George Washington: First President of the United States

At the start of the 21st century there have been several works that have taken a "new" look at George Washington and dealing with the dark side of the father of our country. However, attempts to dismiss Washington as a plantation owner who ignored the plight of his slaves tends to lose weight when you learn he freed his slaves after his death, the only slave owning president to do so. The lesson seems to simply confirm what generations of Americans have long known: the more you look at the private life and public career of George Washington, the more you respect him as a personal force in American history. As is the case with these volumes in the Encyclopedia of Presidents series, Zachary Kent offers a defining moment from his subject's life in the first chapter. In this case, it is Washington's inauguration on April 30, 1789. For Kent the key moment is when Washington wrote to friends after the ceremony "I greatly fear that my countrymen will expect too much from me." But as Kent amply proves in this informative juvenile biography, no other one of the Founding Fathers could have done a better job of fulfilling their hopes and dreams. Consequently, Kent characterizes Washington's life up to that moment as a journey to greatness. The rest of the chapters in the volume are devoted to his family life and military career prior to the Revolution, his military service as Commander in Chief of the Colonial army, his first time as President, his reluctant second term, and his brief but happy life at Mount Vernon after leaving office. The story of the American Revolution is fairly standard, but the strength of this volume are the two chapters devoted to his two terms as president, where Kent pays attention to the political precedents and turmoil that marked the creation of the Federal government. The book is illustrated with mostly historic drawings, paintings, and such of Washington's life, most of which give a sense of his stature. There are also photographs of such historical oddities as Washington's false teeth, the Bible pages on which he placed his right hand when he took the oath of office, and examples of inaugural buttons commemorating his presidency. The back of the volume includes a Chronology of American History with Washington's lifetime highlighted and a brief but functional Index. I know this series is being updated and there is no denying these volumes look like they came from the 1950s, but the Encyclopedia of Presidents series remains one of the most informative collections aimed at younger readers regarding the American presidents.