ExclusiveGeorge Washington: The Unanimous President

Welcome to American Legends, I'm Tiffany Brannan. Each culture has its legends, and that could be myths or different stories, but here in America, our greatest legends are the wonderful heroes who are right from our history pages. Now, some of these heroes are very famous and some are obscure, but each person deserves to be discovered because each man or woman stands as a great example of how we can be better Americans The heritage of any nation is the people who make it great, and here in America, our heritage is one of freedom, best told through the stories of the legendary people who helped us win and preserve that freedom. Where better to start than at the very beginning with George Washington, first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his people. And his name is remembered in many great monuments and even a city and a state, yet his life is so much more than just these facts which we learn in school. He was born in Virginia on February 22nd, 1732, to the family who owned a plantation. One of the most famous stories about Washington is how, as a little boy, he chopped down his father's cherry tree with his little hatchet and then said to his father, I cannot tell a lie, I did it with my little hatchet. Now, that story goes along with the popularly told myth that Washington never told a lie because he was honored for being a man of honesty and principle. Now, it's true that Washington was indeed a man of high honor and great principle, but that story about him and the cherry tree was simply made up by one of the biographers who wrote about him very lovingly shortly after his death. We really don't know much about his childhood. We do know that as a young man, he studied reading, writing, arithmetic, and as he grew into a young adult, he became a surveyor because clearly he was good at mathematics. So he surveyed a lot of the wilderness in Virginia. Perhaps this gave him an opportunity to find out more about the great potential that our country would have. In those days, it was just a British colony, a comparative wilderness, a distant outpost that the crown gave little thought, but he and others who lived in the colonies knew that it could be so much more. We all know about the beginning of our country on 1776 with the Declaration of Independence. Washington wasn't directly connected to that, but he was connected to what happened right after that, the Revolutionary War. We peg 1776 as the beginning of our country, but that was not the year when Washington took office as president. As a matter of fact, it would be 13 years before he would become president of the United States. The Declaration of Independence was followed by six years of tense fighting. Now, Washington did not have the supplies, the troops, or the money he needed to fight a good war. In contrast, England had all the money and power of the crown behind it to stamp out the rebels, and they thought it wouldn't be hard. But Washington used his great cleverness to defeat them, thinking about what he had at his disposal. Rather than staging usual conflict, he used the military tactic of making bold little attacks and quickly retreating. This confused the British soldiers because they weren't used to that. They thought it wasn't sporting to not just come out and fight like a man, yet that was all Washington and his troops could do because they were so badly outnumbered. As they were fighting this great war, they had to deal with extreme cold, harsh weather, a lack of food, a lack of good clothing, sometimes even marching for miles without any boots, and a lot of men died because of the illnesses which would sweep throughout the camp. But through it all, Washington kept inspiring him with his belief in the idea that they were fighting for a good cause, even if it seemed really hard. When they finally won, America had its freedom and he returned to his peaceful home back in Virginia. In fact, even before the revolution, Washington was involved with state politics because he was part of the House of Burgesses as a representative of Virginia. After the Articles of the Confederation proved to be a very inadequate form of government for a few years, the Continental Congress came together to write the Constitution. And Washington was there as a representative of Virginia. After this was ratified, the time came for a president to be elected. The voting process was so different than it would be in modern times or even a few years later. There was simply a group of the Electoral College and each man cast two votes. It was unanimous. Everyone voted for George Washington to be the first president. He holds the distinction of being the only U.S. president to have been unanimously elected. He was also unanimously elected for his second term of office. Everyone knew that he was the man for the job. Now, why was it that everyone could agree? It wasn't just that everyone got along so well back then because the next president wasn't unanimously elected and it wasn't that there weren't differing political ideas at the time. But why was Washington so popular? Why did everyone think that he was the man for the job? There are a couple of reasons why Washington holds that distinction. Firstly, he'd shown that he knew what America was and what it needed to be. He brought the country to such great victory during the war. He also had a good political background because he'd been part of different houses as first in Virginia and then on the national scale, part of the writing of the Constitution. He'd proven that he knew what this new form of government needed to be or should be. One reason which isn't considered as much is the fact that he was childless. Some people were against having any kind of leader because they thought we'll just be having another king. Why did we fight so hard to get rid of King George III if we're just going to have a king here in America by electing someone? Because surely if we put someone in as a president of some kind, he'll take over. He'll end up becoming some kind of a tyrant. But Washington didn't have any children. He had two stepchildren who both had sadly died by this point. And his grandchildren were so far removed. So they knew, whereas a king might have a son he wants to inherit his throne or his office, Washington had no son. He had no daughter. He had no heir whom he might want to follow in his footsteps. So that was one reason why people trusted him. Also, he held the distinction of being the only president not affiliated with any political party. He didn't think there should be political parties. He was very much opposed to that. And it's not that there weren't different political ideas at the time. Even during his tenure, there began to be two different schools of thought. The Federalists and the Democratic Republicans. The Federalists thought that there needed to be some kind of a centralized government that took care of things. And the Democratic Republicans wanted to keep it as much like a democracy where everyone votes, or at least like a republic where people vote for some people they trust. And they thought that you should let the states have more control. Now some people started to say later in his presidency that Washington was more of a Federalist. But really he was a Traditionalist. And in that groundbreaking new role, he and his wife Martha had to start many customs which would become commonplace for the future presidents. He put a bunch of wise men around himself and he would consult with them. He opened up his home and had guests come in and visit him and his wife. We think of Washington as this great man like a statue. But he also was a human being with his likes and dislikes. His favorite foods were ice cream and fish. And he was noted for being a man of tall, striking stature. Like many presidents who are above average height, he was very tall and imposing. But he also was a warm, kind man. Although he was technically Episcopalian most of his life, he also associated with the Freemason beliefs, which is more of a social club that believed in doing the right thing rather than a strictly organized religion. However, he believed in religious tolerance and he was noted for attending religious services of many different Protestant and Catholic denominations as well as even groups like the Quakers during his time as president. He was very much opposed to getting involved in any other wars, even though some other people wanted to join the fray. Because it was in 1789, right at the beginning of his presidency, that the French Revolution took place. He said that the United States needed to find its own footing before we started trying to help other countries. Although he was appreciative of the help which France had given to the United States. And he was very sensitive to how his life in the public eye would affect his family. For instance, he knew that Martha was reluctant to be in the public limelight and she didn't like everything that was happening with being involved in politics and having to leave their home. But they shared the common belief that the United States was something for which it was worth making some personal sacrifices. Washington was offered a third term because everyone thought he was so great at the job. But he turned it down, setting one of the precedents which every president following him, except Franklin D. Roosevelt, would follow of not accepting a third term. And with his great example, Washington continues to inspire every person who holds political office of how to be a strong leader who welcomes the opinions of others. Not a despot, not a tyrant, not a doormat. Someone who stands firm in his beliefs, such as about wars or political divisions. One of my favorite quotes from him is as follows, happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected. I think that summarizes the whole American dream which he and his fellow founding fathers were trying to establish. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Yet we as individuals and as citizens will never be truly happy unless we understand that a moral duty is strongly connected to everything we do. In the two years after he was a president, he began to struggle from ailing health, but he put it in his will that after his wife died, his slaves would be freed. You see in some of his writings that he wasn't sure that was the right thing. He had his doubts about slavery, but he was, again, a man who believed in not creating huge division. Putting in the will that the slaves would be freed, he set the beginning of working toward a time when all men would be acknowledged as equal. Thank you for spending this time with me talking about the founding father of our country, George Washington, and the great legacy he left of freedom, fighting for what you believe, and aligning a strong moral duty with a sense of being a good citizen. As you learn more about Washington and his great story, I challenge you to make it your goal to think about how you can use moral duty, and always thinking about doing the right thing as a citizen, to become a better member of the United States to keep that legacy of freedom alive every day. Thank you for watching. Goodbye.