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A student might sometimes think that we talk too much about George Washington. How could one man do all that he did? How could one man be so important to the founding of the United States of America? It is incredible but true – one man did lead us to victory as the general of the Continental Army, one man did serve as the leader of the Constitutional Convention, and one man did serve two terms as our first president, successfully establishing our country as an operating enterprise. And this was all the same man, George Washington.
Of the three roles above, students probably know less about the first-president role that Washington undertook. George Washington’s Journey, by T.H. Breen, a leading historian, fleshes out these two presidential terms by focusing on the journeys of President George Washington. Today we are used to presidents jetting around the country, giving speeches and having rallies and meeting with local government officials. In the late 1700s, travel was much harder and took much longer – there were no trains, planes, buses, or cars. Breen tells of the incredible trips that Washington deliberately planned and made to educate the country about the Constitution and their new federal government. He knew that this Federal government was an experiment, a country ruling itself without a king, which was almost unheard of in world history. Washington wanted to make everyone to feel a part of their new country. To increase this connection to ordinary Americans, Washington on all these journeys determined to stay only in public inns and not in the private homes of wealthy supporters. That is partly why so many old inns in the eastern United States have a sign stating that “Washington slept here.” The President tried to hit all parts of the country, north, south, and middle, in the months when the part-time Congress was not in session. Throughout the eight years of his presidency, he covered all of the USA, greatly helping to bring the ordinary people to a better understanding of their government and convince them that it would only succeed with their participation and aid. Was Washington as successful in this endeavor as he was in all the other parts of the work for which we call him “the Father of our Country?” Two hundred and fifty years later we are still here and still ruled by the Constitution – so the answer is yes. Breen’s book is probably best for upper high school students.