Statue of George Washington in the Virginia State Capitol.
Most of us who studied American History when it was... American History know of the Winter at Valley Forge, the crossing of the Delaware and the Battle of Trenton. We know that George Washington was our first President. 'Dangerous' Home Schoolers [1.] even know that he was a man who trusted in G-d and prayed.
Still, there is much to learn about this man. Without his forsight there might not have been a United States of America as we know it. We might have never made it past our own Revolution.
In 1783 Washington gave up his command of the Continental Army and returned to private life. He did not enjoy his retirement for long. Revolutionary soldiers, hearing rumors that they would be dismissed without being paid, surrounded Independence Hall in Philidelphia with fixed bayonetts. No doubt, the members of the Continental Congress were in danger of being killed or taken hostage by angry soldiers.
Washington gathered troops and rushed to Philadelphia as our government slipped away to exile in Princeton, New Jersey. Washington met personally with the mutinous officers, pleading with them not to "sully the glory" they have earned. He successfully stops a military coup in its tracks. A colonel writes him, suggesting that Washington crown himself king, supported by “the universal esteem and veneration of an army.” Washington found the idea repugnant. His noble impulse shaped the nature of American leadership for the centuries to come. [2.]
But Washington did even more to shape our Nation. He wrote: "No well informed mind need be told, that the flanks and rear of the United territory are possessed by other powers, and formitable ones too -- nor how necessary it is to apply the cement of interest to bind all parts of it together... open wide door, and make a smooth way for the produce of that country to pass to our markets..." In 1784 he persuaded the Virginia and Maryland assemblies to pass bills establishing a company to improve the Potomac for shipping.
Just West of Washington DC the Great Falls of the Potomac roar impressively. Of course they stood in the way of Westward travel. The Potowmack Canal was built out of Washington's vision.
In 1785 the Mount Vernon Compact was drawn up to provide for free navigation of the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay. Interstate commerce again prompted talks in Annapolis,Maryland the following year.
A conference was scheduled for 1787 in Philadelphia to amend the Articles of Confederation to allow free commerce between the states. That conference resulted in the drafting of the United States Constitution.
More on George Washington [click to read].
The Great Falls of the Potomac.
Plan and profile of the Potowmack Canal.
Locks 4 and 5, illustration in Great Falls Visitor's Center.
Ruins of lock on Potowmack Canal.
Another lock on the canal.
Stonework detail of a lock.
History Maker III [click to read]. The James River and Kanawha Canal.
That is so neat!
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