The annual Friendsgiving episode is now available!
June 24, 2018

1.35 – Washington Post-Presidency

1.35 – Washington Post-Presidency

Year(s) Discussed: 1796-1799

Washington envisioned a relaxing retirement at Mount Vernon with his family after leaving the presidency in March 1797, but it was not to be. Between personal issues and a return to public service, the last couple of years of Washington’s life prior to his sudden demise would be filled with business and breaches of trust and friendship.

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Season 1 01 - George Washington

Special thanks to Michael Troy of the American Revolution Podcast for providing the intro quote for this episode!

  • Adams, John. “To George Washington, 22 June 1798,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified April 12, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-02-02-0270. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series, vol. 2, 2 January 1798 – 15 September 1798, ed. W. W. Abbot. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998, pp. 351–352.] [Last Accessed: 10 May 2018]
  • Brady, Patricia. Martha Washington: An American Life. New York: Penguin Books, 2006 [2005].
  • Brighton, Ray. The Checkered Career of Tobias Lear. Portsmouth, NH: Portsmouth Marine Society, 1985.
  • Brown, Ralph Adams. The Presidency of John Adams. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1989 [1975].
  • Chernow, Ron. Washington: A Life. New York: Penguin Press, 2010.
  • Flexner, James Thomas. George Washington: Anguish and Farewell (1793-1799). Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown and Co, 1972 [1969].
  • Hamilton, Alexander. “To George Washington, 19 May 1798,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified April 12, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-21-02-0258. [Original source: The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 21, April 1797 – July 1798, ed. Harold C. Syrett. New York: Columbia University Press, 1974, pp. 466–468.] [Last Accessed: 10 May 2018]
  • Jefferson, Thomas. “To James Madison, 3 August 1797,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified April 12, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-17-02-0023. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, vol. 17, 31 March 1797–3 March 1801 and supplement 22 January 1778–9 August 1795, ed. David B. Mattern, J. C. A. Stagg, Jeanne K. Cross, and Susan Holbrook Perdue. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1991, pp. 33–37.] [Last Accessed: 11 May 2018]
  • Knox, Henry. “To George Washington, 29 July 1798,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified April 12, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-02-02-0374. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series, vol. 2, 2 January 1798 – 15 September 1798, ed. W. W. Abbot. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998, pp. 469–472.] [Last Accessed: 10 May 2018]
  • Knox, Henry. “To George Washington, 4 November 1798,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified April 12, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-03-02-0126. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series, vol. 3, 16 September 1798 – 19 April 1799, ed. W. W. Abbot and Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999, p. 178.] [Last Accessed: 10 May 2018]
  • Lafayette, Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de. “To George Washington, 6 October 1797,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified April 12, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-01-02-0338. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series, vol. 1, 4 March 1797 – 30 December 1797, ed. W. W. Abbot. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998, pp. 384–386.] [Last Accessed: 9 May 2018]
  • Landry, Jerry. The Presidencies of the United States. 2018. http://presidencies.blubrry.com.
  • Langhorne, John. [Peter Carr] “To George Washington, 25 September 1797,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified April 12, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-01-02-0327. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series, vol. 1, 4 March 1797 – 30 December 1797, ed. W. W. Abbot. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998, pp. 373–375.] [Last Accessed: 11 May 2018]
  • Malone, Dumas. Jefferson and the Ordeal of Liberty: Jefferson and His Time, Volume Three. Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1962.
  • Nicholas, John. “To George Washington, 9 December 1797,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified April 12, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-01-02-0453. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series, vol. 1, 4 March 1797 – 30 December 1797, ed. W. W. Abbot. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998, pp. 509–511.] [Last Accessed: 11 May 2018]
  • Puls, Mark. Henry Knox: Visionary General of the American Revolution. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
  • Spalding, Paul S. Lafayette: Prisoner of State. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 2010.
  • Trumbull, Jonathan, Jr. “To George Washington, 22 June 1799,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified April 12, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-04-02-0111. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series, vol. 4, 20 April 1799 – 13 December 1799, ed. W. W. Abbot. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999, pp. 143–144.] [Last Accessed: 15 May 2018]
  • Washington, George. “To Joseph Habersham, 8 August 1796,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified April 12, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-00826. [Last Accessed: 9 May 2018]
  • Washington, George.”To Thomas Jefferson, 28 August 1796,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified April 12, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-29-02-0136. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 29, 1 March 1796 – 31 December 1797, ed. Barbara B. Oberg. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002, p. 178.] [Last Accessed: 11 May 2018]
  • Washington, George. “T o John Langhorne [Peter Carr], 15 October 1797,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified April 12, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-01-02-0364. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series, vol. 1, 4 March 1797 – 30 December 1797, ed. W. W. Abbot. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998, p. 409.] [Last Accessed: 11 May 2018]
  • Washington, George. “To John Nicholas, 8 March 1798,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified April 12, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-02-02-0112. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series, vol. 2, 2 January 1798 – 15 September 1798, ed. W. W. Abbot. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998, pp. 127–129.] [Last Accessed: 11 May 2018]
  • Washington, George. “To Henry Knox, 16 July 1798,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified April 12, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-02-02-0328. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series, vol. 2, 2 January 1798 – 15 September 1798, ed. W. W. Abbot. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998, pp. 423–426.] [Last Accessed: 10 May 2018]
  • Washington, George. “To Bushrod Washington, 12 August 1798,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified April 12, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-02-02-0411. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series, vol. 2, 2 January 1798 – 15 September 1798, ed. W. W. Abbot. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998, pp. 514–515.] [Last Accessed: 11 May 2018]
  • Washington, George. “To Richard Raynal Keene, 28 December 1798,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified April 12, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-03-02-0201. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series, vol. 3, 16 September 1798 – 19 April 1799, ed. W. W. Abbot and Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999, p. 291.] [Last Accessed: 16 May 2018]
  • Washington, George. “To Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., 21 July 1799,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified April 12, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-04-02-0165. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series, vol. 4, 20 April 1799 – 13 December 1799, ed. W. W. Abbot. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999, pp. 201–204.] [Last Accessed: 15 May 2018]
  • Wiencek, Henry. An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003.

Featured Image: “Life of George Washington: The Christian” lithograph by Claude Regnier, original painting by Junius Brutus Stearns [c. 1853], courtesy of Library of Congress