Patriarch: George Washington and the New American Nation

Very good book. I'm a George Washington fan and a fan of the Revolutionary War. This is a look at GW presidency and the great job he did as President. Richard Norton Smith is also a favorite of mine and has written a informative and easy to read book that I found hard to put down.

I bought Richard N. Smith's "Patriarch" at an airport gift shop because I was looking at two long boring flights and there wasn't any book that looked better. The situation was grim because I am no learned scholar or erudite student with 200 other books about Washington on the shelves. But once I started "Patriarch" I simply could barely put it down. Somehow, Richard Smith was coaxing that cheerless Washington out of that stodgy old painting we've all seen and bringing GW to life. The "Founding Father" was - surprise - a real life person and, truth is, as a person and a statesman, he was positively jam up! Before "Patriarch", it never occured to me what a real-time, online chore he had launchinig this country during his first Presidency. He, and mostly he alone, was the cool forge water that quenched Hamilton's fire and tempered Jefferson's steel to save the new country from a virtual "crib death". Washington's shepherding of the Constitution from damp and dangerous footing to solid ground was a feat nothing short of Incredible. And as the pages of "Patriarch" flew by for this jaded 60s-era non-Historian Washington's stature rose again like a Phoenix, and for the first time I understood why that glum old guy in that drab old picture was, and is, so venerated even 200 years after his death. This book, "Patriarch", is George Washinton - The Man - at his Best, and thanks to Richard Norton Smith, you will actually enjoy meeting him this time around.

Smith's book does a great service to those of us interested in a remarkable figure who is often overlooked in today's historical studies. This is a study of Washington's role as our first chief executive in our fledgling republic. From the beginning we learn of the rock solid character Washington possessed and how it shaped his life in everthing he did. Washington always accepted the call to service, not for fortune and fame, but because he felt it was his duty. A trait that astonished such world leaders like King George III and Napoleon. After we learn more about Washington in this wonderfully detailed account of Washington and his presidency, we or at least I come away feeling sympathetic to Washington and his desire for a peaceful retirement. But alas, it wasn't meant to be for the father of our country.Washington's disdain for political factions and his ability to be apolitical is amazing considering his diverse cabinet which included two very ideological polar opposites in Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. Perhaps only Washington could have kept these two talented men in his cabinet for any reasonable length of time.But Washington was always the Federalist who believed in a strong central government that could hold the Union together. And this was necessary for a republic in its infant stage. This view on government's role was not that popular in his own native Virginia and other states south. Jefferson, on trying to persuade Washington to accept a second term, aptly put it when he said North and South would hang together so long as they had Washington to hang on to. An ominous portent of sectional conflicts to come.Washington enjoyed successes and failures during his presidency. He was perhaps the only man in his administration that lived by his neutrality doctrine, especially when men like Jefferson were inclined to support the French and men like Hamilton were greater supporters of England. But even Washington was not immune to criticism, which we clearly see in this book.He was, after all, a human being. He was a proud man who was always conscious of his actions and wanted to make sure he lived by the virtues he espoused. In the end, we can appreciate the rock solid character of George Washington and how by his very presence, he seemed to hold our country together.

Because this book focuses exclusively on Washington's presidency, it avoids the trappings of postmodernist social history and instead gives us a portrait of power. More than a mere dupe of Hamilton, Washington is presented instead as a symbol of dignity; firm, intelligent, and focused. While the author makes it clear that Washington was far from the man of marble so often portrayed in grade school history books, he was nonetheless a man of true principle -- especially in terms of Federalist philosophy. Modern readers should take note of Washington's belief in a strong central government and a distrust of states' rights and factions. Also, the author rightly places his Farewell Address in the pantheon of great American documents -- a collection of remarkably prescient prose arguably as influential as anything ever written by Jefferson or Lincoln.

Richard Norton Smith's book about Washington's importance to the new nation is an excellent example of the way history should be written. It provides insight into the importance of George Washington to the young United States, and it demonstrates the impact that one person of character can have on history.While its treatment of Hamilton is at times too harsh, this book is an important revision to the idea that Washington was anyone's puppet.