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Subject Area: Political Theory
Subject Area: History
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

Editor’s Note - George Washington, George Washington: A Collection [1988]

Edition used:

George Washington: A Collection, compiled and edited by W.B. Allen (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1988).

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


Editor’s Note

THE MATERIALS reproduced here derive almost entirely from John C. Fitzpatrick, The Writings of George Washington. Where feasible, his versions have been checked against the manuscripts. Some other materials derive directly from manuscripts or other published sources.

With the exception of Chapter Eleven, where the major addresses of Washington’s presidency are brought together, the materials here are presented in a straightforwardly chronological order. Critical apparatus has been held to an absolute minimum in this collection. This work is designed to be a tool of general information rather than a tool of critical study. While this work has been thoroughly checked to conform to the most recent critical judgments, readers seeking a tool of critical analysis should consult the multivolume Papers of George Washington in progress under the editorship of W. W. Abbot at the University of Virginia Press.

The reader will note bracketed words and phrases in the text. Except in the discarded inaugural, these are Fitzpatrick’s, used to indicate that portions of the text have been crossed out, mutilated, or left out inadvertently by Washington or an aide to whom he dictated his words. Brackets sometimes enclose words that Fitzpatrick provides to fill the gap, sometimes enclose variant wordings, and sometimes indicate that the handwriting has suddenly shifted to that of another person. In the discarded inaugural, brackets have been inserted by the present editor to indicate similar textual conditions.

Modernization of spelling and grammar were applied inconsistently in Fitzpatrick. However, because it remains the most complete collection of Washington’s writings published to date, we have adhered to Fitzpatrick. Changes have been introduced only in those very few cases where it is conceived that meaning would otherwise be lost. Of course, materials reprinted from other sources have not been forced to conform to the Fitzpatrick standard.