The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Foreword
• Table of Maps
• Principal Events of Washington’s Life
• Note On This Edition
• Part One: Commander In Chief of the Revolution
• Chapter 1: “the Favorite Soldier of Virginia”: Early Years; the French and Indian War (1732 to 1759)
• Chapter 2: “the Soldier of America”; Victory At Boston (september 1774 to April 1776)
• Chapter 3: War In Canada and the North (june 1775 to November 1776)
• Chapter 4: War In the South; the Declaration of Independence (november 1775 to July 1776)
• Chapter 5: Defeat and the Restoration of “native Courage”: Command In New York (june to September 1776)
• Chapter 6: “unyielding Firmness”: Retreat and Attack In New York and New Jersey (october 1776 to January 1777)
• Chapter 7: The Army and Independence Maintained (january to July 1777)
• Chapter 8: Battle and a Wise Determination to Avoid Battle: the Struggle For Philadelphia (july to September 1777)
• Chapter 9: A Stubborn Contest In the Middle Colonies (september to December 1777)
• Chapter 10: Defeat, Then Victory, In the North: Ticonderoga, Bennington, Saratoga (november 1775 to November 1777)
• Chapter 11: “the Character of Washington”: Preserving Army and Command At Valley Forge (december 1777 to May 1778)
• Chapter 12: “on His Own Responsibility”: a New Army At Monmouth (march to June 1778)
• Chapter 13: “temperate Measures”: Disappointment With the French, Stalemate With the British (july to December 1778)
• Chapter 14: Diplomacy; Frontier Attacks; Congress’s Grand Plan (june 1778 to February 1779)
• Chapter 15: The British Shift the Front: War In Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia (november 1778 to June 1779)
• Chapter 16: Near-mutinies and Calming Influence; Skirmishes; the Allies Fail At Savannah (may to December 1779)
• Chapter 17: Disasters and Misjudgments In South Carolina (january to August 1780)
• Chapter 18: Governing Without Teeth: Mutiny; Failures of Supply; a French Force Stalls (january to September 1780)
• Chapter 19: Arnold’s Treason; Faction and Army Policy In Congress (august to December 1780)
• Chapter 20: “abilities, Fortitude, and Integrity”: Greene and His Lieutenants In the South (august 1780 to April 1781)
• Chapter 21: Mutiny Parried and Quelled; the “miserably Defective” Structure of Congress; Lafayette Checks Cornwallis (november 1780 to July 1781)
• Chapter 22: “the Total Incompetency of the Political System”; Victory At Yorktown (may to December 1781)
• Chapter 23: The Deep South Regained; the Prudence of Greene (april 1781 to January 1782)
• Chapter 24: Peace; Pacifying the Army; the “virtuous Moderation” to Bid Farewell (december 1781 to December 1783)
• Part Two: Father and President of the New Republic
• Chapter 25: Private Statesmanship: Agriculture, Improvements, Union (1783 to 1785)
• Chapter 26: Political Imbecility; Constituting a Government (1784 to 1789)
• Chapter 27: Conciliating the Public: Election, Inauguration, and First Appointments (1789)
• Chapter 28: Defense, Finance, Foreign Affairs— and the First “systematic Opposition” (1790 to 1791)
• Chapter 29: Democratic Rebellion; Indian War; the French Model (march 1791 to March 1793)
• Chapter 30: Reelection; Furor Over Neutrality; the Extraordinary Citizen Genêt (november 1792 to December 1793)
• Chapter 31: “the Path of Duty”: Averting War, Maintaining Independence (december 1793 to June 1794)
• Chapter 32: Executive Vigor Confronts War, Rebellion, and Treaty-making (january 1794 to June 1796)
• Part Three: the First of Americans
• Chapter 33: Last Farewell; Final Duty; Legacy and Character (1796 to 1799)
• Appendix A: Note On Further Reading and Editorial Sources
• I.: Further Reading
• II.: Sources
• Appendix B: Important Writings of Washington
• I.: Speech to the Officers of the Army
• II.: Address to Congress On Resigning Commission
• III.: To the Continental Congress
• IV.: First Inaugural Address
• V.: Farewell Address

II.

Sources

In preparing this Liberty Fund edition, the following sources were used:

(a) washington’s writings

The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745–1799, ed. John C. Fitzpatrick, 39 volumes (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1931–44); The Diaries of George Washington, ed. Donald Jackson, 6 volumes (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1976–79); and The Papers of George Washington, in 5 series (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia): Colonial Series, ed. W. W. Abbot et al., 10 volumes to date (1983–); Revolutionary War Series, ed. Philander D. Chase et al., 8 volumes to date (1985–); Confederation Series, ed. Abbot et al., 6 volumes to date (1992–); Presidential Series, ed. Dorothy Twohig et al., 7 volumes to date (1987–); Retirement Series, ed. Abbot, Twohig, and Chase, 2 volumes to date (1998–).

(b) marshall’s writings

The Papers of John Marshall, ed. Herbert A. Johnson et al., 8 volumes to date (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1974–); Marshall, The Life of George Washington, Commander in Chief of the American Armed Forces, 2 volumes (New York: Walton Book Company, 1930; reprint of 1848 printing of revised second edition, 1832).

(c) works on washington

James T. Flexner, George Washington, 4 volumes (Boston: Little, Brown, 1965–72); Douglas Southall Freeman, George Washington: A Biography, 7 volumes, vol. 7 by J. A. Carroll and M. W. Ashworth (New York: Scribner, 1948–57); Albert B. Hart, George Washington Year by Year: Dates of Important Events Relating to George Washington, 1783–1799 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. George Washington Bicentennial Commission, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1931).

(d) works on marshall

Albert J. Beveridge, The Life of John Marshall, 4 volumes (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1916–19); Marcus Cunliffe, “John Marshall’s George Washington,” in In Search of America (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1991); Robert K. Faulkner, The Jurisprudence of John Marshall (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1968); Jean E. Smith, John Marshall: Definer of a Nation (New York: H. Holt & Co., 1996).

(e) general historical sources

Mark M. Boatner, Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (New York: D. McKay Co., 1966); Dictionary of American Biography, ed. Allen Johnson et al., 22 volumes (New York: Scribners, 1957, 1958); Dictionary of National Biography, ed. Sir Leslie Stephen and Sir Sidney Lee, 22 volumes (London: Oxford University Press, 1921–22); Historical Dictionary of the French Revolution, 1789–1799, ed. Samuel F. Scott and Barry Rothaus, 2 volumes (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1985); Richard B. Morris, Encyclopedia of American History (New York: Harper & Row, 1976).

APPENDIX B

Important Writings of Washington

• I. Speech to the Officers of the Army, March 15, 1783
• II. Address to Congress on Resigning Commission, December 23, 1783
• III. Letter to Continental Congress, September 17, 1787
• IV. First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789
• V. Farewell Address, September 19, 1796

* * *

Editors’ Note: The texts are taken from The Writings of Washington, ed. John C. Fitzpatrick, 39 volumes (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1931–44). Spelling, punctuation, italics, etc., are unchanged, except in a few instances where an omission, error, or obvious impediment to the reader is corrected in brackets. A few notes have been supplied.