George Washington
Commander of the Continental Army, president of the Federal Convention, first president.
Answers come only from his own recorded words, with every quotation checked against its source.
Who he was
George Washington commanded the Continental Army in the War of Independence, presided over the Federal Convention of 1787, and served as the first president.
As president he issued the Proclamation of Neutrality (1793). His Farewell Address (1796) advised the country to "steer clear of permanent Alliances" while allowing temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.
He was a slaveholder. His will directs that "all the slaves which I hold in my own right" receive their freedom after his wife's death, and states that it was not in his power to free the "dower Negroes"under the tenure by which they were held.
Why he is at the Seat
Washington's record is the largest on the Seat. It covers command in war, the Convention and the first presidency, and it is the best place to ask how the first holder of the office understood its limits.
What we hold
- Editions
- Fitzpatrick, The Writings of George Washington (39 vols., 1931-44) and Diaries (4 vols., 1925)
- Library of Congress letterbook and Varick transcript copies (clean keyed text of the same letters)
- Ford, Writings (14 vols.), kept as an overlapping edition
- Washington's Masonic Correspondence (1915)
- Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789 (Library of Congress, 1976-2000)
- Size
- About 7.5 million words classed as his own text; another 6.6 million duplicate a fuller edition. Word counts are whole files, so they include editors' headnotes and footnotes.
- Coverage
- 65.0% of the 31,659 documents Founders Online catalogues as his (a lower bound).
Known limits
- Letters written to him are absent: Fitzpatrick prints only his own writings.
- Much of the text is scanned (OCR) with editors' footnotes inline; most are tagged as editorial, not all.
- Coverage is weakest for 1769-1774 and 1758-1767. Fitzpatrick's index volume (vol. 39) could not be retrieved.
Questions he answers well
The questions his engine was tested on before it opened.
- Should the United States form permanent alliances with foreign nations?
- Should the United States keep permanent mutual-defense commitments?
Published answers
- Is a standing army in time of peace dangerous to liberty?
- How should the government answer an armed insurrection against a federal tax?
- How should the public debt be managed?
- What did the proclamation of neutrality of 1793 aim to do?
- Should the nation keep a standing army in time of peace?
- What is the role of religion and morality in a free government?
- Why should a president step down after two terms?
- Should the United States form permanent alliances with foreign nations?
More in Prior Questions.