Mount Vernon Magazine, Fall 2015

MOUNTV ER NON.ORG

FA L L 2 0 1 5

P.O. Box 110, Mount Vernon, VA 22121 mountvernon.org

INAUGU R A L ISSU E

Washington & the Founders Thomas Fleming on Jefferson Ron Chernow Talks Hamilton

Rules of Civility, No. 25 Superfluous Complements and all Affectation of Ceremonie are to be avoided, yet where due they are not to be Neglected.

LEAVE COMMENTS AND FEEDBACK AT MOUNTVERNON.ORG/MAGAZINE

L’Hermione Docks at Mount Vernon P.4 Peeling Back History: Uncovering Washington’s Wallpaper P.16

Contents

Holiday Events

FALL 2015 | Inaugural Issue Rebecca Aloisi, Editor Mary Koik, Editorial Consultant CONTRIBUTORS: Dr. Douglas Bradburn

Thomas Reinhart

Carol Borchert Cadou

Dr. Susan Schoelwer

Cynthia Chin

Stephen Stuckey

Adam Erby

Dr. Esther White

Stephen McLeod

K. Allison Wickens

Rebekah Hanover Pettit, Designer Jennifer McCreery, Production Manager Leslie Plata, Production Assistant Bates Creative Group, Design Consultants Dawn Bronner, Visual Resources Buddy Secor, Cover Photo

Features 16 Vertical Archaeology

Mount Vernon magazine is published three times a year by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, the nonprofit organization that owns and manages George Washington’s estate. We envision an America where all know and value the singular story of the father of our country. Ever mindful of our past, we seek innovative and compelling ways to tell the story of George Washington, so that his timeless and relevant life lessons are accessible to the world.

This publication is produced solely for nonprofit educational purposes,

New technology uncovers the original patterns that graced Mount Vernon’s walls.

By Amanda Isaac

22 Patriots & Partners

and every reasonable effort is made to provide accurate and appropriate attribution for all elements, including historic images in the public domain. All written material, unless otherwise stated, is the copyright of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association. While vetted for accuracy, the feature articles included in this magazine reflect the research and interpretation of the contributing authors and historians.

with Historic Appeal Make holiday memories at Mount Vernon. Plan an elegant event on the estate, a private evening tour of the Mansion, or a festive lunch or dinner at the Mount Vernon Inn.

George Washington’s Mount Vernon P.O. Box 110, Mount Vernon, Virginia 22121 All editorial, reprint, or circulation correspondence should be directed to magazine@mountvernon.org. mountvernon.org/magazine

Event Information: 703.799.8605 Inn Reservations: 703.780.0011 mountvernon.org/privateevents

Ron Chernow explores the relationship between Washington and the forgotten Founding Father, Alexander Hamilton.

24 Divided They Stood How conflict between Washington and Jefferson nearly tore the new nation apart.

By Thomas Fleming

From the President

George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate is owned and maintained in trust for the people of the United States by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association of the Union, a private, nonprofit organization (501c3) founded in 1853 by Ann Pamela Cunningham.

MOUNT VERNON LADIES’ ASSOCIATION Mrs. Benjamin F. Lucas II, Regent Mrs. Melody Sawyer Richardson, Secretary Mrs. P. Coleman Townsend, Jr., Treasurer

Departments 3 Letter from the President 4 Mount Vernon News 14 Object Spotlight A closer look at the Mansion’s crowning glory 32 Behind the Scenes VIP guides make memories 34 Focus on Philanthropy Key gifts from these benefactors improve every visit 36 Shows of Support Spring events for a cause 40 Upcoming Events Upcoming gatherings and festivities 42 About George Washington Washington Library Fellow Bruce Ragsdale examines the gentleman farmer 44 Featured Photo Stereoview of the Old Tomb

VICE REGENTS Mrs. James Evan Allison, Washington Mrs. Shepard B. Ansley, Georgia Mrs. Jared I. Edwards, Connecticut Mrs. Frank X. Henke III, Oklahoma Mrs. Joseph W. Henderson III, Virginia Mrs. Charles B. Mayer, Louisiana Mrs. James F. Crumpacker, Oregon Mrs. William H. Borthwick, California Mrs. John F. Bookout III, Texas Mrs. Everette C. Sherrill, North Carolina Mrs. Charles G. Lane, South Carolina Mrs. Melody Sawyer Richardson, Ohio Mrs. J. Schley Rutherford, Alabama Mrs. P. Coleman Townsend, Jr., Delaware Mrs. David Garth Holdsworth, New Jersey Mrs. Alpha Coles Blackburn, Indiana Mrs. Thomas E. Petri, Wisconsin Mrs. Frank Mauran IV, Rhode Island Mrs. Hugh Scott III, Missouri Mrs. Frank L. Coulson, Jr., Pennsylvania Mrs. Charles G. Reeder, Mississippi Mrs. Kenan Sahin, Massachusetts Mrs. Michael R. Mayton, Arkansas Mrs. David E. Nichols, Maine Mrs. Helen H. Laughery, Wyoming Mrs. Catherine M. Waddell, Illinois Mrs. Togo D. West, Jr., District of Columbia Mrs. Richard G. Amundsen, Florida SENIOR STAFF Curt Viebranz, President Rebecca Aloisi, Vice President, Marketing Jamie Bosket, Vice President, Guest Experience Douglas Bradburn, Founding Director, The Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington Matt Briney, Vice President, New Media Carol Borchert Cadou, Senior Vice President, Historic Preservation and Collections Megan Dunn, Vice President, Human Resources Susan Magill, Vice President, Advancement Phil Manno, Chief Financial Officer Rob Shenk, Senior Vice President, Visitor Engagement Joseph Sliger, Vice President, Operations & Maintenance K. Allison Wickens, Vice President, Education

W

elcome to the inaugural edition of Mount Vernon, our new magazine for members and for others who share our admiration for George Washington and our passion for American history!

It has been almost a year since we began a process to evaluate our various communications vehicles, seeking to maximize the efficacy and impact of our outreach efforts. As we considered our long-standing newsletter, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, our goal was to create a contentrich and graphically pleasing publication that we could produce more frequently, without incurring additional expenses. After much internal discussion, we invited several accomplished designers to submit concepts for a new magazine to replace our existing publication, all the while conducting extensive focus group research with our existing supporters to help refine the design, layout, and content of a new and improved offering.

This new magazine differs from Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow in several material respects. In addition to sharing news and photos of various recent events—from the visit of L’Hermione to the arrival of our first class of Leadership Fellows—we also strive to share with you the latest in scholarly research in early American history and to offer you behind-the-scenes access to our beloved Mount Vernon. We introduced long-form articles—our first features the perspective of noted scholar Thomas Fleming on the tumultuous relationship between Washington and Jefferson. This is juxtaposed with a look at the relationship between Washington and Hamilton as seen through the eyes of Pulitzer Prize winner Ron Chernow, gleaned from a conversation with Fred W. Smith National Library founding director Doug Bradburn in Chernow’s New York home.

Each issue will also strive to showcase the unparalleled resources at Mount Vernon itself. Groundbreaking preservation advances are being made on the estate every day—like the “vertical archaeology” on the Mansion walls profiled in these pages that has uncovered what we believe to be the earliest examples of wallpaper fragments in the Chesapeake. We will introduce you to members of our fascinating staff, let our curators spotlight their favorite items in our remarkable collection, and highlight the work of our outstanding research fellows via biographical sketches about Washington’s life, starting with Bruce Ragsdale’s account of the General’s agricultural pursuits.

I’m also excited about another recurring feature, which will allow me to introduce you to some of our most loyal donors, beginning with Lynn and Scott Molitor, who, in our very first conversation shortly after I arrived at Mount Vernon, explained to me that they enjoy contributing to unusual projects. If you’ve ever had a seat on the new benches that grace the historic area or the new Windsor chairs on the piazza, you have them to thank. Their most recent contribution is a major gift to assist with the repair and restoration of the iconic cupola—a project for which we still need additional help. Read more about it in the pull-out insert.

After you finish reading, be sure to pass this magazine along to a friend who might like to learn more about Mount Vernon. We also invite you to share your comments and feedback about the magazine and to check out additional features and multimedia content online at mountvernon.org/magazine. And, above all, enjoy!

Curt Viebranz President GEORGE WASHINGTON’S MOUNT VERNON 3

Mount Vernon News Guests admire the frigate from the east

The Hermione at anchor

lawn. (Rob Shenk)

near Mount Vernon, providing stunning scenery for an evening gala event.

(Buddy Secor)

L’Hermione Anchors at Mount Vernon Authentic Recreation Visits Washington’s Estate During its Historic Voyage

A

majestic tall ship sailing up the Potomac past Mount Vernon: it’s a sight that Washington saw many times in his lifetime, and it was a rare treat for guests at his estate this summer. On the afternoon of June 9, crowds flocked to the east lawn to watch as the Hermione, a reconstruction of the 18thcentury frigate owned by the Marquis de Lafayette, glided into view.

That evening, more than 300 guests gathered in the same location for a splendid gala hosted by Moët Hennessy in collaboration with Mount Vernon and the Embassy of France in Washington, D.C. With eyepopping views and breathtaking fireworks, it was an evening to remember—and one that was years in the making. Construction on the Hermione began in France more than 17 years ago as a striking public reminder of the deep, two-century-long alliance between the two nations. Faithfully reconstructed down to the finest detail, the vessel began its transatlantic voyage in April 2015, departing Port des Barques, France—the same embarkation point used by Lafayette in March 1780.

To launch its summer tour of the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, the Hermione landed at Yorktown, Virginia, on June 5, then continued up the Potomac to Mount Vernon. After pausing for the evening gala, it ventured on to Alexandria, Virginia, where members of the public could enjoy a closer look.

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As the Hermione continued northward, it was met by enthusiastic crowds and cultural activities in many locations, from Baltimore to Boston. Mount Vernon supporters in Maine enjoyed an exclusive chance to tour the vessel and learn more about the links between Washington and Lafayette in a special program held July 14.

In addition to serving up remarkable views and an inspiring sense of history, the visit of the Hermione also provided strong fodder for a scholarly gathering. In honor of the ship’s visit, 15 leading historians from across the United States and Europe convened at the Washington Library June 12–14 to discuss various aspects of the wellknown alliance between the American colonies and France during the American Revolution, as well as the colonies’ lesser-known relationships with the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, and other states and individuals. Dr. Andrew J. O’Shaughnessy, the Sons of the American Revolution Distinguished Scholar, led the team of international scholars engaged in original and new research on the European dimension of the American Revolution.

Generously supported through gifts from the Richard Lounsbery Foundation and Ogilvy & Mather, the conference was dedicated to the memory of scholars Jacques Godechot and Robert R. Palmer, considered the founders of Atlantic history. The papers presented at the conference are currently being edited for a scholarly volume that will be published by the University of Virginia Press.

GEORGE WASHINGTON’S MOUNT VERNON 5

Mount Vernon News

From Hollywood to Mount Vernon

A Star-Powered Collection

Barbra Streisand Bequeaths Polk Portrait

T

Together with his wife, Cheryl, Academy

hanks to a generous bequest from one of Hollywood’s biggest names, Mount Vernon will add to its collection a portrait of George Washington with its own brand of star power. Earlier this summer, legendary singer, actress, and filmmaker Barbra Streisand made arrangements to bequeath Charles Peale Polk’s painting of Washington at Princeton to Mount Vernon.

In this striking portrait, Polk presents an image of the General that’s a far cry from that of the stodgy old man on the dollar bill more often seen in popular culture. It shows Washington at the height of his military career, fresh from a decisive victory at Princeton. Attired in his impressive uniform, he is bold and confident—towering over the

“Mount Vernon is so alive with the sense of the man who laid out the path for us and helped secure our right to travel it.” – Barbra Streisand battlefield and the encamped soldiers in the background, striking a pose almost worthy of the silver screen.

While the bequest itself came as welcome news to Mount Vernon, Streisand’s enthusiasm for George Washington was already well known. A longtime fan of the General, Streisand has publicly counted him among the seven people she’d like to invite to a dinner party— together with Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein, and artists Edward Hopper, Gustav Klimt, Amedeo Modigliani, and Egon Schiele.

After purchasing the portrait in 2001, she generously loaned it to Mount Vernon for temporary exhibition later that year. It has subsequently hung in her Malibu, California home, joining other pieces of early American furniture and antiques in her private collection.

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Awa rd–win nin g dire c to r, write r, a n d producer Ron Howard generously offered more than 50 American, British, and French decorative pieces from their private collection to Mount Vernon.

Since the objects earmarked for donation did not meet our current collecting needs, the Howards kindly allowed Mount Vernon

Spanish ambassador Ramon Gil-Casares gives roses to Vice Regents Gail West,

to sell the furnishings at Brunk Auctions for

Claudia Puig, Lucia Henderson, and Regent Barbara Lucas. (Foster Wiley)

the benefit of future collections acquisitions, realizing more than $40,000 for the purchase of 18th-century objects. Once acquired, the new collection objects will bear

“Mount Vernon is so alive with the sense of the man who laid out the path for us and helped secure our right to travel it,” she said. “Where else should this painting of George Washington, created in his lifetime, spend the rest of our history?”

Mount Vernon’s curatorial team has long admired the portrait, which invites people to think of George Washington as an ambitious and successful leader on the battlefield.

“Polk shows us Washington as a visionary and decisive leader. This is the Washington that people need to know,” said Susan Schoelwer, Mount Vernon’s senior curator.

While the addition of this memorable portrait would be a welcome gift from any individual or institution, the estate can’t help but feel the excitement of adding Ms. Streisand’s notable name to its roster of supporters.

“Barbra Streisand has a passion for the arts that extends far beyond the screen and stage. She knows that art has the power to educate and inspire. When young people see this image of George Washington, they will get a better understanding of who he really was,” said Mount Vernon’s president, Curt Viebranz. “Not only are we excited about this opportunity to take stewardship of this important piece of art, but we have an inspiring reminder that there are many ways to support our mission.”

the names of Ronald and Cheryl Howard in recognition of their generous and thoughtful gift to the Mount Vernon collections. In commenting upon the donation, Diane Tank, Howard family representative noted, “Mount Vernon is a very special place in the history of our country and for visitors today. The Howards are honored and pleased to be able to contribute to the furnishing of George Washington’s home.”

“The Howards’ contribution is an inspiring example of how you can think outside of the box when you plan your contributions,” said Susan Magill, Mount Vernon’s vice president for advancement. “When the Howards approached us with a gift that unfortunately did not meet our collecting needs, we worked with them to accept the gift in a way that honors their intent and donation and also fits squarely with Mount Vernon’s mission.”

LEARN MORE ABOUT GIVING OPPORTUNITIES AT MOUNTVERNON.ORG/DONATE.

Gifts of Books and Roses When the Spanish ambassador to the United States decided to donate an important set of volumes to the Washington Library’s collection, Mount Vernon responded with a special event steeped in Spanish tradition. On the Feast of San Jordi, or St. George’s Day, Spanish custom calls for couples to exchange gifts of books and roses. The books honor the legacies of two European literary masters, Cervantes and Shakespeare, both of whom passed away in April.

Inspired by this tradition, on April 21, Mount Vernon hosted a special event in honor of His Excellency Ramón Gil-Casares as he presented the Washington Library with the Documentos relativos a la independencia de Norteamérica existentes en archivos españoles.

This important 13-volume reference collection identifies all known documents related to the American Revolution preserved in Spanish archives. In addition to presenting the volumes to the Library, the ambassador also presented each of the attending board members of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association with a red rose, in keeping with the St. George’s Day tradition.

A 2015 Top Workplace For the second year in a row, George Washington’s Mount Vernon earned a spot on the Washington Post’s list of top workplaces in the metropolitan area. Mount Vernon ranked fifth on the list of large employers (with workforces of more than 500 employees), up from its 14th-place finish last year. The study derives its ratings strictly from employee feedback captured in anonymous surveys.

GEORGE WASHINGTON’S MOUNT VERNON 7

Mount Vernon News

Washington Library Spies a New Acquisition

I

n the spring of 1781, George Washington and his French allies hatched a daring plan to overtake British-held New York City, in the hopes of bringing the Revolutionary War to a decisive end.

In preparation for this mission—which was later abandoned for the Yorktown Campaign—George Washington tasked his spymaster, Benjamin Tallmadge, with destroying a Loyalist fort at Lloyd’s Neck, Long Island. The strategically located fort allowed Crown forces to patrol Long Island Sound and hinder American intelligence gathering.

The General’s instructions and admonitions to Tallmadge regarding this mission are recorded in a fascinating April 1781 letter recently added to the collection of the Washington Library. The letter came to Mount Vernon as a gift from Alexander B. Trevor, a direct descendant of Benjamin Tallmadge. Upon learning of the new Library, Trevor contacted Mount Vernon about his manuscript, desiring to give it a permanent home alongside other Washington items. Under the Library’s care, it will be preserved, digitized, and made available to scholars and researchers.

The letter offers a fascinating glimpse into a period of the war during which the Continental Army’s best course of action was far from certain and, as Washington knew, undercover activities were necessary. “The success of the Enterprise,” he wrote, “must depend, on … the secrecy of the attempt, and a knowledge of the exact situation of the enemy.”

As the letter explains, the Continental Army, based at West Point, would not be able to assist. To come to Tallmadge’s aid, they would have to pass through New York’s Westchester County, a region rife with Loyalist supporters who might warn the British of the pending attack. Instead, Washington counsels Tallmadge to seek help from the amphibious French troops based out of Rhode Island.

After gathering more intelligence from Abraham Woodhull of the famed Culper Spy Ring, Tallmadge

8 FALL 2015 | MOUNTVERNON.ORG

met with the French, only to learn that they had no ships to spare; their forces were needed to patrol the waters as the British transported 2,000 soldiers from New York to Virginia.

Tallmadge’s New York plot did not come to fruition.

However, the movement of those same Crown troops to Virginia gave the Franco-American armies a good reason to look to the south—where they ultimately secured victory.

Symposium Draws Sold-Out Crowd

Nick Bunker accepts the 2015 George Washington Book Prize from Regent Barbara Lucas.

(Foster Wiley)

Nick Bunker Claims Washington Book Prize

Do you have an item that may be of interest to the Washington Library?

The Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington welcomes the opportunity to speak with you about books, letters, and manuscripts in your collection with connections to the Washington family.

CONTACT US VIA E-MAIL AT FWSLIBRARY@MOUNTVERNON.ORG OR CALL 703.780.3600 FOR MORE INFORMATION.

Former journalist and investment banker Nick Bunker took home the 2015 George Washington Book Prize for his latest work, An Empire on the Edge: How Britain Came to Fight America.

One of the nation’s largest literary awards, this $50,000 prize honors the year’s best new books on early American history.

Mount Vernon sponsors the prize, in partnership with Washington College and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

An Empire on the Edge is a probing account of Great Britain’s internal political and financial tensions on the eve of the American Revolution.

Drawing on a careful study of primary sources from Britain and the United States, Bunker crafts a compelling story of the deepening antagonism between England and her colonies, giving equal

weight to the commercial and political ambitions of the British Empire.

Now an independent scholar in Lincolnshire, England, Bunker calls upon his background in finance for his insightful portrait of London’s speculative cycles, the financial woes of the East India Company, and the networks of global trade that had the imperial system “slipping into ruin.”

Bunker received the award during a May 20 Mount Vernon gala that also honored the three other finalists for this year’s prize: Richard S. Dunn’s A Tale of Two Plantations: Slave Life and Labor in Jamaica and Virginia (Harvard University Press), François Furstenberg’s When the United States Spoke French: Five Refugees Who Shaped a Nation (Penguin), and Eric Nelson’s The Royalist Revolution: Monarchy and the American Founding (Harvard University Press).

The first Mount Vernon Decorative Arts Symposium proved a resounding success, attracting more than 130 participants from 21 different states. Held May 29–31, the symposium offered a lively series of talks on the theme of “The Lady of the House: Women and American Decorative Arts.”

Inspired by Martha Washington and the ongoing leadership of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, the symposium offered an unprecedented forum for a discussion focused specifically on the contributions of women as creators, patrons, designers, collectors, and preservationists.

Participants also explored Mount Vernon through staff-led tours and programs focusing on such topics as collections storage, the conservation and archaeology labs, the gardens, the enslaved community, textile processing, the Historic Building Information Management system (HBIM), the Donald W. Reynolds Museum galleries, and the Washington Library. Conversations and conviviality continued well into the evenings, with a memorable excursion to George Mason’s Gunston Hall and cocktails on Mount Vernon’s piazza.

Created through the Campaign for the Library, the symposium was made possible by the generous support of Felicia Fund, the Sachem Foundation, and Mr. and Mrs. Frank Mauran IV. GEORGE WASHINGTON’S MOUNT VERNON 9

Mount Vernon News

Planning for Slavery Exhibition Continues year? This year, Mount Vernon’s education team offered a solution with its inaugural “Scholars to Leaders” program— a chance for students to apply classroom lessons while gaining insights into contemporary leadership topics.

To create the program, Mount Vernon joined forces with other Patriotic philanthropist David M. Rubenstein, center, poses with the inaugural class of Mount Vernon Leadership organizations, including Fellows and Mount Vernon president Curt Viebranz. Rubenstein provided seed funding for the program, which the Smithsonian debuted this summer. (Matt Briney) Institution and the World Affairs Council.

The partnering groups enlisted the brought to life through private tours help of seasoned leaders and scholars, of the estate and conversations with including Naval Rear Admiral Garry content experts. To draw parallels to White, National Museum of American contemporary times, the fellows also In June, 15 of the nation’s top rising History curator Margaret Salazarheard from such notables as former college juniors descended upon Mount Porzio, Vice President for Global Senator John Warner and Senator Vernon to immerse themselves in Programs at APCO Worldwide Joshua Tim Kaine, who welcomed the group history; connect with government, Walker, and 2015 George Washington to Capitol Hill. corporate, and military leaders; Book Prize winner Nick Bunker.

The Mount Vernon Leadership draw inspiration from Washington’s Participants—both individuals and Fellows program concluded in midexample; and develop capstone entire classrooms at more than 127 July.

The application period for next projects to improve their communities. locations in 15 states—tuned in to the year’s class will open in late 2015.

These outstanding students May 20 program via webstream, while represented the inaugural class of another 80 local students joined us in Mount Vernon Leadership Fellows— person at the Library. Students asked a unique five-and-a-half-week questions in person or via Twitter, residential fellowship experience gaining insights into the worlds of designed to introduce a generation of future leaders to Washington’s everEvery May, teachers across academia, military, foreign policy, and popular and public history. relevant legacy of leadership. Patriotic the country grapple with Teachers and students voiced philanthropist David M. Rubenstein the same difficult question: overwhelming support for the provided the seed funding to launch What to do with their gifted and program, which Mount Vernon plans this program as part of his contribution motivated students during the weeks to renew and expand upon next to the Campaign for the Library. between their late spring sittings spring, with a goal of reaching even Each week, the fellows began for the AP History and Government more educators. with a lesson on George Washington, exams and the end of the school

Leadership Fellows Class Convenes

Engaging AP Students after Exams

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In September 2016, Mount Vernon will open a special exhibition on slavery at George Washington’s estate. The exhibit, which will be mounted in the galleries of the Donald W. Reynolds Museum, will focus on the deep interconnections between the lives of the Washington family and the men, women, and children enslaved at Mount Vernon. It is the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association’s hope that visitors will gain new perspectives on George Washington as they consider how his views on slavery evolved over the course of his life, culminating in the decision to emancipate those Mount Vernon slaves he owned.

In preparation for the exhibit, lead curator Jessie MacLeod invited a group of historians, museum professionals, and descendants of Mount Vernon’s enslaved community to serve as an advisory committee for the exhibit. They gathered on May 13 for an all-day meeting led by MacLeod and exhibition designer Chuck Mack to discuss the exhibition.

Thanks to the guidance of the advisors, and the generous lead support of Ambassador and Mrs. Nicholas Taubman, Mount Vernon looks forward to opening the exhibit next fall.

LEARN HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT THE EXHIBITION BY CALLING 703.799.8649

More News & Notes Mount Vernon president Curt Viebranz received the Alumni Achievement Award from Middlebury College. Each year, the Middlebury College Alumni Association Board recognizes a select number of alumni for personal and professional achievements, as well as their contributions to their communities.

Teacher of the Year. The award recognizes an outstanding educator in Washington, D.C., Maryland, or Virginia who finds innovative ways to bring history to life in the classroom.

Field School Returns Summer brought the return of another popular tradition: Mount Vernon’s third annual historic preservation field school!

Charity Navigator, an independent nonprofit evaluator, awarded the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association with its prestigious four-star rating for a third consecutive year. The award recognizes nonprofits that demonstrate strong fundraising performance and responsible stewardship.

Conducted in collaboration with the University of Maryland, the field school is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to earn six college credits and gain hands-on experience in archaeology, architecture, and public interpretation.

This year’s coursework saw students working alongside archaeologists in the slave burial ground and collabo-

The Washington Library chose six outstanding educators for the 2015– 2016 class of Life Guard Teacher Fellows. These educators resided onsite at Mount Vernon for three weeks during the summer to develop new curricula and classroom tools. This year’s fellowship recipients include Stacia Smith Bystrowski (Paxton, Mass.), Ted Green (Saint Louis, Mo.), Julie Alice Huson (Mill Valley, Calif.), Eric Langhorst (Liberty, Mo.), Marcia Motter (Reno, Nev.), and Kelsey Snyder (Eden Prairie, Minn.). Two of the fellowships were sponsored by the Coca-Cola Company.

The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association named Monica Shah, an eighth grade history teacher at Washington, D.C.’s Brightwood Education Campus, its 2015 History

rating with architectural historians at the coach house. They also interpreted their findings to summertime visitors.

(Karen Price)

GEORGE WASHINGTON’S MOUNT VERNON 11

Mount Vernon News

(Buddy Secor)

Spring & Summer Events Summer Escape

A Call to Arms On May 2 and 3, Mount Vernon hosted one of its largest Revolutionary War reenactments in recent memory. While forces never converged on Mount Vernon during the war, the Guest Experience team eagerly embraced the opportunity to educate guests about a central aspect of Washington’s life: his service to his country.

Nearly 500 reenactors from units across North America interpreted what life was like for the men, women, and children on both sides of the conflict.

Guests witnessed scenes of camp life, watched military units drill, listened to “General Washington” deliver a stirring address, and experienced rousing battle demonstrations.

An American Celebration Although the day started off with gloomy skies and unrelenting rain, the Fourth of July proved to be a popular day for patriotic visitors, as more than 8,000 guests flocked to Mount Vernon to celebrate America’s birthday. Among those visitors were 100 new Americans, who took the oath of citizenship on the east lawn and received the warm congratulations of the keynote speaker, CIA Director Jack Brennan.

“Today,” said Brennan, “in swearing you in as brand-new Americans, we affirm a central tenet of our democracy: that what matters is not where you come from, or what you look like, or who your parents are. What matters is your commitment to the principles that define us as Americans—the principles of freedom and equality that have guided this nation since our founding more than two centuries ago. You all entered these beautiful grounds this morning as foreign nationals.

You will leave as Americans.”

The festivities also included a wreath-laying ceremony at Washington’s Tomb, a beautiful display of daytime fireworks, a patriotic concert, and birthday cake.

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What better way to spend a summer evening than with a night at Mount Vernon? More than 2,000 food, beer, and spirits enthusiasts heartily agreed, flocking to the estate for a new after-hours event held June 12 and 13. From bocce ball matches to colonial beer and ice cream–making demonstrations, the event showed off the hipper side of our multifaceted founding father—attracting a lively crowd of young professionals, its intended audience.

(Foster Wiley)

(Tracy Woodward)

GEORGE WASHINGTON’S MOUNT VERNON 13

Object Spotlight

Pointing Toward Peace A Closer Look at Washington’s Weathervane

I

DID YOU KNOW...

To protect the 1787 dove of peace weathervane (pictured), it has been moved to the Donald W. Reynolds Museum, although the original lightning rod, directional letters, and golden ball remain on the Mansion.

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n the summer of 1787, even as he was busy presiding over the heated debates of the Constitutional Convention, George Washington’s mind often turned from his task in Philadelphia back to his beloved Mount Vernon and the expected continuation of his retirement.

During the brief period between the American Revolution and the Constitutional Convention, he had finally been able to complete his grand design for both his home and the surrounding landscape.

But the project needed a finishing touch.

While in Philadelphia, Washington wrote to house-carpenter Joseph Rakestraw, requesting that the craftsman create a weathervane to add to the top of the cupola. Washington instructed Rakestraw that “I should like to have a bird (in place of the Vain) with an olive branch in its Mouth—the bird need not be large (for I do not expect traverse with the wind and therefore may receive the real shape of a bird, with spread wings.” The weathervane that Rakestraw provided took the form of a gilded dove with a black painted beak holding a green olive branch, evoking ancient Greek and biblical symbols for peace. The installation of the weathervane represented a fitting conclusion to Washington’s landscape design. It has reminded all subsequent guests to the estate that, at the end of the Revolution, the general who freed the American people returned home in peace to concentrate on improving his estate rather than taking the reins of power—a modern Cincinnatus.

(Bob Creamer)

GEORGE WASHINGTON’S MOUNT VERNON 15

These wallpaper fragments from Mount Vernon’s Special Collections, recovered over the course of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association’s 150-year history, speak to the continuous pursuit of authenticity in the home’s interiors.

(Karen Price)

Excavating the Layers of Mount Vernon’s Historic Wallpaper

Mount Vernon’s “New Room,”

A ma

nda Isaa c

, As

west parlor, and dining room were not the only spaces enlivened by the rich colors of the 18th-century palette, from Prussian blue to the range of copper-based verditer and verdigris greens. The generous use of wallpaper in rooms throughout the home made Mount Vernon a veritable kaleidoscope of color and pattern during George and Martha

so c i ate C u

Washington’s residence at the estate.

rato r

View of the central pasThis tiny fragment of

sage stairhall, depicting

flocked yellow border

the reproduction paper

paper, found in the little

as installed in 1900.

parlor at Mount Vernon,

(Stewart Brothers)

is one of the earliest exam-

Wallpaper block used to

ples of wallpaper to survive

create reproduction pa-

in the Chesapeake region.

per. Produced by Nevins

It was almost certainly

and Haviland, National

part of one the papers

Wallpaper Company.

Washington received from

The reproduction paper

London in 1758.

features gray and white

(Karen Price)

motifs on a lemon yellow ground. Gift of Roberta Fede, 2014 [M-5359].

(Karen Price)

Recovering the vividness of those original interiors has been a central project of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association (MVLA) since Ann Pamela Cunningham first took charge of Mount Vernon in 1858. Over time, more than 40 fragments of wallpaper have been found and preserved, but successfully piecing together their patterns and history has long proven an elusive goal. Today, however, Mount Vernon’s Historic Preservation and curatorial staff are able to use cutting-edge technology to “excavate” these fragile layers of the past for the first time.

When the Peggy and Elizabeth sailed for Virginia in November 1757, its cargo included fine furnishings and tools for Colonel Washington’s remodeled home on the Potomac, as well as an extraordinary selection of wallpaper, in a wide spectrum of colors and patterns— blue embossed, green embossed, yellow embossed, crimson embossed, India-figured, and chintz were all described—in sufficient quantity to cover six full-size rooms. Embossed, or flocked, papers featured damasktype patterns textured with applied bits of cut-up wool.

In 18th-century parlance, “India” actually referred to China, so India-figured papers were English replications of beautifully painted Chinese originals depicting native landscapes, birds, and flowers. Chintz papers like-wise conjured up the exotic—these English printed papers imitated the sinuous trails of flowers found on Indian printed and painted cottons.

In his order to London, Washington indicated that he intended the crimson flocked paper for use in his dining room, while the others would be used in the secondfloor rooms. In March 1758, Washington also received a 18 FALL 2015 | MOUNTVERNON.ORG

crimson-and-yellow printed paper to accompany a suite of yellow damask bedroom furniture; this paper may have been installed in the first floor space that later became the little parlor.

Washington’s orders are the earliest documented examples of the use of wallpaper in the Chesapeake, but it is almost certain that the relatively inexpensive and fashion-forward room coverings had already been in use for years across these colonies. Washington may well have seen earlier papered interiors at the Fairfax family’s nearby Belvoir plantation or in the homes of the Williamsburg elite and had these in mind while he strove to create his own plantation seat of the first order.

Continuing renovations at Mount Vernon and stylistic changes meant that these early papers did not remain long on the walls. In the 1770s, Washington’s additions of the north and south wings, and the consequent partial demolition of adjoining walls, would have necessitated the removal of much of the wallpaper in the second-floor rooms, the little parlor, and the small dining room. For a time, these rooms likely got a new coat of plaster and paint.

When Washington at last returned to Mount Vernon in the 1780s, he eagerly took up the domestic projects that had been on hold during the war—a new landscape plan, the New Room, and the interiors in the rest of the Mansion.

Papering of some of these rooms was under way in the fall of 1786, when, on September 7, Washington noted in his diary: “Began to Paper the yellow room this day.” It was the besginning of what was likely a week-long process.

More than a decade later, when Washington returned from the presidency, the house was, again, in need of

updates. “We are like the beginners of a new establishment; having every thing in a manner to do … Rooms to Paint— Paper—Whitewash &ca &ca—But although these things are troublesome… yet they will serve to give exercise both to the mind & body,” Washington cheerfully explained to Elizabeth Powel in March 1797, just a few days after his return.

Before leaving Philadelphia, Washington had stocked up on papers from local merchants. Among his sources was William Poyntell, a stationer and paper-stainer, who advertised an “extensive stock of his own manufacture” as well as “twelve thousand pieces of French papers, together with Borders, Landscapes and Chinese Pieces for ornamenting Breast Work and Chimney Boards.” So in 1799, Mount Vernon’s walls likely would have featured newly fashionable stripe and floral-sprig patterns, as well as the fanciful neoclassical motifs inspired by archaeological discoveries in Italy.

By the time the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association acquired Mount Vernon in 1858, all of the wallpapers installed by George and Martha Washington had disappeared through later renovations, or, at best, lay buried underneath multiple layers of plaster, paint, and paper added by intermediate owners. But the potential for discovery was irresistible to a woman like Ann Pamela Cunningham. With a pioneering vision to return Mount Vernon to its “Ancient look,” she attempted every reasonable means to identify the original appearance of Mount Vernon’s interiors. In May 1869, in spite of her physical disability, she investigated as best she could: “I crawled up the staircase … and examined the papering on the room above me. There are several layers—the one next

the plaster is a solid color… yellow.” Comparing what she had found to a 1796 description of the second-floor rooms, she determined that the space would have been known to George Washington as the “Yellow Room,” a conclusion that stands today.

Another intrepid woman discovered fragments of the New Room border as early as 1885. Sarah Johnson, who had worked as the official housekeeper of the MVLA since 1865, had an entirely different perspective on Mount Vernon than the Ladies, having been born into slavery there as the property of the last owner, John Augustine Washington III. As a free woman, Johnson joined preservation efforts by saving such fragments and ensuring that they were archived for study.

In the late 1890s, Superintendent Harrison H. Dodge took it upon himself to take wallpaper investigations to the next level, spearheading early reproductions based on original fragments. Dodge had found bits and pieces of a delicate neoclassical paper on the plastered walls of the central passage, but these were stained with age and flyspecks, leaving only a few motifs discernible to the naked eye. Eager to see the paper recreated, Dodge turned for help in 1898 to designers at the Pratt Institute and Nevins and Haviland, National Wallpaper Company, both in New York City. The result was a creative collage of neoclassical motifs drawn as much from period textile designs as from the Mount Vernon fragments.

Dodge’s later reproduction of paper for the Washington bedchamber met with only short-lived success. In 1928, during repairs in that room, he joyfully recorded that: “I found a loose spot on the side wall to left of the mantel.

GEORGE WASHINGTON’S MOUNT VERNON 19

Above: This fragment of “Old Mill” paper was found by Superintendent Dodge in the Washington bedchamber in 1928.

(Karen Price)

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On scaling off what seemed defective I came across some fragments of the original wall-paper… enough of it to indicate its character, if not its entire pattern!” The pattern featured romanticized scenes of a mill structure framed with robust rococo scrollwork. After extensive searches abroad and throughout the country, examples of the paper were found in several historic New England homes, sufficient to recreate the full pattern. Hung in 1930, the paper quickly became identified in the American mind with the iconic bedchamber, and several companies reproduced it for use in private homes. At the 1931 Paris Colonial Exposition, the full-size replica of the Mount Vernon Mansion included the “George Washington” paper in the interior, thereby introducing it to international audiences. By 1934 though, research by Esther Fraser, a Boston decorative arts scholar, revealed the truth: the paper was in fact a revival design from the 1830s, most likely installed by later owner John Augustine Washington III. Accordingly, the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association removed the paper in 1949.

Difficult as they were to interpret at the time of their discovery, the fragments unearthed by Cunningham, Johnson, Dodge, and others still have much to tell modern researchers. This year, as part of the investigation and planned restoration of the second-floor rooms, Mount Vernon’s Historic Preservation and Collections staff launched an in-depth study of all of Mount Vernon’s surviving wallpaper. With generous funding from the Connoissieur Society (a Mount Vernon leadership group comprised of fine and decorative arts enthusiasts around the country), the papers are being photographed, analyzed, and conserved to the highest standards.

Past students of these papers had to rely on the naked eye to match colors and patterns. Today, cross-section microscopy and elemental pigment analysis enable curators to understand the composition of the papers and, knowing the history of materials, assign date parameters.

In addition, new imaging technologies enable curators to see more than ever before possible.

Startling discoveries have already resulted from this new type of analysis. The fragments found by Dodge in the Washington bedchamber had more to them than the 1830s pattern on one side. Some of the more than 20 remnants of this paper that were found have multiple layers, including a number that bear reverse transfer-prints of an earlier paper, only faintly visible in normal lighting conditions! To recover these tantalizing patterns, Mount Vernon’s research partner, MegaVision, Inc., has produced multispectral images of the relevant fragments. This

The reverse sides of several fragments found in the Washington bedchamber revealed elements of a neo-classical design when viewed under ultraviolet irradiation. The use of ultraviolet, shown below, and multispectral imaging has allowed curators to identify new details and pattern elements.

(Karen Price & MegaVision, Inc.)

technology—the same technique used to document and recover text from priceless historical documents like the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Magna Carta—captures photographs of an artifact in 16 distinct bands of light, ranging from infrared to ultraviolet, as well as fluorescence phenomena.

The results allow curators to virtually see through multiple layers and repairs, without having to physically separate them, and to identify remnants of pigment and pattern not ordinarily visible.

Equipped with these new data, Historic Preservation and Collections staff hope to digitally piece together the fragments in such rooms as the central passage and Washington bedchamber, and, consulting with curators and archivists from across the country, further identify and date the patterns. Ultimately, this work will guide the reinstallation of reproduction papers, allowing visitors to experience once again the visual complexity and excitement of these interiors.

Amanda Isaac is the associate curator at Mount Vernon. In addition to the wallpaper study, she is currently leading the development of a comprehensive furnishing plan for the mansion.

ONLINE Learn more about the latest wallpaper discovery and how it will shape the Mansion in the future at mountvernon.org/wallpaper.

GEORGE WASHINGTON’S MOUNT VERNON 21

adapted from a conversation between the Washington Library’s Doug Bradburn and Ron Chernow on Alexander Hamilton

P

ulitzer Prize–winning historian Ron Chernow is the author of best-selling biographies of George Washington and Alexander Hamilton.

He recently sat down with Doug Bradburn, the Washington Library’s founding director to discuss that history-making partnership, including its most recent and innovative portrayal—the hit hip-hop musical Hamilton, for which he was the historic advisor.

How did you become interested in Hamilton?

Washington?

In 1998, when I started working on Hamilton, he seemed to be the neglected and misunderstood founding father. I decided to write about Washington because, when I was writing about Hamilton, I had a moment of epiphany. Seeing Washington through Hamilton—who was very perceptive and a good enough writer that he could really make characters come alive—I began to spy a portrait of Washington that had not been done before.

Alexander Hamilton and George Washington were from very different worlds—why were they so attracted to one another?

Alexander Hamilton, an illegitimate orphan from the Caribbean, is painfully aware of his lack of status 22 FALL 2015 | MOUNTVERNON.ORG

but is tremendously ambitious. He is an outsider trying to fight his way into the inner ranks of society and government. George Washington was born at a much higher level, but was very self-conscious about what he referred to as his “defective” education. He wanted to enter the upper ranks of Virginia gentry, and so he was, in his way, conscious of being an outsider.

How would you characterize the relationship between Washington and Hamilton?

Hamilton said, “Our dispositions could not have been more unlike.” His was a brash and headstrong personality; he was very mercurial and brilliant and very impulsive. Washington was the opposite: cautious, thorough, slow, and methodical. These two men complement each other in a way that just feels uncannily right.

When did Hamilton catch the attention of Washington and become part of his “military family”?

Hamilton’s reputation preceded him even before January 1777, which is when he received notice to contact Washington about being an aide de camp.

He had already distinguished himself in battle, and rebuffed invitations to join the staffs of three generals.

But a request from Washington was irresistible.

“These two men complement each other in a way that just feels uncannily right.” – Ron Chernow How did Washington and Hamilton get on during the war? Did they have disagreements? Did they have a falling out?

Hamilton had this obsession with military glory, so he keeps asking Washington for field command, where another young man would have been so pleased and flattered to be in Washington’s “family.”

Washington made the right decision that Hamilton was probably more valuable behind a desk than he was on the field of battle, but when Hamilton finally had his chance at Yorktown, he certainly did cover himself with glory.

What was their relationship like after the war in the 1780s?

Their political vision of the country had been very much forged going through the war together. Hamilton was very important in coaxing Washington back out of retirement, convincing him that the American Revolution is incomplete without the Constitutional Convention. I think this was really the most productive partnership of the early years of the republic. I think that they were an unbeatable team, one of those cases in history where the whole is worth more than the sum of the parts.

A sculpture of Hamilton on display in the Washington Library. (Mark Finkenstaedt)

How did Washington’s relationship with Hamilton evolve as his friendship with Madison/Jefferson began to deteriorate?

Even when Hamilton and Jefferson started feuding, Washington was able to tolerate a quite significant degree of dissent from within his administration. Madison exiled himself from Washington’s affection. Jefferson, too, pulls away from Washington. But Washington never had a cause to doubt the personal and political loyalty of Alexander Hamilton right up to the day that Washington died.

ONLINE Watch the interview online at mountvernon.org/chernow.

GEORGE WASHINGTON’S MOUNT VERNON 23

Thomas Jefferson, Gilbert Stuart, c. 1821.

(National Gallery of Art) George Washington, Gilbert Stuart, c. 1798.

(Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association.)

Conflict between George Washington and Thomas Jefferson? Although numerous historians have explored Jefferson’s differences with Alexander Hamilton, little has been written of—and thus, few Americans know about—the WASHINGTON VS. JEFFERSON: THE CONFLICT THAT CONTINUES TO TROUBLE AMERICA

By Thomas Fleming

fascinatingly complex and, at times, contentious, relationship that developed between the two most famous founding fathers.

I

The differences in temperament and experience between the two men were readily apparent. During the eight-year struggle for independence, George Washington learned to live dangerously. Surmounting military defeats and attempted betrayals by fellow revolutionists, he rose to worldwide fame as the commander of the American Continental Army. With independence secured, he rejected pleas to banish the bankrupt Continental Congress and become the new nation’s dictator. Instead, he resigned his commission and became a private citizen once more.

Jefferson’s chief contribution to the struggle was drafting the Declaration of Independence. The opening paragraph’s soaring insistence that every human being was entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness would ultimately give America’s revolution worldtransforming power. While our nation’s most sacred document was ultimately edited and issued by the Continental Congress, Jefferson is widely acknowledged to be its principal architect.

Jefferson also served for two years (1779–81) as governor of Virginia, the nation’s largest state, during which he struggled to deal with such daunting and discouraging problems—from imminent bankruptcy to British invasions—that he refused to accept a third term. When a disillusioned member of the state’s legislature suggested the governor’s performance deserved a reprimand, the deeply wounded Jefferson told his friend James Madison that he would never again hold public office. The contrast between this emotional reaction and Washington’s eight years of steadfast leadership is striking.

Jefferson. Madison had persuaded him to accept Congress’s appointment as ambassador to France.

Washington was first, last, and always a realist. “We must take human nature as we find it. Perfection falls not to the share of mortals,” was one of his favorite maxims.

But he combined this realism with a visionary faith that America was destined to become a beacon of freedom for men and women everywhere. Thomas Jefferson, on the other hand, was a pervasive optimist who believed that if left to their own devices, free men would inevitably find the path to a good government. Experience had convinced Washington that this happy outcome would only occur with the help of strong leadership. This was the missing ingredient in the Articles of Confederation; Congress, a body with frequently conflicting opinions, was the sole governing power in the nation.

At the Constitutional Convention, Washington and Madison persuaded the delegates to create a new office—a president who could speak and act as a coequal

Frescoed mural showing President George Washington meeting with

In 1790, Jefferson returned to America and accepted Washington’s offer to become his secretary of state, despite their dissimilar views on the Constitution and other policies.

II

In September 1785, James Madison began visiting ex-general Washington at Mount Vernon to discuss the need for a more effective federal government. They agreed that the Articles of Confederation, the primitive charter Congress had created, was inadequate to the task of governing 13 contentious states. Absent from these conversations, which would have a large influence on the new constitution, was their mutual friend, Thomas

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of Congress. “No one signed the Constitution with more enthusiasm than General Washington,” Madison recalled.

Washington also played a central role in the debate over ratifying the Constitution, repeatedly using his influence to persuade wavering states—notably his native Virginia— to approve the new charter. Ambassador Jefferson, abroad and absorbed in another drama—the first rumblings of what became the French Revolution—missed this entire struggle. When a copy of the Constitution reached Jefferson in Paris, his reaction was very different from Washington’s. “I must confess that there are things in it that stagger all my disposition to subscribe to it,” the ambassador told his friend John Adams. Jefferson was especially critical of the office of the presidency. He thought it was much too powerful to entrust to one man.

Washington was the inevitable choice to be the first president and swiftly made clear his intentions

Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, by Constantino Brumidi.

(Architect of the Capitol)

regarding how to govern the nation. He sent a circular letter to the countries of Europe, informing them that communications should be addressed to him, President Washington—not to Congress. He traveled from state to state, determined to make the presidency a popular reality to the whole nation.

In 1790, Jefferson returned to America and accepted Washington’s offer to become his secretary of state, despite their dissimilar views on the Constitution and other policies. Of particular dispute was a proposal from Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton to establish a National Bank of the United States to help manage the consolidated Revolutionary War debt. Nowhere in the Constitution was there any mention of the federal government’s power to create a corporation, much less a national bank, but Hamilton argued that authority for

such ventures was implied within the document.

Jefferson disagreed with the policy. He considered banks to be sources of corruption and feared the new country might be run by a clique of financiers rather than by honest citizens. But President Washington endorsed Hamilton’s idea of implied powers and refused to veto the bank. He thought it made sense to assume the government had the right to create institutions that allowed it to better organize and regulate the commerce of the United States.

He welcomed the idea of turning the former colonies into a unified commercial nation, strong enough to maintain their financial independence, and if need be, pay for their defense against the great powers of Europe.

The president seemed vindicated as Hamilton’s system began restoring America’s ruined credit abroad and creating prosperity at home. Jefferson continued to predict GEORGE WASHINGTON’S MOUNT VERNON 27

Washington Reviewing the Western Army at Fort Cumberland, Maryland, attributed to Frederick Kemmelmeyer,

the system would create a corrupt upper class and insisted America should remain a nation of virtuous farmers.

When creditors, including some Virginia merchants, rushed to purchase shares in the Bank of the United States, Jefferson deplored their eagerness to acquire “federal filth.” Upon learning that the Bank of the United States planned to establish a branch in Virginia, Jefferson wrote an angry letter to Madison, telling him that any Virginian who did business with this bank should be prosecuted for committing treason against their native state.

Jefferson convinced Madison that it was vital to expose Hamilton’s unhealthy influence. With their support, Philip Freneau, a State Department translator who had been a classmate of Madison’s at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton), launched the National Gazette. The newspaper savagely attacked Hamilton, his program, and soon, Washington. Using pseudonyms, Madison wrote no less than 18 critical articles as part of this assault. His partnership with the president was clearly over.

III

Jefferson had returned to America a passionate advocate of the French Revolution, which added new tensions to his relationship with President Washington. When the radical Jacobins seized control, guillotined King Louis XVI, and began wars against Great Britain and many European states, Washington decided that America must and would remain neutral. He issued a proclamation urging all Americans to refrain from acts of violence favoring either side.

Jefferson objected vehemently to this proclamation, believing that its issuance should have required congressional approval. Washington, after consulting with Hamilton and his attorney general, argued that the Constitution gave the president the power to issue the proclamation independently.

In Paris and other French cities, massacre became the order of the day as the Jacobins proclaimed a new motto: “The republic consists in the extermination of everything that opposes it.” Secretary of State Jefferson seemed oblivious to this moral collapse of France’s government, dismissing reports of such violence as British propaganda.

after 1795. (Metropolitan Museum of Art) Citizen Genet Formally Presented to Washington, Howard Pyle, published in Harper’s new monthly magazine, April 1897. (Library of Congress)

Jefferson did not deny that innocent people had died and mourned them “as I would if they had died in battle.”

What enabled him to tolerate their loss was the goal of the struggle: “The liberty of the whole earth was depending on the issue of the contest. Rather than it should have failed, I would have seen half the earth desolated.”

The president and the secretary of state found themselves face-to-face with the French Revolution in the person of headstrong, red-haired French ambassador

An explosion of anger swept the nation as pledges of devotion to Washington poured into Philadelphia from mass meetings in cities, towns, and villages across America.

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Charles-Edmond Genet. Ever the realist, Washington saw the French Revolution not as a force that would transform the world, but as a plunge into mass murder. Jefferson continued to express frustration with America’s policy of strict neutrality, and many of his supporters began to portray Washington as a virtual captive of Hamilton’s influence. Genet, accordingly, began to talk of the president with growing contempt.

During his time as ambassador, Genet encouraged Americans to support revolutionary France, and even

commissioned privateers in American ports to seize British ships. Next, he revealed a plan to persuade the State of Kentucky to seize Spanish-held Florida and New Orleans, creating an independent nation loyal to France.

Jefferson made only perfunctory objections to this idea.

President Washington was appalled. He ordered General Anthony Wayne, American military commander in the west, to station troops on all rivers leading to New Orleans to ensure nothing came of the plot.

Washington’s partisans revealed the ability to play an equally rough political game when Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay leaked to a New York newspaper Genet’s statement that he would appeal to the American people over the head of George Washington. An explosion of anger swept the nation as pledges of devotion to Washington poured into Philadelphia from mass meetings in cities, towns, and villages across America. Soon the president was able to ask his secretary of state to request envoy Genet’s recall.

Genet’s defeat marked the turning point in the relationship between Washington and Jefferson. In three separate meetings, Jefferson sought to convince the president that Hamilton and his coterie were plotting to transform America’s government into some version of a pro-British monarchy. Tempers became strained; Washington accused Jefferson of having a low opinion of his intelligence and angrily declared he was the last man in the world who would tolerate the emergence of an American king. Realizing he had lost, Jefferson resigned as secretary of state in December 1793.

IV

Retreating to his hilltop mansion, Monticello, Jefferson again declared himself through with politics. Meanwhile, he wrote letters to James Madison and James Monroe— now leaders in the House of Representatives and the Senate, respectively—advising them on how to oppose Washington’s policies. In state after state, “Democratic Societies” founded

by Jefferson’s followers preached opposition to, and even revolution against, Washington’s government.

In western Pennsylvania, opposition to a federal tax on whiskey coalesced with this hostility to threaten Washington’s presidency and the survival of the Union.

Farmers in that section of the Keystone State made greater profits by converting their grain into liquor than by transporting it to markets in the east. Soon, reports claimed the Pennsylvanians and others in the western sections of neighboring states were planning to secede from the Union.

In the autumn of 1794, Washington summoned 13,000 militiamen and placed Governor Henry Lee of Virginia, the most famous cavalryman of the Revolutionary War, at their head. The president personally accompanied this formidable army, signaling his determination to crush this threat to the Union as swiftly and thoroughly as possible.

Resistance evaporated so quickly that Jefferson remarked that the president had marched 100 miles to crush a nonexistent rebellion. Washington returned to Philadelphia, and in a no-nonsense speech to Congress, blamed the crisis on the Democratic Societies. Jeffersonians GEORGE WASHINGTON’S MOUNT VERNON 29

John Jay,

by Gilbert Stuart and John Trumbull, begun 1784; completed by 1818.

(National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution)

accused Washington of attacking freedom of speech, but few people listened, and the Democratic Societies were soon extinct. However, their methods of mobilizing the population in opposition to the government laid the foundation for national political parties.

A few months later, in 1795, Washington’s commitment to a strong presidency faced another test, when special envoy John Jay negotiated a deeply imperfect commercial “Treaty of Amity” with England. About the only positive advantage it offered the Americans was a promise to evacuate six western forts from which the British had supplied restless Indians with weapons and encouragement to drive American pioneers back east of the Appalachian Mountains.

Washington’s desire to keep western Americans in the Union and his hope that the treaty might prevent a ruinous war with Britain prompted him to sign it despite its defects and send it to the Senate for approval.

Jefferson was incensed, and his followers staged massive protests throughout the country. Washington refused to be intimidated and asked Hamilton to defend the treaty in a series of tough-minded newspaper articles. As the agitation subsided, the president delivered his annual message to Congress. Jeffersonian legislators expected another angry lecture echoing the president’s wrath over the Democratic Societies.

Instead, Washington smiled at the astonished legislators and told them good news: after years of negotiation, American diplomats had persuaded Spain to let western farmers ship their produce down the 30 FALL 2015 | MOUNTVERNON.ORG

Mississippi and export it from New Orleans. As the president congratulated Congress on the happiness of a country at peace while most of Europe was wracked by war, it dawned on his listeners that they were dealing with the master politician of his era.

Washington deepened this realization when he decided to forgo a third term and wrote a farewell address to the American people. In this moving essay, he exhorted them to consider their Union a crucial value. It was “the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad, of your safety, your prosperity, of that very Liberty which you so highly prize.” He also warned them against excessively favoring or disliking foreign nations. What is today viewed as a historic state paper was, simultaneously, a searing critique of Thomas Jefferson and his followers.

An enraged Jefferson persuaded Madison to write a protest to be issued by the Virginia legislature, declaring a state had the power to “interpose” a refusal to obey such a law. In a statement for the Kentucky legislature, Jefferson went even further. He asserted that a state could and should consider “cission”—secession—to protect its citizens’ right to free speech.

A dismayed Washington saw these ideas as fatal to the future of the Union and urged their opposition. As the argument raged, Washington died of a throat infection.

Deprived of his leadership, the political party supporting Adams faltered badly. Ultimately, the people did not want war with France and war measures that struck at their fundamental freedoms. In the election of 1800, Thomas Jefferson became the nation’s third president.

V

VI

With Washington’s covert backing, Vice President John Adams defeated Jefferson in the ensuing election to become the second president. France, brooding over the Jay Treaty, began seizing American merchant ships and threatened an invasion. Pro-Jefferson newspapers relentlessly assailed Adams, blaming him and his political party for the conflict.

Congress passed a Sedition Act, making it a crime for an orator or a newspaper editor to libel the president or other federal officials. Former president Washington and many others saw it as a justifiable war measure.

Thomas Jefferson,

by John Trumbell, 1788 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Almost everything President Jefferson said and did in the next eight years was the opposite of Washington’s style and policies. Instead of addressing Congress each year, Jefferson sent a message that was read by a clerk.

Instead of leading Congress with words and acts, he conferred with key congressmen at private dinners in his residence and persuaded them to vote for the policies he wanted. Thus he diminished the importance of the presidency and created the illusion that Congress was running the country.

At times Jefferson’s tilt toward Congress revealed his basic dislike of the Constitution. But in his April 30, 1803, purchase of the Louisiana Territory, he was forced to call upon the once-hated implied powers to justify a decision that was not foreseen by the framers of the Constitution. His followers ignored this inconsistency and trumpeted the acquisition as a victory that had been achieved without shedding a drop of blood—a not very subtle attempt to elevate Jefferson above George Washington. They began calling Jefferson’s presidency “The Revolution of 1800.”

In his 1801 inaugural address, Jefferson praised Washington as “our first and greatest revolutionary character … whose preeminent services had entitled him to the first place in his country’s love and destined for him the fairest page in the volume of faithful history.”

But he did not dwell further on Washington’s skill as a political leader. The immense popularity of the Louisiana Purchase among American voters enabled Jefferson

to shift the focus to his own agenda and away from Washington’s presidency.

Jefferson’s determination to distance himself from Washington has had a large impact on the nation’s history. Washington’s presidency virtually vanished from the public mind. Even the handful of chief executives who favored a strong presidency have been unaware of Washington’s achievements. Well-read Harvardeducated Theodore Roosevelt said his dynamic style was built upon the Jackson-Lincoln tradition rather than Washington’s original example.

VII

Toward the end of his life, James Madison—Jefferson’s most devoted disciple—had a change of mind and heart.

He said students at the University of Virginia should be urged to read Washington’s Farewell Address. He issued a statement warning all Americans to cherish and perpetuate the Union of the United States. “Let the open enemy to it be regarded as a Pandora with her box opened,” he wrote. “And the disguised one as a serpent creeping with his deadly wiles into paradise.”

These words suggest that Madison had returned to the sunny porch of Mount Vernon as a partner of that realistic visionary, George Washington. As conflicts between assertive presidents and a hostile Congress continue to divide America, our leaders would do well to rediscover the presidency of George Washington, who demonstrated how much executive leadership could accomplish, even as he retained the affection of the American people.

This article is based on Thomas Fleming’s latest book, The Great Divide: The Conflict Between Washington and Jefferson That Defined A Nation.

GEORGE WASHINGTON’S MOUNT VERNON 31

Behind the Scenes

The VIP Treatment For Special Guests, Civility Rules

S

Sue Keeler and John Marshall (Bob Creamer)

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ue Keeler and John Marshall, the founding faces of Mount Vernon’s VIP guide program, retired this summer after a combined 50 years of service to Mount Vernon. In that time, they accumulated a host of stories of their interaction with world leaders, Hollywood notables, government officials, and other lucky guests.

When Sue Keeler joined Mount Vernon’s fledgling interpretive team in 1975, she was only the fifth woman on staff. At the time, there was no formal training program—or uniform—for interpreters; they were simply given books to read and were encouraged to share their findings with each other.

Then, as now, she relished the chance to educate guests of all kinds about George Washington. She giddily recalled a moment early in her career when the estate’s guards teased her by tossing a black snake into the New Room while she was giving a tour to a group of schoolchildren. Always quick on her feet, she dismissed the intruder as “just another guest who came to learn about General Washington.”

An unwelcome black snake was just one of Sue’s memorable guests over the years.

She once provided a tour for Cardinal Karol Józef Wojtyła, the future Pope Saint John Paul II, who thanked her with a blessing.

She has interpreted every location on the estate—inside the Mansion and beyond— for hundreds of famous faces, leaders, and luminaries, but her favorite destination remains the cupola. “When you took people up there, they knew they were getting to see something special,” she explained. “It also gave me a chance to talk more about Mrs. Washington. You could contemplate her decision to retreat to the third floor after

her husband’s death, to peacefully read her Bible and pray.”

John Marshall came to Mount Vernon in March 2001 after retiring and relocating to the Washington, D.C., area from central Pennsylvania. A former public school teacher with a degree in history, he was immediately drawn to Mount Vernon and rose through the ranks as a history interpreter. After briefly overseeing the Ford Orientation Center staff when the facility opened in 2006, he returned to his true passion: telling Washington’s story one-on-one. “It only took me 60 years to find the perfect job,” he explained.

John has given tours to more than 50 legislators, hundreds of supporters, and even celebrities like Joan Rivers and Robert Duvall. He fondly recalled how Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander took copious notes during a 2012 tour, only to cite the lessons about George Washington’s peaceful transition of power that he learned from his “Mount Vernon tour guide” during his address at Barak Obama’s second presidential inauguration. “I got calls from people around the country asking me if I was that tour guide. I was floored.”

While occasionally starstruck from encounters with leaders and luminaries, John is proudest of his impact on members of the military and their families. He cherishes a letter written to him by a mother whose son was killed in action in Afghanistan. In the days after his funeral at Arlington, John toured Mount Vernon with the grieving mother, who wrote that his kind and caring touch brought her a degree of comfort.

FOR INFORMATION ON VIP TOURS, CONTACT VIPREQUESTS@MOUNTVERNON.ORG. GEORGE WASHINGTON’S MOUNT VERNON 33

Focus on Philanthropy

From Benches to Apps Lynn & Scott Molitor Support Projects that Enhance the Mount Vernon Guest Experience

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lthough they live nearly 800 miles away, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Scott and Lynn Molitor’s business—Infosoft Group Inc., which supports nearly 1,000 local employment and diversity websites across the country—brings them to the Washington, D.C., area several times each year.

Whenever they visit the nation’s capital, they make a trip to Mount Vernon.

From their first visits years ago—made when Scott was in the Air Force, stationed at nearby Fort Belvoir—these ardent fans of the first president felt an immediate and profound connection to the estate.

“George Washington was our first and greatest president, and there is no better place to learn about him,” said Scott. “His sense of values and principles are important for us to remember, now more than ever.”

Inspired by their visits, they made their first, modest contributions through the mail. “We learned about the plan to build the Education Center just as we were starting our own business,” said Lynn. “We knew we wouldn’t be able to give much, but we just wanted to be a part of it. But we believed then, as we know now, that no gift is too small.”

With a successful business enterprise under their belt, the Molitors wanted to deepen their involvement with Mount Vernon. Searching for a project to attach their name to in a meaningful way, they jumped at a chance to help restore George Washington’s encyclopedia, which is now housed inside the Library’s vault.

“When we first came to Mount Vernon to learn about the encyclopedia project, we looked at some of the documents in the collection,” said Lynn. “I remember seeing Martha’s journal and some of the letters written in George Washington’s own hand.

I couldn’t believe we were in the same room with those papers.”

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On another trip, walking around their beloved Mount Vernon, the Molitors identified one of the signature projects they have sponsored: the addition of many new benches around the historic area. On any given day, their impact is evident as visitors pause to take in the beautiful atmosphere.

The Molitors’ other contributions also follow a similar theme, helping guests to enjoy Washington’s

“George Washington was our first and greatest president, and there is no better place to learn about him.” - Scott Molitor home and get closer to its history. They funded a project to replace the Windsor chairs that line the piazza—Lynn’s confessed favorite place on the estate—with more historically accurate designs.

They have also contributed to major enhancements on the digital side, including the Mount Vernon app and the virtual tour, which they laud for their ability to bring Washington-related content to those unable to come in person, especially schoolchildren.

“We want to make Washington more accessible,” said Scott.

The Molitors are equally full of praise for the staff and management of Mount Vernon, whose prudent stewardship of all contributions, large and small, mirrors the integrity of Washington himself. “That’s why we are going to do our part to keep giving,” said Scott. “We know that someone is watching out for our money; it’ll be spent wisely.”

Scott and Lynn Molitor.

(Foster Wiley) GEORGE WASHINGTON’S MOUNT VERNON 35

Shows of Support

Dean Norton, director of horticulture

Lisa Pregent, livestock

Curt Viebranz, president

manager, introduces “Butch Cassidy” to Meg Nichols, Vice Regent for Maine, her son Albert, and Hayden Broberg.

(Foster Wiley)

Bob and Mary Ann Jarvis

New Home for Heritage Breeds The Life Guard Society Spring Fundraiser, May 2, 2015

O Named for the elite group of officers who protected George Washington, The Life Guard Society holds fundraisers to support specific projects.

ver the past 25 years, Mount Vernon has developed a livestock program that is truly best of breed, earning international acclaim for its thoughtful breeding practices and quality care. However, as veterinary techniques have advanced, the estate’s livestock facilities have not kept pace.

Recognizing the important role that animals play in the interpretation of Washington’s farming practices and the era in which he lived, the Life Guard Society hosted a spring fundraiser on May 2 in support of Mount Vernon’s livestock initiatives. The funds raised through this effort will support an architectural planning study—an important first step in a long-term plan to build a new home for the heritage and rare breed program.

During the event, members of the Life Guard and their guests got a glimpse of the current livestock facilities and practices as Mount Vernon’s horticulture and agriculture teams shared their perspectives on animal care. Also on hand for the event were some of the 47 adorable Hog Island lambs born on the estate this year which provided ready evidence of the potential impact of this project.

The event netted more than $61,000, thanks to the enthusiastic support of a host committee of 35 members and some 115 guests. The Life Guard will host its annual Fall Gala Dinner on Saturday, September 26. MOUNTVERNON.ORG/LIFEGUARD

36 FALL 2015 | MOUNTVERNON.ORG

Katie Horan with Claire Dwoskin and Richard Horan

Mimie Helm with Hillary and Randy Brinton

The Honorable Paul Michel; Susan Magill, vice president for advancement;

Mallory Wright; Tom Cleary; Carol Cadou, senior vice president for

Brooke England

historic preservation and collections GEORGE WASHINGTON’S MOUNT VERNON 37

Shows of Support

Preserving the History of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association

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for Texas in 1896, who personally

he Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association (MVLA) started the historic preservation movement in America by stepping in to rescue George Washington’s home. Throughout its 150-plus-year history, the MVLA has kept copious records, documenting its decisions and chronicling milestones in its ongoing work to preserve and protect George Washington’s estate.

Buried in these files are remarkable stories of notable visitors, tide-turning preservation decisions, and dramatic world events. Recognizing the importance of protecting and cataloguing these records, The Founders, Washington Committee for Historic Mount Vernon, held a fundraising event on Sunday, June 7, to support efforts to bring on board a project archivist. Over the course of two years, the project archivist will organize and digitize these invaluable documents so that scholars, researchers, and staff can readily access them.

During the event, chief librarian and archivist Mark Santangelo shared examples of the types of stories these archives contain, such as documents that shed light on Mount Vernon’s ever-evolving relationships with state and federal government agencies.

More than 100 guests attended the event, spearheaded by a host committee comprised of a record 55 members, including 25 current and former Vice Regents. Proceeds totaled more than $107,000. To further support the initiative, The Founders Committee will hold a fall fundraiser benefiting the same initiative on October 19 at the residence of the French ambassador in Washington, D.C.

wrote more than 1,500 letters to

MOUNTVERNON.ORG/FOUNDERS

The Founders, Washington Committee Spring Fundraiser, June 7, 2015

Left to Right: Gay Hart Gaines, Vice Regent Emerita for Florida; Ann Bookout, Vice Regent for Texas; Sarah Coulson, Vice Regent for Pennsylvania (Alexander Morozov)

Our archives include the inspiring story of Mrs. Maxey, Vice Regent

Left: Sanda Lambert, Nancy Morgan, Wendy Wick Reaves, Jeremiah Lambert Below, Clockwise: The Honorable Togo West; Gail Berry West, Vice Regent for D.C.; Virginia Schubert; The Honorable Richard Schubert Design Cuisine CEO Kathy Valentine and Thomas Valentine Karen Ansary, Jeff Ansary, John Mackall, Karen Mackall John and Stavroula Alachnowicz

raise funds for a suitable visitor entrance. The project was completed in 1899 and named the Texas Gate.

(MVLA)

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Composed of patriotic women in the D.C. metropolitan area, The Founders Committee raises funds to support projects central to our mission.

GEORGE WASHINGTON’S MOUNT VERNON 39

Upcoming Events

Fall Events 19–20

2–4

23

24–25

30

1

11

14

COLONIAL MARKET

FALL WINE FESTIVAL

BREWING HISTORY:

FALL HARVEST

TRICK-OR-TREATING

EN PLEIN AIR:

VETERANS DAY

NEW HORSES &

September

October

October

October

October

November

November

November

& FAIR

& SUNSET TOUR

BEER TASTING,

FAMILY DAYS

Families enjoy trick-

WATERCOLOR CLASS

Join a wreath-laying

HOUNDS

Colonial artisans

Sample wines from

TOUR & DINNER

Celebrate fall at

or-treating in the

Create your own

ceremony at the

Hear the baying of

demonstrate 18th-

17 Virginia wineries

Learn how beer was

Mount Vernon with

historic area and other

watercolor

Washington Tomb,

hounds, the echo of

century crafts and

while enjoying

brewed and enjoyed

wagon rides, a straw-

fun and games on the

masterpiece of Mount

and enjoy free

hunting horns, and

sell traditional wares,

breathtaking views

in early America

bale maze, apple

grounds, including a

Vernon in the fall.

patriotic concerts.

the thunder of horses’

while children watch

from Washington’s

with a private tour

roasting, corn husk–

costume contest and

TICKETS: $93, INCLUDES

All active duty,

hooves as Mount

ADMISSION.

sword-swallowing,

home. VIP tables

of Washington’s

doll making, and more.

scavenger hunt.

former, or retired

Vernon pays tribute

enjoy puppet shows,

and fruit and cheese

home, brewing

Sightseeing cruises

TICKETS: $10/ADULT,

military personnel

to the father of the

$5/YOUTH

and participate in

boxes available.

demonstrations, and a

are half price this

are admitted free.

American foxhound,

military drills with

TICKETS: $40 FRIDAY,

delicious four-course

weekend only.

INCLUDED IN GENERAL

George Washington.

“General Washington”.

$46 SATURDAY,

dinner and specialty

INCLUDED IN GENERAL

ADMISSION

INCLUDED IN GENERAL

INCLUDED IN GENERAL

$36 SUNDAY

beer pairing at the

ADMISSION

ADMISSION

ADMISSION

Mount Vernon Inn. TICKETS: $100/PERSON

Gay Hart Gaines Lecture Series Three-part lecture series on the topic “American Empire: Washington and the West,” given by one of the nation’s leading scholars of American history, Joseph J. Ellis, Ph.D.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR MOUNT VERNON’S CHRISTMAS SEASON, INCLUDING THESE SPECIAL EVENTS:

Mount Vernon by Candlelight November 27–28, December 4–5 & 20

SEPTEMBER 24, OCTOBER 29, NOVEMBER 19 COST: $175/PERSON, MOUNTVERNON.ORG/GHG

Free Monthly Book Talks

George Washington Symposium

In partnership with the Ford Motor Company, the Washington Library offers evening book talks once a month focusing on our nation’s founding era.

Join a multitude of scholars and speakers for this two-day symposium marking the 240th anniversary of George Washington taking command of the Continental Army.

MOUNTVERNON.ORG/LIBRARYEVENTS

NOVEMBER 6–7 COST: $175/PERSON, MOUNTVERNON.ORG/GWSYMPOSIUM

40 FALL 2015 | MOUNTVERNON.ORG

Christmas at Mount Vernon November 27–January 3

Mount Vernon Mourns December 12–13

Christmas Illuminations December 18–19

GEORGE WASHINGTON’S MOUNT VERNON 41

About George Washington

Washington the Planter, (Louis Conrad Rosenburg, 1932)

Groundbreaking Agriculture

by Bruce Ragsdale

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n the years following the Revolutionary War, Washington transformed the farms at Mount Vernon by adopting the latest advances in English agriculture.

Within a few months of Washington’s resignation from the command of the Continental Army, a visitor to Mount Vernon noted that the General “dresses in a gray coat like a Virginia farmer and nothing about him recalls the recollections of the important part he played” in the Revolution.

In the spring of 1784, Washington quickly and happily immersed

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himself in his life as a farmer, which he considered “the most pleasing occupation” of his life. But he had returned to an estate that he described as ravaged by years of neglect and war and was determined to transform the farms at Mount Vernon with “a compleat course of husbandry as practiced in the best Farming Counties of England.” Washington was already heralded at home and abroad as the new Cincinnatus, recalling the general of the ancient Roman Republic who surrendered military authority to return to farming. Over the next 15 years,

Washington would become a civicminded Cincinnatus, demonstrating how enlightened agriculture might benefit the new nation.

In 1785, Washington hired an experienced English farmer to come to Virginia to oversee the introduction of the most advanced farming practices.

The farmer’s stunned reaction upon arrival made clear to Washington how far Mount Vernon remained from the English ideal. Washington soon learned that the success of his farming experiments would depend on his own supervision and leadership rather than the expertise of an English farmer.

Washington had long since abandoned the traditional Virginia staple of tobacco and shifted to wheat as his chief cash crop. With the introduction of the English model, he sought to incorporate wheat and corn— grown to feed his enslaved laborers— within a system of crop rotation that

would maintain soil fertility and support the improvement of livestock.

Initially, corn was planted in an individual field, followed in subsequent years by a succession of wheat, then peas or buckwheat, then barley or oats, before a season or more of clover and the pasturing of livestock. Then, the cycle would repeat. He continued to revise the sequence of crops until the week he died, ultimately replacing English crops that failed to thrive in Mount Vernon’s clay soil.

To manage this complicated system, Washington required weekly summaries of all the work done on each of his farms, prepared by the overseers each Saturday and sent to Washington—whether he was in residence at Mount Vernon or in New York and, later, Philadelphia, serving as president. The reports detailed the daily work of every field hand, laborer, and overseer on the estate. They also documented the rigorous, year-round work required of Washington’s slaves, particularly as enslaved women shouldered more and more field work, and as Washington increasingly set his slaves to skilled work for which he had formerly hired laborers. By the late 1780s, Washington relied on slaves as overseers on three of the working farms at Mount Vernon.

Washington’s fame and his celebrated commitment to agricultural improvement inspired gifts of plants, seeds, farming implements, and livestock from throughout Europe and the United States. The most noteworthy offering was “Royal Gift,” one of the prized jackasses of Spain, sent in 1785 by King Charles III, who had learned of Washington’s interest in breeding

mules. With the additional gift of three donkeys sent by the Marquis de Lafayette, Washington established a breeding program that allowed him to replace horses with more economical mules as his preferred draft animal.

The landscape at Mount Vernon soon reflected Washington’s sweeping goals of agricultural improvement.

He constructed substantial brick farming structures characteristic of large English farms but almost unknown in Virginia. The elaborate threshing barn built at Union Farm beginning in 1788 was followed by the construction of the even more ambitious 16-sided treading barn at Dogue Run beginning in 1792. The new farm buildings and avenues approaching the farmyards provided an unprecedented neatness and symmetry to the estate.

Visitors to Mount Vernon recognized the orderliness of the landscape and the ambitious vision of the General in command of the farms.

A British army officer in 1788 found Washington to be “the completest Gentleman farmer I have ever met in America and perhaps I may Add England.” A French visitor the same year reported that Washington intended “to set his country the example” of a new kind of agriculture.

In the final years of his life, Washington recognized that his system might not survive the loss of his close management and leadership.

His commitment to English farming practices also deepened his misgivings about slavery. As he approached his resignation from the presidency, Washington searched for skilled farmers—preferably English—to lease parts of Mount

Royal Gift image (Weatherwise’s Almanac)

Vernon and to hire slaves as tenants.

The failure of this scheme presented one more incentive for Washington to manumit his slaves in his will and simultaneously divide his estate into more manageable units for his heirs.

Washington’s most enduring legacy as a farmer would not be the model of English agriculture that he pursued for nearly 15 years, but rather the example of the military and political leader who resigned from office to dedicate himself to the agricultural arts that he hoped would be the foundation of the nation’s peace and prosperity.

Bruce Ragsdale has served as director of the Federal Judicial History Office and as associate historian of the U.S. House of Representatives. He is the author of several works on Washington’s agricultural and commercial enterprises and on the revolutionary era in Virginia. He is the Washington Library's 2014–15 James C. Rees Entrepreneurship Fellow.

GEORGE WASHINGTON’S MOUNT VERNON 43

Featured Photo Old Tomb (Newton G. Johnson, 1879–1883)

A View of the Old Tomb Historic Stereoviews Become Modern 3-D Images

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This stereoview card depicts the old tomb, ca. 1880. George Washington’s older half-brother Lawrence left instructions in his will for this tomb to be constructed on the banks of the Potomac. Although George and Martha Washington’s bodies were transferred to the new tomb after it was completed in 1831, the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association made it a priority to repair the old tomb.

Extensive repairs were necessary. The Ladies reported, “Every thing is so neglected, and so shockingly careless, the old Tomb is being carried away piece meal, we want a railing around it, and a guard who will permit no further pillage.” The fencing that appears in this image was replaced with wroughtiron railing around 1886.

As the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association pursued costly preservation projects such as the old tomb restoration, they relied on income from photography royalties. Popular at the time, stereoview cards proved an important source of revenue.

This fall, guests have an exclusive opportunity to view this photograph in the location from which it was taken—and in 3-D. It’s part of a special installation, Mount Vernon in 3-D: Then & Now. Mount Vernon partnered with the Center for Civil War Photography to scan 20 historic stereoview cards and convert them into modern 3-D images, which can be viewed using free 3-D glasses. The exhibition is on view through November 20, 2015.

44 FALL 2015 | MOUNTVERNON.ORG

THE GEORGE WASHINGTON LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE AT MOUNT VERNON blends historical examination with contemporary application to empower participants to become truly transformational leaders.

EXCEPTIONAL OUTCOMES Model and master the leadership skills that never go out of style Develop the character to foster allegiance and engender greatness Craft a vision that captivates imaginations and fuels performance Transform your organization’s performance, productivity, and results ON THE ESTATE The exhibition will remain on view through November 20 and is included in general admission.

FULLY CUSTOMIZABLE Whatever your organization’s size, specialty, objective, or budget, we can create a custom-designed leadership development program.

CONTACT US TODAY

ONLINE To see the featured stereoview images as well as the modern 3-D anaglyphs, visit mountvernon.org/3D.

Call Sean Thomas at 703-799-5086 or e-mail leadership@mountvernon.org mountvernon.org/leadership