George Washington - The "Father of the Nation" of Slave Owners Washington - slave owners "founding fathers"

World often jokingly referred to Trump as Trump built the country, and here to talk about this is really the first generation of the United States of America "founding comrades" - George Washington.

Washington as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army led the American people to win the War of Independence, and then when the beautiful country's first president, the Americans called the "Father of the Nation", in his honor, printed him on the dollar, and named the capital after him, the President of the Hill, the four presidential avatars have him (this point, Trump said he can also have). can also have).

Perhaps every nation needs an idol-like figure to worship and thus enhance cohesion. In fact, in the US mainstream media, Washington has been portrayed as a "pioneer of freedom and democracy" and has a good reputation among the majority of the population.

Later, with the deconstruction of history and the development of information, more and more people realized that Washington also had some black history, such as Washington was also a slave owner. In the "Black Lives Matter" movement, some people toppled his statue.

So as the United States Empire Chancellor of a generation of eyes, President Hua in what kind of times, and what has done it, here to talk about it.

A

Want to be a British officer of the rich N generation

Since Columbus 1492 after the discovery of the Americas, Europeans one after another across the ocean to the Americas to seek colonial development. The fast-moving Spain and Portugal first occupied Central and South America with gold and silver mines, and then France and the British could only go to North America, which was still a wilderness at the time, and planted some tobacco and fished.

In 1607, 105 Englishmen established the first overseas settlement in North America - Jamestown. Later it belonged to the state of Virginia. American history began here.

Our hero, Washington, was born in Virginia and his ancestors came from England. The Washington family has a long history and is a noble and distinguished family. Historically, he had many military successes and was very close to the king's power. Later, when the bourgeois revolution occurred in England, the royal power was restricted and the old nobility was suppressed, and the Washington family also declined. In order to take refuge, Washington's great-grandfather, John Washington, came to Virginia in 1656 with the immigrant boom.

John bought a piece of land here and became an estate owner. Later, he became famous and became a local councilor and magistrate. The parish where he lived was also known as Washington Parish. The Washington family put down roots in Virginia.

On February 22, 1732, George Washington was born. Already a fourth generation descendant of the family's emigration. He was born to his father Augustine's second wife, preceded by two half-brothers, and followed by several more siblings from his mother.

At that time in North America, the educational environment was still quite lagging behind, and parents who could afford it would send their children to Europe for training. Washington's father sent his eldest son, Lawrence, 15, to England for further study. Washington may be the age of the reason only stay in the local elementary school to learn some literacy, arithmetic and other basic education. Later on, he never had a higher education, and he himself regretted it.

Washington and his older brother Lawrence's feelings are very good. Lawrence returned from England at the age of 21 to help his father manage the factory, when Washington was only 8 years old. In front of his little brother, Lawrence was talented and imposing, and took great care of Washington. As a result, Washington has a lot of respect and love for his big brother.

Later, Britain and Spain fought a war for colonies in the West Indies. Lawrence participated in the war and performed well, so he also received a promotion almost to the United Kingdom to develop.

Influenced by his older brother, Washington was also very interested in the military, he loved to play with his buddies in the woods to fight, imitating the military drill code. These activities enhanced his physical fitness and honed his military sports skills. At the same time he had a talent for leadership and was the king of children.

In 1743, when Washington was 11 years old, his father, Augustine, died suddenly after a long illness, leaving a large inheritance, and according to the will, Washington could get 4,400 acres of land and 10 slaves when he came of age.

Although, Washington did not have too good education, but learned a very popular technology, land surveying. Because North America was in the early stages of development, the planning, use, sale and purchase of land required a lot of measurement data. When a land surveyor is not only well-paid, and high social status, is a decent job. Washington became a government-recognized surveyor with the help of his older brother's father-in-law, William Fairfax.

Lawrence, who was otherwise capable and had a thriving career, tragically died of tuberculosis, and Washington unexpectedly inherited his older brother's estate and a military commission as a major in the Virginia militia at the age of 21.

Soon Washington had the opportunity to perform in his military career.

Beginning in 1756, Britain and France fought a Seven Years' War in their respective teams in order to compete for first place in the world, with North America at the center of the struggle.

As a British colonial militia officer, Washington took part in the fighting, performance enthusiastically, although during the period had been defeated and surrendered, but repeated defeats, once the clothes were hit four holes, people are fine, visible luck is also very important.

Finally, Britain won. During the period, Washington wanted to seek a British official military position, when a hall of formal citizens of the British Empire, but I do not know is the British dislike of colonial identity or Washington has surrendered the black history of the last unsuccessful. 1758, Washington simply resigned from the military position to go home to be their own manor house owner to go. This also made it possible for him to later make his career on the road against the British.

Two

Commander-in-Chief and President of the Continental Army

Although the British won the Seven Years' War, the war was a money-burning exercise, and the British Empire was a little bit deficient, fighting a war that left it in high debt, and in order to pay back the money, the British began to think about taxing the North American colonies.

Although it is a colony, but the British have not been very taxing. 1765 at once engaged in the "Sugar Tax Act", "Tea Tax Act", "Stamp Act" three tax bill. Then the North American people could not stand it at once, they took to the streets and strongly resisted. The British were afraid that the matter would become a big deal, and then only left the tea tax. North Americans engaged in smuggling is not paid.

Then a game, in 1773, the North Americans to the British East India Company shipped to Boston direct sales of tea to the sea. The British feel, oops, against you, ready to clean up the North American bunch of rednecks. The people of North America also feel that the British want to move us, we have to unite, so in 1774 ran Philadelphia opened the first Continental Congress, ready to start work with the British.

The conflict detonated into war in 1775, and the "Guns of Lexington" kicked off the American Revolutionary War.

At the Second Continental Congress in 1775, Washington was elected Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army.

After Washington resigned and returned home, he married the widow Martha in 1759. The widow was very rich, 84 slaves alone, and, of course, two children with her ex-husband, and Washington never had any children of his own blood. Washington from a small rich man to a big rich man, class leap ah, coupled with their own business, the estate when the owner is very comfortable, more and more influence, and was elected to the Virginia House of Commons, served for 15 years. By the time of the first Continental Congress, he attended as a delegate from Virginia.

The reason the conference chose Washington as commander-in-chief of the army was because he had fought in the Seven Years' War and was the only general in the southern colonies with real-world experience.

In 1776, the people of the North American colonies issued their famous diatribe, the Declaration of Independence, and the United States was born. But the newly appointed Commander-in-Chief soon realizes that the troops are not easy to lead.

The Continental Army consists of North American militia and volunteers, free and loose style, disorganized and undisciplined, lack of equipment and less training, combat effectiveness is worrying. Soldiers often dry not long to say hello directly home, the average service time of six months. Washington spent days just trying to figure out how many there were, and the numbers weren't accurate. It was such a force that there were not enough men to recruit, and during the War of Independence, the Continental Army numbered, at best, less than 20,000 men. And the Continental Congress has no right to tax, not to give funding, military expenses mainly rely on the donations of the colonies.

And the rival British army, that is to fight all over the world difficult to meet the enemy of the professional army, well-equipped, the army neat and tidy. It's like comparing the U.S. Army today with the guerrillas in Afghanistan.

However, there are local militias throughout North America. Washington's turn around often get the support of these militias, the formation of the situation to fight more than less. Tactics are mainly guerrilla style, ambush, night raids, hit and run, good at frontal combat of the British army a little uncomfortable. However, Washington still lost a lot of victories, and in 1776, he was beaten down to only a few thousand people, and looked to be unable to hold out.

Fortunately, the British had a powerful enemy, the French. The French lost the Seven Years' War, and are looking for an opportunity to retaliate, well, the colonies are independent, right, come on, the Americans, I'll give you a platform to fuck the Brits. France first gave money to give weapons, but also afraid of the Americans can not beat, to 1778 directly sent troops and the United States alliance to participate in the war.

In the winter of 1777, Washington's Continental Army was retrained through the help of a Prussian officer, Steuben, making the Continental Army the king of the guerrillas, and what was that? It's still a guerrilla army! Just kidding, it's a refreshing change from what it used to be.

In 1781, the allied forces of the United States and France surrounded the last major British stronghold in North America, Yorktown, and soon after, British general Cornwallis surrendered. The War of Independence was essentially over.

It's worth noting that the French sent 32 warships, more than 10,000 naval personnel, and an army of nearly 9,000 men to the battle, while the American Continental Army had just under 8,000 men, and the vast majority of the cannons used in the battle were French. It's like a microcosm of the fact that throughout the War of Independence, France put down blood money and spent far more than the United States. So Washington was a little embarrassed to accept the surrender.

After the war, some people advocated for Washington to be the king of the United States, which seems to be a routine operation, because at that time the world was still basically a feudal kingdom. But Washington saw clearly, the trend of the times has changed, plus the Continental Army is so 10,000 or 20,000, the states are still a loose confederation, get together was just to run away from the British, and now that the task is complete, we still like to go their own way, who have the heart to support you as king ah.

In fact, the Continental Army was compelled to disband after the war. Washington also had the good sense to resign. This objectively set a good example of how to end military interference in the United States.

In 1787, Washington presided over the U.S. Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. He did not participate in the discussions, but used his prestige to maintain order in the meeting, leading to the birth of the Constitution of the United States of America.

In 1789, Washington was elected the first President of the United States and was re-elected in 1793. He was the only president in history to be elected unanimously, laying the foundation for a strong federal government.

In 1797, at the end of his two terms, Washington voluntarily relinquished his power and was not reelected. It became a tradition that the U.S. president would serve no more than two terms.

In 1799, Washington caught a bad cold and died.

Three

The B Side of the Founding Fathers

President Washington's life was naturally a life of fame and fortune. Beyond the grand causes, there were also a number of slots.

Washington had few scandals about women in his life. We all know that he married a widow, while before the marriage, Washington had fallen in love with another friend's wife, fruitless before marrying Martha, also known as a famous man wife lover.

On the issue of Washington's slaveholding, it is a long disputed public case in history. Washington inherited 10 of his father's slaves at the age of 11, then a few of his brother's slaves, and by the time he married at the age of 27, he had roughly 36 slaves of his own, and 84 slaves of Martha's, and by the time of his death, the number of slaves had reached more than 300.

Washington made a great deal of his fortune on slave-run estates. Although he did slowly realize that slavery was becoming an anachronism, he did not oppose it. In fact, slaveholding by the wealthy was a common operation at the time.

Slavery at that time was not as dark as one might think, and it was actually a backward form of personal dependence. Slaves were paid for, and they weren't cheap, they weren't just taken. Even if you bought a cow, would you abuse it all day? To a slave owner, a slave was property. Slaves would also start their own families on the estate, and the slave owner would be responsible for the slave's life, death, marriage, and children. It is doubtful that slaves would have been better off if they had been freed, and Washington's wife, Martha, felt that slaves would have nowhere to live outside of the manor. Of course, do you think the slave owners would have bullied the slaves a little? This is more or less true, for example, Washington was rumored to have raped female black slaves. Just like our ancient relationship between landlords and house slaves, it was common for the lords to scold and bully the house slaves, wasn't it?

Washington benefited from slavery, although he knew that slavery was eliminated as a historical trend, but he never freed a slave in his life. On his deathbed, he left a will that slaves in his name could be freed when his wife died. Wife immediately realized that this is a pit, those slaves in order to get free early still not murder themselves? So, Washington died immediately after the slaves in his name to be free, but also earned a good reputation for it.

This is a different era, and we can't look at it exactly the way we do today.

In contrast, the systematic genocide of the Indians, which Washington promoted, was even more sinful.

In order to make room for these native peoples, and because the Indians had joined forces with the British in the War of Independence, the US military retaliated furiously by killing the Indians.

Washington likened the Indians to garbage, beasts like wolves, and gave orders to his generals to "listen to no offers of peace until all Indian settlements have been effectually destroyed."

Within five years, 28 of the 30 Indian towns were destroyed.

Appallingly, Washington taught his soldiers how to skin Indians: "Skin them from the hips downward, so as to make high or long boots that can be worn with the legs together."

When Washington read the Declaration of Independence to the British, the phrase "all men are created equal" clearly excluded blacks and Indians. Racial issues also plague the United States to this day.

Despite the controversy, Washington made the right choices at every critical point in his career, and under his leadership, the United States was able to establish a strong central government, laying the groundwork for America's growth.