Sunday, September 17, 2006

George Washington

(As an aside I must point out that Washington, like his neighbors, employed slave labor. At the time, slavery was legal in almost every country on earth. Washington’s duty, he believed, was merely to treat his slaves humanely.

He gradually changed his mind, however, and in his will he freed his slaves. Though many other Virginians, including Jefferson, talked about the evils of slavery, none followed Washington’s example. Moreover, Washington made provision for supporting his former slaves who were too old to support themselves. His estate was paying pensions to them as late as 1833.) --Forrest McDonald, George Washington: Today’s Indispensable Man, Intercollegiate Review, Spring 1995


Recommended reading:
by George Washington at Reading Rat


Criticism (articles, essays, reviews):

Washington regarded the bill [that would have extended an existing tax for the support of the established Anglican Church] as imprudent but declined an invitation to sign on to Madison’s Memorial and Remonstrance, making clear he did not oppose the bill in principle... (p. 6) --Nathan A. Forrester, Jr.,
Equal Billing: On Religion, Washington's Views Should Be Considered, Too, review of Under God: George Washington and the Question of Church and State, by Tara Ross and Joseph C. Smith Jr. (2008), Texas Review of Law & Politics, Spring 2008 (via Daniel Suhr at Marquette University Law School Faculty)

John J. DiIluio Jr. Reviews Under God: George Washington and the Question of Church and State by Tara Ross and Joseph C. Smith Jr., Engage Volume 9, Issue 1, February 2008

Commander of Field and Foe, review by Martin Morse Wooster of Washington’s Secret War: The Hidden History of Valley Forge, by Thomas Fleming, Crisis, June 2006

George Washington, by Michael P. Riccards, Washington Times, November 6, 2004

His Excellency: George Washington, by Joseph J. Ellis, reviewed by Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post, October 31, 2004

First in War, by Mackubin Thomas Owens, review of Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fischer; and Valley Forge Winter: Civilians and Soldiers in War by Wayne Bodle, Claremont Review of Books, Summer 2004

Why we won, by Marc Arkin, The New Criterion, May 2004

Paterfamilias, by Harvey Mansfield, a review of Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington, by Richard Brookhiser, The New Criterion, March 1996

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