Blood of Tyrants: George Washington & the Forging of the Presidency (60 page)

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Authors: Logan Beirne

Tags: #American Revolution, #Founding Fathers, #George Washington, #18th Century

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9
Lewis Nicola to Washington, May 22, 1782, in George Washington Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.
10
Ibid.
11
Ibid.
12
For example, see Irving,
Life of George Washington
, 4:402; Thacher,
Military Journal of the American Revolution
, 509.
13
Washington to Colonel Lewis Nicola, May 22, 1782, in
The Writings of George Washington
, 24:273.
14
Ibid., 274.
15
Chernow,
Washington: A Life
, 428.
16
Henry Knox to Benjamin Lincoln, March 3, 1783, in Francis Samuel Drake,
Life and Correspondence of Henry Knox
(1873), 79–80.
17
Alexander Hamilton to Washington, February 13, 1783, in
The Papers of Alexander Hamilton
, 3:254.
18
Journals of the Continental Congress
, April 29, 1783, 24:297, 307. The second quotation is based on Washington’s address from March 15, 1783.
19
Journals of the Continental Congress
, April 29, 1783, 24:296.
20
Marshall, “The Rise and Fall of the Newburgh Conspiracy.”
21
Washington to Alexander Hamilton, March 12, 1783, in
The Papers of Alexander Hamilton
, 3:287.
22
Washington to Governor Benjamin Harrison, March 19, 1783, in
The Writings of George Washington
, 26:240.
23
Thomas Fleming, “Unlikely Victory,” in
What If? The World’s Foremost Historians Imagine What Might Have Been
, ed. Robert Cowley (New York: Berkley Books, 2000), 155–88.
24
Washington to Governor Benjamin Harrison, March 19, 1783, 241.
25
Marshall, “The Rise and Fall of the Newburgh Conspiracy.”
26
Journals of the Continental Congress
, April 29, 1783, 24:296.
27
Chernow,
Washington: A Life
, 434. Chernow provides a great depiction of this scene.
28
Washington to Elias Boudinot, March 18, 1783, in
The Writings of George Washington
, 26:229n.
29
Chernow,
Washington: A Life
, 434.
30
Journals of the Continental Congress
, April 29, 1783, 24:307–8.
31
Ibid.
32
Ibid., 309–10.
33
Irving,
Life of George Washington
, 4:415.
34
James Thomas Flexner,
Washington: The Indispensable Man
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1974), 175.
35
Washington to Tench Tilghman, January 10, 1783, in
The Writings of George Washington
, 16:28.
36
Washington to David Rittenhouse, February 16, 1783, in
The Writings of George Washington
, 25:138.
37
Douglas Southall Freeman,
George Washington: A Biography
(1948–57), 5:435.
38
Samuel Shaw,
The Journals of Major Samuel Shaw
(1847), 104.
Chapter 35: Greatest Man in the World
 
1
Stanley Weintraub,
General Washington’s Christmas Farewell: A Mount Vernon Homecoming
(New York: Free Press, 2003), 107.
2
James R. Gaines,
For Liberty and Glory: Washington, Lafayette, and Their Revolutions
(New York: Norton, 2007), 150.
3
Page Smith,
A New Age Now Begins: A People’s History of the American Revolution
(New York: Penguin, 1989), 1788.
4
Memoirs of Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge (1830).
5
Ibid.
6
Ibid.
7
Ibid.
8
Ibid.
9
John Trumbull to his brother, May 10, 1784, qtd. in Gordon S. Wood,
Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different
(New York: Penguin, 2006), 42.
10
Gerard Vogels to his Wife, in
The Papers of George Washington, Confederation Series
, 1:195n.
11
Qtd. in
George Washington as the French Knew Him
, ed. Gilbert Chinard (New York: Greenwood Press, 1969), 69.
12
Ibid., 196.
13
Proceedings of the town of Charlestown, in the county of Middlesex, and Commonwealth of Massachusetts; in Respectful Testimony of the Distinguished Talents and Prominent Virtues of the Late George Washington
, ed. Samuel Etheridge (1800), 61.
14
Ibid., 35.
15
Ibid.
16
Chernow,
Washington: A Life
, 453.
17
Ibid., 455.
18
Ibid., 456.
19
Washington’s Address to Congress on Resigning His Commission, December 23, 1783, in
The Writings of George Washington
, 27:285.
20
James Thomas Flexner,
George Washington in the American Revolution, 1775–1783
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1968), 526.
21
Washington’s Address to Congress on Resigning His Commission, 286.
22
Proceedings of the town of Charlestown
, 63.
23
Washington to Henry Knox, February 20, 1784, in
The Papers of George Washington
,
Confederation Series
, 1:138.
24
Which brings us full circle back to Part I.
25
John Marshall,
The Life of George Washington
, ed. Robert Faulkner and Paul Carrese (1838; Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2000), 84.
26
Gordon S. Wood,
The Radicalism of the American Revolution
(New York: Knopf, 1991), 206. Wood writes, “Though it was widely thought that Washington could have become king or dictator, he wanted nothing of the kind.”
27
This occurred after eleven states ratified, since only nine were required for the Constitution to go into effect. North Carolina and Rhode Island were the last two states to ratify the Constitution, and did so after it went into operation.
28
Virginia utilized direct election, of which Washington received 100 percent, and the other states sent delegates. Each delegate had two votes to cast. Every delegate voted for Washington with his first vote, and then used his second vote to decide among eleven candidates for the vice presidency.
29
Carol Borchert Cadou,
George Washington Collection: Fine and Decorative Arts at Mount Vernon
(Manchester, Vt.: Hudson Hills Press, 2006), 215.
30
Ibid.
31
Proceedings of the town of Charlestown
, 62.
Epilogue
 
1
“How to Read the Constitution,” Excerpt from Justice Thomas’s Wriston Lecture to the Manhattan Institute,
Wall Street Journal
, October 20, 2008, A19.
2
William Eskridge and John Ferejohn,
The Republic of Statutes: The New American Constitution
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010), 439.
3
Justices Stevens and Souter have since retired and been replaced by Justices Kagan and Sotomayor.
4
C-Span Weekend
, C-Span television, March 19, 2006, comments of William Galston, former Deputy Domestic Policy Advisor to President Clinton, 1993–95. “Both the Supreme Court and leading academics have come to accept that evidence of the original understanding of the Constitution is relevant to any discussion of the document’s meaning.” John Yoo,
The Powers of War and Peace: The Constitution and Foreign Affairs After 9/11
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005), 25. For example, see Michael Glennon,
Constitutional Diplomacy
, 1st ed. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990); Louis Henkin,
Foreign Affairs and the U.S. Constitution
, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996); Harold Koh,
National Security Constitution
, 1st ed. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990).
5
Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, in a speech before Princeton University’s conference “A Constitution for the Ages: James Madison the Framer,” February 23, 2001.
6
Ibid.
7
“Even for non-originalists, the Founders’ unparalleled experience in applied constitutional thought, along with their not inconsiderable acumen, gives their views a certain persuasive, perhaps even presumptive, authority.” Martin S. Flaherty, “Historical Perspective: More Apparent Than Real: The Revolutionary Commitment to Constitutional Federalism,” Symposium Papers—Federalism in the 21st Century,
Kansas Law Review
 45 (July 1997): 1006. See also William M. Treanor, “The Original Understanding of the Takings Clause and the Political Process,”
Columbia Law Review
 49 (1995): 859.
8
It is important to note that this study does not take into account the political, moral or other considerations that may be necessary in fully evaluating some of these controversial issues.
9
Jack Rakove,
Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution
(New York: Knopf, 1996), 8.
10
Yoo,
The Powers of War and Peace
, 28.
11
As addressed in Part VI.
12
As addressed in Part I.
13
Circular to the States, June 8, 1783, in
The Writings of George Washington
, 26:486.
INDEX
 
 
Adams, Abigail
 
Adams, John; on army’s plight; on Baltimore; on Loyalists; monarchy fears; on New York defense; at peace negotiations; on Philadelphia; on smallpox; at Staten Island talks; on Washington’s powers
 
Alito, Samuel
 
Allen, Ethan; and Fort Ticonderoga; Montreal attack; as prisoner; and Schuyler; in Vermont
 
André, John; and Arnold’s plot; capture of; and Honora Sneyd; in Philadelphia; and Smith trial; trial & execution of
 
Aristotle
 
Arnold, Benedict; and André’s trial; betrayal plot; corruption trial; escape of; financial schemes of; and Gates; grievances of; injuries of; as merchant; and Peggy Shippen; in Philadelphia, 196–99; at Saratoga; in Seven Years’ War; and Smith trial; West Point command
 
Arnold, Margaret (“Peggy”) Shippen
 
Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union; and Constitutional Convention
 
Asgill, Charles
 
Asgill, Lady Sarah
 
Augustus (emperor)
 
 
Baddeley, Mary
 
Beebe, Abner
 
Boston; British-occupied; British retreat from; lighthouse attack; siege of
 
Boucher, Jonathan
 
Bowdoin, James
 
Boyd, Thomas (scout)
 
Boyd-Parker Memorial Park
 
Brandywine Creek, Penn.
 
Breyer, Stephen
 
Britain.
See
Great Britain
 
British Army: on André’s execution; defections to; demographics of; derision of; deserters from; discipline in; rape by; in surrender
 
British East India Company
 
Brooklyn: British attack on; British camp in; retreat from
 
Burgoyne, John (“Gentleman Johnny”)
 
Butler, Pierce
 
 
Camden, S.C.
 
Campbell, Archibald
 
Canada; Allen’s attack on; and fishing rights; and Hudson Valley; and invasion plans
 
Catherine the Great (empress)
 
Charleston, S.C.
 
Cincinnatus, Lucius Quinctius
 
citizenship
 
Clinton, Sir Henry: and André; and Arnold; Charleston victory; as commander in chief; Fort Montgomery attack; at Monmouth; and New York City; Philadelphia withdrawal; return to Parliament

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