Press blue button for a record of the exhibit, as it appeared in the display cases of the William L. Clements Library. Each page features an image of a single display case and its contents, with details of the artifacts and the accompanying text.

This exhibit guides you through a comprehensive study of George Washington

Few men have had as profound an influence on the course of recorded human history as George Washington. He precipitated a military skirmish that literally started a world war. It resulted in Britain's conquest of Canada and much of our own Midwest, including Michigan. He served as Commander in Chief throughout the American Revolutionary War, the very embodiment of the conflict. As our first President, he endowed our political system with many of the precedents that make the United States the unique nation that it remains today. He was America's "first citizen," the "father of our country," the only President elected unanimously to office.

Yet he is a man little known today as a human being. He possessed a kind of natural reserve and dignity while "on the job" that was almost impenetrable, and held positions of public service most of his life. There was a more relaxed, private side to Washington that family members and close personal friends often saw. He had an ironic sense of humor. Although his own lifestyle was refined and aristocratic, he liked people and had exceptional rapport with the common man. But existing documentation provides only hints and glimpses of it. Any sort of understanding of the man was made difficult during his lifetime by the idealization that society demanded of its first leader. Americans of the time needed a hero to rationalize the acts of inhumanity and deep personal sacrifice they had to make to bring the United States into existence.

Location: Westchester County

Categories
American Revolution | American War of Independence