CHAPTER 1

George Washington

1732–99

Let me begin the first biography in this book by saying that even ifthe seven great men discussed within its pages were not in chronologicalorder, I probably still would have started with GeorgeWashington. When it comes to true greatness, Washington's tough tobeat. But someone's greatness can sometimes lend him an aura of suchoutsized fame that we begin to think of him not as a real person but as acartoon superhero or as a legend. That's often the case with Washington.

As you know, he has a state named after him. (Do I need to saywhich?) And he has our nation's capital city named after him; he hasa soaring obelisk monument in that city; his birthday is a nationalholiday; and he has a huge bridge named after him right here in myhometown of New York City. And if all these things aren't impressiveenough, his face is on the dollar bill! (Perhaps you already knew that.)So who really thinks of him as an actual flesh-and-blood human beingwho struggled as we all struggle and who put on his breeches one leg ata time? That's the problem with being that famous. People often don'treally think about you as a person at all.

If you do think of him, you probably think of George Washingtonas that old guy with the somewhat sour expression on the aforementioneddollar bill. In that overfamiliar picture, sporting heavilypowdered hair and a lace-trimmed shirt, he looks almost as much likean old woman as an old man.

But what I've discovered is that this famous portrait has givenmany of us an outrageously false picture of who Washington actuallywas. It presents him as an elderly man with chronic denture discomfort,who looks none too happy for it. But the reality is completelydifferent.

What if I told you that in his day, George Washington was consideredabout the manliest man most people had ever seen? No kidding.Virtually everyone who knew him or saw him seemed to say so. Hewas tall and powerful. He was also both fearless and graceful. On thefield of battle, he had several horses shot out from under him; on thedance floor, he was a much sought-after partner.

There's so much to say about Washington that it's hard to knowwhere to begin. For one thing, he was a man of tremendous contradictions.For example, the man who became known as the father ofour country never fathered children himself. And he lost his ownfather when he was a young boy. The man who was viewed as deeplyhonorable actually told some real whoppers when he was a youngman, despite Parson Weems's fictitious episode by the cherry tree: "Icannot tell a lie." More than anyone else, he is responsible for freeingAmerican colonists from the greatest military power on earth—theBritish Empire—and yet he held some three hundred black men,women, and children in bondage at Mount Vernon.

But here's the biggest contradiction: Washington was an extremelyambitious young man who worked hard to achieve fame, glory, land,and riches—yet at a pivotal moment in American history, he didsomething so selfless that it's difficult to fully fathom. It's principallybecause of this one thing that he's included in this book.

So what did he do? In a nutshell, he voluntarily gave up incrediblepower. When you know the details of his sacrifice, it's hard to believethat he did what he did of his own free will. And yet he did it. Thetemptation not to surrender all that power must have been extraordinary.There were many good reasons not to surrender it, but historyrecords that he somehow did. Somehow he made an impossibly grandsacrifice—and in doing so he dramatically changed the history of theworld. Had Washington not been willing to do it, America as we knowit almost certainly would not exist. That's not hyperbole.

This is why contemporary memorials to Washington describe himas an American Moses, as someone loaned to Americans from God.He was the right man for his time—arguably the only man who couldhave successfully birthed the American Experiment. If you wonderwhether one person's actions can matter, and if you wonder whethercharacter matters, you needn't look any further than the story ofGeorge Washington. So here it is.

* * *

George Washington was born on February 22, 1732, in what isnow Westmoreland County, Virginia, the first son of Mary BallWashington and tobacco farmer Augustine Washington. George hadtwo older half-brothers, Augustine and Lawrence, and one half sister,Jane, who were children from his father's first marriage. George alsohad five full younger siblings: Samuel, Elizabeth, John, Charles, andMildred.

Augustine and Lawrence were sent to England for their educations,but George's father died when George was just eleven, makingan English education for him financially impossible. He would regretthis deficit in his education throughout his long life. George's brotherLawrence, who was fourteen years older, became a father figure tohim, someone whose advice the young George would listen to. In 1751,Lawrence took nineteen-year-old George to Barbados, where Lawrencehoped to be cured of tuberculosis. Alas, George contracted smallpoxon this trip. Although the disease was dangerous, it actually turnedout to be a hugely fortunate occurrence; George was then inoculatedfrom the disease at an early age, thereby preventing him from futureattacks of it when he was a general. During the Revolutionary War,large numbers of soldiers died of disease rather than enemy attacks.

As a boy growing into manhood, George frequently visitedLawrence's home on the Potomac River, which was named MountVernon. He also frequently visited Belvoir, owned by Lawrence's in-laws.As one biographer put it, at Mount Vernon and Belvoir, "Georgediscovered a world that he had never known." In particular, Belvoir"was a grand structure, an architectural showcase gracefully adornedwith exquisite molding and rich paneling and decorated tastefullywith furniture and accessories from England." George "was stirredby the people" in these homes, "people of influence," adults "whowere well-read and thoughtful, men who were accustomed to wieldingpower."

Young George determined to turn himself...