think president obama would like to disappear for a few months . And have nothing of note to report to him . That sounds good, doesnt it. So George Washington selected this route. And he also wanted to see the governors in these states. He kind of arranged ahead to make sure he would do that. He didnt go certain places that many assume he did. He didnt go to norfolk on the southern tour. He didnt go to edenton, North Carolina, in the northeastern section, which was one of our largest places, most prominent places at the time. Thats probably because he was simply trying to get the best route to get to charleston. He missed edenton. He missed his namesake in North Carolina. Those folks there cant get over that. Thats what we call Little Washington in North Carolina. And he also missed fayetteville, North Carolina, which often acted as our state capital. And he missed atlanta, georgia. Atlanta didnt even exist in 1791. Those folks are really upset that they couldnt work out the president seeing their city. President washington kept a diary off and on his entire life. Fortunately, the diary for the southern tour exists. And fortunately for me, many people over the years have transcribed it and studied it and gave good footnotes about what all it says and means. The papers of George Washington, based over at uva, and i think moving over here to mount vernon, arent they, rob, they have done a good job with all of washingtons papers, including this diary. But this is from april of that 1791 in washingtons hand. And he kept a diary entry every day of the trip, except when he was at mount vernon. I dont know what its like with mrs. Clinton, i dont know why these were missing. But he didnt write anything during his stay at mount vernon. Otherwise he kept up the diary every day. Washingtons diary entries are not that exciting. But theyre somewhat telling. They tell you a lot about practical things, about how high the water is on a certain river or where he crossed a river or what kind of commerce he observed, or what type of soil he was seeing. I think those are fascinating things that you can compare then and now to. And learn a lot from it. But thankfully, washington did keep the diaries and the originals exist, and somehow they got chopped up. James Keith Marshall known as Jimmy Marshall was a son of chief Justice Marshall. And chief Justice Marshall was a good flend washington. Somehow they wound up with his son, james Keith Marshall. Sortly before the civil war, Jimmy Marshall gave at least a portion of these diaries to the then fledgling V