The Life of George Washington

Foreword

GW_ i-xxviii.indd 11 5/2/12 7:31 AM FOREWORD WHILE THERE ARE other good biographies of George Washington, some recent, this Life by Chief Justice John Marshall probably should be read first. It is the first serious biography, appearing within eight years of Washington 's death, and its author was himselfa statesman ofrare judgment who knew the great man and many of his accomplishments. The Life ofWashington is therefore an account of men and events by one who saw much at first hand and saw with a knowing eye. Marshall once wrote to Gouverneur Morris (October 2, 1816) on "the inferiority of modern to ancient history"; ... it is not "written by practical statesmen" who have actually "engaged in the great & interesting events" they write about. The Life is the only published assessment of Washington's whole work in war and peace by a wise observer himself active in both. While there are differing twentiethcentury estimates of the book, the prominent historian Charles Beard had good reason to call Marshall "a historian of masterful acumen." Actually, the Life is about much more than Washington.Washington was father of his country, and Marshall's Life of Washington is political history as well as biography. The Life is the only comprehensive account by a great statesman of the full founding of the United States-ofthe founding ofan independent people as well as of its government. We see the war that freed and partly formed, and then the political deeds that made oftenuous union a self-governing country. We see these from the governing point ofview: of the Commander in Chiefand founding President without whom, Marshall suggests, neither would have happened. There is no other concentrated history of the essentials by such an authority on American institutions. It is a historical-political companion to that old bible ofAmerican institutions, The Federalist Papers. One should add that Marshall's epic is instructive about more than Washington and his political work. It can be seen as a case study ofthe relaXl GW_ i-xxviii.indd 12 5/2/12 7:31 AM ~Foreword* tion between democracyand human greatness. To what extent does democracy depend upon extraordinary leaders? How do a leader and a democracy overcome the tensions inherent in such a relation? Superior leaders' claims to superiority rub against a democracy's pride in equal rights, majority rule, and popular consent. But it is a fact that the American democratic republic depended upon the great man Washington, and it sustained him. How success was possible is the question Marshall proposed to answer in the Life. The Life began as what would now be called an authorized biography. Washington's executor selected Marshall for thewriting, and Marshall alone among the early biographers was permitted access to Washington's own papers. He took this special responsibility seriously. He sifted the papers, reviewed what histories therewere, inquired ofthosewho had served Washington in war and in politics, and sought accuracy and even exactitude in describing details ofa battle or responsibility of a politician. Where generals differed in their recollections, historians in their estimates ofcasualties, or parties in their political interpretations, Marshall presented the different sides. The Life was to be authoritative as well as authorized. This one-volume version is Marshall's final revision, completed a year or two before his death in 1835. It was the last of several revisions. The first edition in five volumes had been hurried out from 1803 through 1807, just when Marshall undertook his newduties as ChiefJustice and as an ex officio justice on the North Carolina and Virginia circuit courts. It was somewhat ill conceived-Washington was not introduced until volume twoand burdened by printing errors and clumsiness. This is one reason that some historians have disdained the Life. But an embarrassed Marshall bent himselfto correct and improve. A reprinting in 1805 allowed him to eliminate the worst errors in production and composition. In 1824 he spun off the first volume as a history ofthe colonies; in 1832 he reissued the revised biography proper as compressed into two volumes. This may be regarded as his definitive version. Then, during the remaining three years before his death, the aging Chief]ustice shortened more and simplified more in order to prepare this one-volume edition for schools. Simplifying did not mean what now would be ridiculed as "dumbing down." While Marshall cut out elaborate wording, some analyses, and the occasional incident, he retained Xll [3.138.113.188] Project MUSE (2024-04...