George Washington was not a lawyer, nor did he think in the legal terms that came naturally to the many lawyers who were delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Washington was not a philosopher, nor was he fluent in the philosophical concepts favored by Thomas Jefferson, his secretary of state. Washington was definitely not a political climber, and the naked ambition of Alexander Hamilton, his treasury secretary, was foreign to his very nature.
There is a reason that George Washington has been called the first among firsts and the greatest among greats. As is written by Sun Tzu by whoever really wrote “Sun Tzu,”: “He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious.”
Although he has not touted here his new book “Founding Partisans,” I will. If you “liked” this essay on Washington and these early times in the history of the Republic, you will find more in the pages of Prof. Brands’ new book.
Ken Follett says about well written fiction that the reader must share in the emotions the characters in the book are experiencing at the time they experience them and we turn the pages because we care what happens to the characters even though we know, at a rational level, they are made up.
I would offer the non-fiction corollary that we read and enjoy narrative history because we care about the subject and turn the pages when the author can reveal through what can be known about the historical characters what they did and what possibly they must have been thinking at the time at least through what they themselves said they were thinking or at least demonstrated what they were thinking through their acts so that we can apply our own analytical abilities to the process to provide guidance for our own behaviors, actions, lives and the lives of those for whom we care.
There is a reason that George Washington has been called the first among firsts and the greatest among greats. As is written by Sun Tzu by whoever really wrote “Sun Tzu,”: “He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious.”
Although he has not touted here his new book “Founding Partisans,” I will. If you “liked” this essay on Washington and these early times in the history of the Republic, you will find more in the pages of Prof. Brands’ new book.
Ken Follett says about well written fiction that the reader must share in the emotions the characters in the book are experiencing at the time they experience them and we turn the pages because we care what happens to the characters even though we know, at a rational level, they are made up.
I would offer the non-fiction corollary that we read and enjoy narrative history because we care about the subject and turn the pages when the author can reveal through what can be known about the historical characters what they did and what possibly they must have been thinking at the time at least through what they themselves said they were thinking or at least demonstrated what they were thinking through their acts so that we can apply our own analytical abilities to the process to provide guidance for our own behaviors, actions, lives and the lives of those for whom we care.