If any American was ever entitled to leave behind the burdens of public life, surely it was George Washington in 1783. Having created and led the Continental Army to victory over the mightiest military on earth, he had endured much personal hardship, including having to neglect his beloved Mount Vernon for over eight years. By the time he arrived home on Christmas Eve, he had no further aspiration (as he wrote to the Marquis de Lafayette) than to remain “under the shadow of my own Vine and my own Fig tree.” Only four years later, however, Washington would re-emerge as a political force, presiding over the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, and then being unanimously elected president.
When historians examine episodes from Washington’s career to better understand him, they frequently choose his resignation from command of the Army, or his determination to decline a third term as president. Rarely considered is his decision to reenter public life after the revolution. It is this neglected phase of Washington’s life, between his departure from military service and his assumption of the presidency, that is the subject of this volume.
These years are often referred to as the “critical period” in American history: A postwar economic downturn, coupled with a weak central government unable to pay its debts to veterans or foreign lenders, left many Americans in doubt regarding the viability of their new nation. Settlers west of the Appalachians were beginning to wonder if their future lay with a bordering power such as Spain or Great Britain rather than their eastern brethren, whose taxation seemed to fall disproportionately on westerners. While some may argue that these problems are overstated, the view of many of America’s leading citizens at the time was much different. Indeed, George Washington was among those who felt that things had quickly begun to go wrong after the war’s end, and that the lack of unity among the states was imperiling the “Glorious Cause” for which so many had given so much.
Edward Larson notes that few books about Washington cover these years in depth, and that the numerous biographies generally focus on Washington’s agricultural innovations and active family life during this period. The result can sometimes be a portrait of a Washington who emerges from Mount Vernon only with the greatest reluctance to play out a script written by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and others. Figuring actively in neither the Constitutional Convention’s commencement, nor the Constitution’s ratification, this Washington served mostly as a figurehead, lending little more to the proceedings than his hard-won prestige.
Larson sets out to correct what he views as misperceptions on these scores. He provides an overview of the critical period, the Constitutional Convention, and the post-convention events leading to Washington’s inauguration, each from Washington’s vantage point. Details about his farming and family life are played down here: We are left with a much more active and politically engaged Washington, who did as much as anyone during these years to bring the new republic into being.
One problem, of course, is that Washington’s influence cannot always be seen directly, but Larson teases it out through careful study of his (deceptively) mundane actions. Although almost completely silent throughout the convention as its presiding officer, Washington chose to dine simply with the other delegates at a tavern rather than at the mansion where he lived. When the debate turned to whether the presidency could be entrusted to one man, Larson speculates that this demonstration of common familiarity helped reassure the delegates, who presumed that Washington would be their first president. He also shows us how Washington’s political savvy helped ensure that the Constitution would gain acceptance. The result was a product that closely resembled what, for years, Washington had been advocating in private.
At the crux of the story, though, is Larson’s explanation for why Washington ultimately abandoned a retirement from political life that he earnestly desired. Larson makes the case that the political class of the time was sold on the need for reform of the Articles of Confederation, and that all agreed Washington’s active support was essential. But the key connective element is Washington’s own political thought and understanding of republican duty. As Glenn Phelps has noted in his study of Washington’s constitutional thought, Washington’s concept of republicanism was that of Greece and Rome: “Republican hagiography demanded that its heroes always be willing to defend the republic against corruption and decay. As much to confirm his own virtue as to attain specific reforms, Washington determined to end his public ‘retirement.’ ” The critical period played an important role in developing Washington’s political philosophy, and it would have been helpful for Larson (who cites Phelps) to have invoked Washington’s classical republican ideology to show how he couldn’t stay away from politics once events made it clear that his participation would be decisive.
That George Washington was politically active almost immediately upon his retirement from the Continental Army has been long understood. Still, Larson has left us with a richer portrait of the vital role Washington played before, during, and after the Constitutional Convention. What emerges is not so much a man who left and then “returned” as one who remained vigilant, calibrating his participation in public life as circumstances warranted and permitted. Now we can appreciate even more fully why Washington is the indispensable figure in the history of America’s founding.
Alec D. Rogers was senior counsel to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
