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How does one
become a national symbol?

A man so important, a nation
names its capital for him.

And builds one of the tallest

monuments on Earth
to commemorate his life.

We put his face on a mountain

and our money.

We call him
the father of our country.

But do we remember why

George Washington deserves
this singular honor?

He was a farmer.
An architect. A surveyor.

He commanded
the Continental Army

against the military power
of Great Britain.

He lost more battles
than he won,

but still won America's war
for independence.

He presided over
the Constitutional Convention

which gave us our republican
form of government.

He was a citizen politician
and our first president.

Earlier generations of Americans
grew up

with a portrait of Washington
in their schoolrooms.

George Washington defined
our understanding of America.

Today, Washington
remains ubiquitous.

He's part of our
national landscape.

But in many ways,
George Washington

has become the most elusive
and enigmatic

of our founding fathers.

Well, that's
the problem with Washington.

He is everywhere.

He's sort of
in everybody's wallet,

but not in their hearts,

because he's so iconic.

And the ivy has grown
over his statue in such a way

that it's a real challenge
to try to figure out

who is that man
behind the monument.

For generations
of Americans,

George Washington was essential

to understanding the creation
of the United States of America.

Commander-in-chief
of the Continental Army,

first president,
and father of our country.

Washington was committed

to creating a republic based
on liberty and self-government--

the very principles
that make us American.

Americans today

need to remember
George Washington,

they need to remember him

because he really does have
an ongoing legacy for us.

We live today very much
in the America

that George Washington
helped to make.

And he surely did something

that 10 years later
Napoleon never did;

and that is be given power

and then voluntarily
give up that power.

He was
comfortable in his own skin.

He was never trying to be
something that he wasn't.

And so there was an authenticity
factor to Washington.

What you saw was what you got.

If he didn't have
the blazing intellect

of some of the political figures
of that era,

he trumped them in spades

by the respect that he generated
among the masses

because he was a doer,
not just a thinker.

They pledged their lives,

their fortunes,
and their sacred honor.

If they lost, most would be
jailed or hanged.

They were taking on

the greatest fighting force
in history,

with an amateur army
and no navy.

And at the center
of this whirlwind of history

was a seemingly providential
collection of great minds

unafraid of revolution
in the pursuit of liberty,

including Hamilton, Franklin,
Adams, Jefferson, Madison,

and Washington.

If you asked
all the prominent founders--

and let's just go down a list
for a second.

Franklin is probably the wisest,

Madison is probably
the most politically acute,

Jefferson is most
intellectually sophisticated,

Adams is the best read,

Hamilton is probably
the smartest,

but they all said
the same thing--

Washington is the greatest
of us all.

Washington
was the indispensable American

because we can just
ask ourselves,

had Hamilton or Jefferson
or Adams or Franklin,

could any of them have done
what Washington did

and could Washington have done
what they did?

It's very hard to see anybody

like Jefferson or Adams
or Madison getting on a horse

and leading an army and imbuing
them with revolutionary spirit.

And so Washington could do what
the other founders could not.

Washington's famous
reserve and self control

made him appear aloof

and masked a complex man
of deep passions

and a sometimes
explosive temper.

While the other founders

enjoyed showing off
their intellectual gifts,

Washington preferred to reveal
as little as possible.

Washington was
the master of the silence.

He kept his mouth shut

while more insecure men
were blathering on.

Plus, if you look at his diary,

you'd think, well,
there's something

that's going to tell you
about the inner man,

but it's all about the weather;

it has nothing to do with
the interior storms inside him.

He's unusual for a great man

in that he wasn't an egotist.

There was not a sense
of what we call today

of narcissism in him.

There is ample evidence
of Washington's humility,

his general kindness,
his basic decency,

his ability to be fair
to a soldier.

And so, hence,
he was a great leader.

A quiet word
from George Washington

echoed very loudly;

he simply led by example.

Washington
had a commanding presence.

He was sort of intimidating.

He was made of marble
even back then.

And people around him
sort of joked

about whether or not
you'd touch him on the back.

But he was the one who commanded
the respect like a general.

He is elusive
even in his own time,

and he's a legend
in his own time.

So that for all those reasons,
as a historian or a biographer

trying to go back
and recover the man,

he presents
the greatest difficulty

of anybody I've ever tried
to write about.

1776 was a year that
had started with great promise.

Thomas Paine's enormously
popular pamphlet Common Sense

is a radical call to arms.

Thomas Paine
was a washed-up businessman,

failed marriage back home.

I think at one point
he was a corset maker.

And then he hits his moment.

He writes the very famous
pamphlet Common Sense,

which declares this is no longer

about defending our rights
as Englishmen,

this is about creating
a new nation.

The common sense approach now

must be we must fight
for independence.

Patriots
throughout the 13 colonies

had had enough

with King George III's
taxes and abuses.

A year earlier,
after years of humiliation

at the hands of the British,

fighting had broken out
at Lexington and Concord.

Now was the time, many felt,

to embrace a commitment
to independence, or "the cause."

If you read
Washington's battle orders,

and this begins in New York and
continues throughout the war,

the word that
is the reverential word

is the Cause, capital C-a-u-s-e,

that we all believe
in the Cause.

And so in June of 1775
the Second Continental Congress

requests Washington's presence
in Philadelphia.

Washington will be appointed
general and commander

of the Continental Army.

He was always very meticulous

about how he dressed.

So, famously, when he went
to the Continental Congress,

he wore his Virginia
military uniform

because he was already showing
his willingness

to stand up and fight
and to lead the Army.

Washington was
an ambitious man,

he was ambitious for himself

and he was ambitious
for his country.

When Washington takes command,

it is no sure thing
that there's going to be victory

in the American Revolution.

Mr. Washington.

It is resolved
that a general be appointed

to command all
the continental forces,

raised, or to be raised,

for the defense
of American liberty.

Mr. President,

I must declare
with the utmost sincerity,

I do not think myself equal to
the command I am honored with.

However, as the Congress
desires it,

I will enter upon
the momentous duty

and exert every power I possess
in their service

and for support
of the glorious cause.

Washington
thought it was very likely

that he would lose,

and yet he was willing
to put himself

entirely at the service
of this cause

even if he lost his life,

even if he lost his estate,

and even if,

and this terrified Washington
more than anything else,

even if he went down in history
as a failure,

he still thought
it was worth it.

Washington arrives
outside of Boston

to find a group of eager
but woefully untrained soldiers.

The Continental Army
is a bunch of amateurs.

They are not the yeoman farmers.

They are the derelicts,

they are the third sons
with no inheritance,

they're recent Irish immigrants,

there are also a lot
of African Americans,

about 10% of the Army
is African American.

But he has an army
that is really incapable

of matching the British
on the field of battle.

The next one who leaves...

Washington's goal
is to transform these men

into a professional army.

He knows the British
have superior troops,

having fought
alongside them during

the French and Indian War.

General Washington
will need to draw

on that knowledge

and other skills he gained
as a young man, or face defeat.

Washington congealed
as a young man

in the frontier of Virginia,
west of the Alleghenies.

If Jefferson and Adams went
to William and Mary and Harvard,

Washington went to war.

And war was his crucible,
war is what shaped his values

and the personality
that he eventually exhibited.

George Washington
was born in 1732

in Westmoreland County,
Virginia.

Though the family
was prosperous,

they were not considered
in the top tier

of Virginia's
wealthiest families.

As a young man,

Washington is not
to the manor born.

He doesn't have a huge
inheritance from his father,

very little indeed.

As a teenager,

Washington undertakes
unusual efforts

toward improving all aspects
of his character.

He studies life lessons

from Rules of Civility
and Decent Behavior,

a popular book
on self improvement.

What he's describing
is really genteel behavior.

What were the ideals of
gentility in the 18th century?

He lays those out and
he's going to conform to them,

and speaking with reserve,
holding yourself properly,

even learning how to walk
into a room in the proper way.

Washington himself was
very conscious of the fact

that he had never had
any college education.

Unlike Jefferson or Adams,

he had had no refined approach
to letters and the humanities.

Though very much
the outdoorsman

who loves swimming, hiking,
hunting and fencing,

Washington is determined
to elevate his social standing.

He is convinced, it seems,
that important events await him.

One has to remember
that Washington was huge,

that Washington was
6-foot-2, 6-foot-3,

built like an oak tree

in a time when people
tended to be shorter.

And so when he walked
in the room,

he physically dominated
that room.

At 17, Washington
secures a profitable job

as a surveyor in Virginia,

including the western frontier.

He gains a unique knowledge
of the American landscape--

knowledge that will serve him
later in battling the British.

He knew the land,

he knew where the caves were,
the creeks.

He also had great instincts
how to read the weather.

He understood the sun
and the moon

as well as anybody of his era.

He was an expert
on the topography

of the eastern United States,

and this allowed him
a huge advantage.

George Washington, in many ways,
was a guerrilla fighter.

The British would come in,
big clumsy army of redcoats,

and Washington knew
how to go after them

then disappear into the woods.

So his innate knowledge
as a surveyor of the landscape

was, bar none, superior
for his age.

In 1753

the lieutenant governor
of Virginia,

Robert Dinwiddie,

is ordered to protect
British territorial claims

in the Ohio River Basin against
their French colonial rivals.

He sends Washington
on a dangerous mission

to deliver a message to
the French to vacate the area.

Washington successfully

delivers the message.

But the return trip
nearly kills him.

On the way back,

they have to walk
through frozen rivers.

Everybody else in the group

comes down with frostbite
or sickness;

he doesn't come down
with anything.

He learns "survive
and you shall succeed,"

and he's a survivor
in those early years.

Washington publishes
a journal about his adventure

and becomes an international
celebrity at the age of 22.

But his next trip
to the Ohio Valley

ignites a global war.

In 1754, Washington earns
a commission as a major

in the Virginia militia
representing the British.

On his second journey
into the Ohio Valley,

Washington and his men ambush
a French scouting party,

striking the first blow
in the French and Indian war.

His behavior was that
of an inexperienced officer

who bit off more
than he could chew.

He learned a great deal
from that.

I think one lesson he learned
in particular

was don't be too aggressive,
be careful what you take on.

The war
provides Washington

with valuable
military experience.

He begins to learn

that traditional
European methods of war

do not necessarily translate
to the colonies.

Large columns of men
marching at each other

are not effective in the woods.

North America
is heavily forested.

It's totally unlike Europe

with its neatly manicured fields
and hedgerows.

Washington learns from that
don't try to fight straight up,

let the terrain fight for you.

Washington will have
another brush with death

at the Battle of Monongahela.

After British commanding officer
General Edward Braddock

is mortally wounded,

Washington steps in
to help organize a retreat.

Washington has two horses
shot from beneath him...

and four musket balls
pierce his coat.

Yet he remained unharmed.

This way!

George Washington used
the word "providence" a lot

in his writings.

Today, we think of it
as meaning good luck or fortune.

But back then,
it meant God's presence.

Men were going down to
the right and the left of him,

and he knows it's all
arbitrary and chance.

You can be standing
in the wrong place

and be disemboweled
by a cannonball,

and he saw that.

And that had to have had
an effect on him.

Why was my life spared

when so many of my fellow
Virginians died in this battle?

He's lucky.

By all rights, he shouldn't have
survived his twenties,

he should have been killed
several times.

He came to believe that he
was charmed--because he was.

So this had a strong
effect on George Washington

and his belief that maybe
my life was preserved

for some greater purpose.

During a sick leave
from the French and Indian War,

Washington has
a fortunate encounter

with the recently widowed
Martha Custis,

the wealthiest woman
in Virginia.

Well, Martha Washington
was in her late twenties

when George Washington
courted her.

In a lot of the paintings
that we see of her,

she has white hair and a bonnet.

And she's, you know, in the more
senior years of her life.

But when she and
George Washington were courting,

she was quite the catch.

Would you care
for a stroll?

Certainly.

You have done well, I see.

Oh, thank you.

You should come and visit
Mount Vernon.

We are expanding the house,
building out the farms.

One day it will be one of the
grandest houses in all Virginia.

I will.

George Washington
was 6-feet-2, he's very tall.

When Abigail Adams met him
for the first time in 1775,

she wrote, "I was quite struck
by General Washington.

Citizen and soldier are
agreeably blended in him.

Modesty marks every line
of his face."

She was just gushing
over George Washington.

Oh, it's beautiful.

So he must have been
commanding in his appearance

but also very charismatic.

And there was just this
mutual attraction between them,

but they also were both ready,

they were both ready to have
that family and that security

that they could each bring
one another.

And so that's perhaps
one reason

why their long-distance
relationship

resulted in only three dates
and then a proposal.

In 1759,
after their wedding,

George and Martha settle
into Mount Vernon

with Martha's two children
from her first marriage.

During the years leading up
to the War of Independence,

Washington expands Mount Vernon

and establishes himself
as a political figure

in Virginia's
House of Burgesses.

He had been very active,

not in the radical side
of revolutionary politics,

but as someone who was

a pragmatic
Eisenhower-like figure

that could bring a lot
of diverse groups together.

In 1772 Charles Wilson Peale

visits Mount Vernon to paint

the first known likeness
of George Washington.

Washington wears
his colonel's uniform

from the French and Indian War,

even though he had resigned
from the military

some 14 years earlier.

It may have been Martha

who suggested that George
pose in his uniform,

the same outfit he wore
when he was courting her.

But Washington was also
acutely aware

of the image he was promoting--
that of a leader.

So he knew how to dress
for an occasion,

he knew how to look,

and that was one
of his incredible strengths

as a politician

that made him a great actor.

We have to remember
that he loved plays,

he loved to read Shakespeare.

So he liked acting,
and he knew how to act.

In the summer of 1775

Washington is
a robust 43-year-old

and in the prime of his life.

Just appointed commander
of the Continental Army,

he prepares to leave for war.

At risk is everything
he holds dear.

Martha, I shall be
departing in a few moments.

Yes.

I know not whether
it will be in my power

to write to you again until I
arrive at camp in Boston.

You will write
when you can.

I know that, George.

Come and sit with me, please.

I think they loved each other,

but if you think about it,

he was gone eight years
during the Revolutionary War

and returned to Mount Vernon
only once.

Just think about that.

I think Martha Washington
was very strong.

You say that you do not
want this commission,

yet you are the only one
qualified for it.

Martha Washington
expected George Washington

to return to her
in the fall of 1775;

that was his promise to her.

And then she realized

the war was going to go on
for a long time.

So she decided to join him.

Historians at Mount Vernon think
that she spent 50% of the war

with George in camp,

which really shows you
the bonds that they had

and the dependence that they had

and the strength
that they gained and gleaned

from one another
by being together.

In Boston,
Washington takes command

of 16,000 militiamen.

The logistical challenges
are daunting.

He is in desperate need of
gunpowder and other resources.

Everything was
very strategic with Washington.

He understood
that the key to victory

was going to always be
supply lines,

that you had to have munitions,
that you had to have foodstuffs,

that you had to have blankets,

that you had to have gunpowder
that was dry,

and he never liked to act

if he didn't have all of
the necessary materials for war

at his disposal.

Before Washington arrives,

the British had seized
Bunker and Breed's Hill,

taking heavy casualties.

With no hope of engaging
the British head to head,

Washington sends
a 25-year-old named Henry Knox

to bring artillery to Boston.

Henry Knox is one
of the most fascinating figures

in the entire revolution,

and he ends up being one
of Washington's closest comrades

and closest friends.

If you look
at Knox's background,

he doesn't seem like much.

He's a Boston bookseller.

But it's Washington's genius

that he's able to see beneath
the surface of any individual,

and he sees something in Knox.

Knox is somebody who can think
a little bit outside the box,

and that's what Knox does
at Boston.

In one of the greatest
logistical feats

in the entire war,

Knox delivers cannons captured
from Fort Ticonderoga.

It takes him three months
to negotiate

over 200 miles of frozen swamps
and impassable roads.

Washington places the artillery

high on Boston's
Dorchester Heights.

With his forces unable
to aim their cannons

high enough to counter,

British General Howe
has no choice but to withdraw.

Most people
don't realize that ideology

is not really the most important
factor in an insurgency;

it's momentum.

So, in Washington's
way of thinking,

the fact that he was able
to have the high ground

and hold his own

would be very important
for people

who had their fingers
in the wind

and didn't know whether
they should take the risk

of being hanged

or they should just sit tight
and be neutral

or they should join the British.

The British reaction

to their defeat in Boston
was absolute shock.

How could a rabble lay siege
to a major city

with our army and our fleet
and finally drive us out?

It was almost incomprehensible.

For his victory in Boston

Washington is hailed
as the revolution's hero,

both with the public and his
colleagues back in Philadelphia.

The supposedly invincible
British force

has just been defeated
in an early engagement.

Washington moves south
to New York,

certain the British
will strike there next.

But he knows his amateur army
has yet to be seriously tested.

George Washington, remember,

had been a loyal officer
in that army, the British army,

during
the French and Indian War.

He knew they were the best
trained troops in the world,

along with the Hessians.

And he is throwing
a militia force up

with limited combat experience.

He knew he was in
for a tough fight.

Riding with Washington
is his attendant, Billy Lee.

Billy Lee, well, was a slave.

He was also the personal servant
of General George Washington.

He was also Washington's friend
and even Washington's protector.

And in numerable battles,
Billy Lee would put himself

physically in front
of Washington

because of all the shot
that was coming in,

that Washington
would yell at him,

"Would you get out of the way?"

And which Billy Lee
would respond,

"Sir, I'll move

when you get safely back
away from enemy fire."

That man was protecting
Washington,

he was just not a servant.

Billy Lee will ride
alongside Washington

for nearly the entire war

and become one
of the most famous

African Americans of his time.

Meanwhile,
after the defeat at Boston,

King George III has had enough.

He sends William Howe's brother,
Admiral Richard Howe,

with the largest fleet
in history--

over 400 ships
and 32,000 soldiers--

with orders to crush Washington

and put a quick end
to the rebellion.

On June 28th,

the first wave
of over 100 British ships

is sighted approaching New York.

Washington is faced
with a military impossibility--

Manhattan Island, Long Island,
Staten Island, the Jersey coast,

whoever has naval superiority

is going to control
that entire region.

Washington is handed
an impossible situation.

Politically he has to defend
New York,

yet it is obvious,
with British naval superiority,

it will be impossible
to defend New York.

But he had to make
the effort anyhow.

July 4, 1776.

The Second Continental Congress
in Philadelphia

signs the Declaration
of Independence.

Five days later,
on July 9th,

in Lower Manhattan,

Washington has
the Declaration of Independence

read to his troops.

We hold these truths
to be self-evident,

that all men are created equal,

that they are endowed
by their Creator

with certain unalienable Rights,

that among these
are Life, Liberty

and the pursuit of Happiness.

Where the Twin Towers once stood

is an iconic spot
in American history.

The troops are lined up.

And if you looked
straight down the Green

across New York Harbor,

there around Staten Island

was an invasion fleet
of almost 200 ships,

the largest transoceanic
invasion fleet

in history up to that time,

all floating
close to 30,000 troops.

And, yet,
our revolutionary forefathers

are standing on the Green,

having the Declaration
read to them,

which was their call
as to why we fight.

And for the support
of this Declaration,

with a firm reliance on the
protection of divine Providence,

we mutually pledge to each other

our Lives, our Fortunes
and our Sacred Honor.

George Washington knew

that his troops needed
a mission statement,

they needed to know why
we were fighting this war.

And he said, "Let facts be
submitted to a candid world

that we are doing this
for these reasons."

Nearby, a crowd
pulls down a lead statue

of King George.

His head is displayed on a pike.

The rest will be melted down
for bullets.

Washington now faces

the best trained forces
in the world.

The Howe brothers coordinate
the British attack--

William on the ground
and Richard on the sea.

William Howe
is a superb general,

he is an excellent tactician,

he understands how to maneuver
armies and troops in the field,

and, indeed, he's superior
to Washington in that respect.

He's also a Whig.

And he and his brother,
who commands the British fleet,

sympathize
with the American cause.

And that's why multiple times,
in 1776 and 1777,

Howe holds back

and he decides not to crush
the American army

in such a way that will result
in its utter annihilation;

but simply to defeat it.

He thinks if he can simply
apply a few simple lessons,

that the American people
will come to their senses,

rise up and return
to the king.

The Battle of Long Island

was the first major battle

after the signing of
the Declaration of Independence,

and the largest battle
of the entire war.

While his brother, William,

provides cover
for the British Navy,

Richard Howe lands 15,000
soldiers on Long Island.

Washington holds the high ground
at Brooklyn Heights.

His troops fire down
on the advancing enemy.

Howe changes tactics.

He sends half of his men
undetected

through the Jamaica Pass.

He has Washington surrounded.

Some of Washington's men

retreat through
the Gowanus Marsh

and are slaughtered
by the British.

Washington had split his troops

between Manhattan
and Long Island,

and British General Howe
was closing in

with an enormous army.

Washington would need
a miracle to survive.

Most military historians
fault Washington

for dividing his troops
when he went into New York.

And the reason
that they say that

is that he didn't have
a concentration of force

against a traditional army

whose forte was firepower,
discipline, cavalry troops.

Washington, at this stage
of the revolution,

didn't quite understand
the extent of the disparity

between British
professional troops and his own.

And it was not
just a rout,

it was a stampede
by the end of the day.

The Continental Army
is no match

for the British Army and Navy.

The British expect Washington
will surrender.

Uncharacteristically,
Washington isn't certain

of his next move.

A surrender to the British
so early in the war

means not only the death
of the cause,

but shame as an honor-bound
18th century military commander.

His mood is despondent.

He's really upset at
the performance of his troops,

he's mad at himself,

he's been outflanked several
times by the Howe brothers.

But he's resilient.

The thought of surrendering
never entered his mind.

When we teach
about the American Revolution,

we tend to overlook
what happened in New York.

And what happened in New York
was nothing short of a miracle.

We lost.

We had it handed to us
at the Battle of Long Island.

The troops that escaped that day

were huddled down exactly where
the Brooklyn Bridge is now.

After consulting
with his generals,

Washington orders a retreat
from Long Island.

Miraculously,
a heavy fog appears

and allows Washington to
evacuate all 9,000 of his troops

without loss of life.

They round up some boats,

and throughout the night
they evacuate them

under the cover of a fog
back to Manhattan.

The British were so confident
that they had us beat

that they figured
we'll wrap it up come dawn.

Well, come dawn,
they saw an empty beach.

And it is firmly believed
that George Washington

was the last man off that beach.

And the Revolution would live on
for another day.

Though certain
of their military superiority,

the British are
in utter disbelief

that Washington has somehow
escaped with his army.

Well, look, there was
a British condescension

to the Yankee Doodle
ragtag troops of Washington

that weren't equipped properly,

that did not have
coherent uniforms at times,

on and on.

But they knew not to
underestimate George Washington.

But had he lost the army,

we probably would have been
through at that point.

I think Washington understood

after the successful evacuation
from New York

that at least he thought
he understood

that there was a divine plan
in all this.

There was a deity, that he could
receive guidance from God.

This is a very important point,
because at this time,

we're right in the middle
of the European Enlightenment

where people who were examining
the relationship

between logic and science
and religion

were trying to suggest

that religion represented
a retrogression

back into the Middle Ages,

and the Enlightenment was

the new scientific
technological breakthrough.

And Washington was
sort of a transitional figure

that could combine
the best of both,

but in a way more so

than even Jefferson
or Franklin or Hamilton.

Washington is an able man.

But he has no force.

General William Howe
next attacks

at Manhattan's Kips Bay,

held by a Continental militia
of only 1,500 men.

Howe unleashes a fury
of cannon fire

later described
by a British midshipman

as "so terrible and so incessant
a roar of guns

few even in the army and navy
had ever heard before."

Kips Bay
is one the worst days

of Washington's entire life.

British troops land, and they
begin to march uphill

against positions that
the American could have defended

if they had really wanted to,

but the American militiamen,

the American Continentals
who were there

have been defeated
over and over,

they're beginning
to lose confidence,

and they begin to withdraw...

even without firing a shot.

Washington arrives on the scene
at that moment,

and it throws him closer
to total despair

than he ever was before,

and it's one of the defining
moments of his life.

When he sees his troops
withdrawing

and he tells them
to get back into line,

and they don't listen,
they keep withdrawing.

Washington pulls the reins
of his horse,

faces towards
the advancing British

and begins to ride
straight toward them,

knowing that he's going to die.

And General Greene,

one of his best generals,
Nathanael Greene,

says he requested death.

He wanted to be a martyr.

He was embarrassed
at the behavior of his troops

which reflected on him,

and he wanted to go down
in battle.

Fortunately one
of his aides de camp reaches out

and grabs the rein of his horse
and pulls him back

and pulls Washington
off the field.

There is no choice
but to order a retreat.

New York is lost.

Unlike Washington,

most members of Congress
had no combat experience,

and they tended to think
in terms of ideals,

and they didn't really
understand

what Washington and his army
were going through,

and so for quite some time
they are in denial.

For members of Congress,

the defeat at New York
was a catastrophe,

and they can't imagine something
like this could happen.

And they almost don't know
what to do;

they're in a state of paralysis.

In late September,

as Washington prepares
the final evacuation

of his troops
from Harlem Heights,

he looks back on New York City.

One third of it is on fire,

probably due to patriot
arsonists who defied orders

and burned the city
as the British approached.

The defeat at Long Island
and disaster at Kips Bay

was a devastating blow
to Washington,

a humiliation
that affected him deeply.

At those darkest moments
of the war,

Washington considers
the possibility

that he may have been
the wrong man for the job.

Not once does he doubt
the cause.

Not once does he doubt

that it's a cause
worth fighting and dying for.

But he sees him himself
as a human being,

and he wonders whether he was
the right man for the job.

He took everything
personally.

And I think when people
deserted the army,

he understood it because they
didn't have the right equipment,

many of them had no shoes,

he kept writing voluminous
letters to Congress--

we need more money,
we need more money--

but he didn't give up.

And the ones
that stayed with him knew

that if they stayed with him,
eventually they would get paid.

But they believed in the man

because the man believed
in the cause,

and the cause was freedom
and independence from England.

When news
of the great victory in New York

reaches King George,

he expresses
his great satisfaction

by making General William Howe
a knight.

When we look
at the first two years

of our American Revolution

and the changes of what happened

between April of 1775
and December of 1776,

it is a shocking decline.

The fall and winter of 1776

were desperate times
for Washington.

By mid-November
British General Howe

sends troops, under the command
of General Cornwallis,

to pursue Washington
across New Jersey.

Colonial refugees flee ahead
of the British war machine.

And Washington's men
are deserting.

It's 12,000 men,
it's 10, it's 6.

Before long, he only has

a couple thousand men
at his command.

We were an army

that was so thoroughly routed
and demoralized

that when the British
were in pursuit,

their cavalry was
no longer even using

the standard military calls.

They were blowing
fox-hunting horns.

That is the contempt
they held us in.

Washington sees
the American people losing hope,

and that frightens him
more than anything else.

Washington doesn't worry as much
about his own army in the field

as he worries
about the willingness

of the American people
to carry on the struggle.

Washington, not known
for his public speaking,

makes a last minute plea

for his men to stay with him
for 30 more days.

Those of you
who are with me, step forward.

The rest are free to leave.

Washington will lose
more than one third

of his able-bodied men
that December.

After a series
of losses and retreats,

General Washington is in danger
of losing the war.

Washington writes the password
for a daring attack--

Victory or death.

"It's victory or death.

We fight to be free.

We've got to do this."

And I think he knew.

I think he really believed
it would succeed.

And those were
the watchwords for that day

of the Battle of Trenton,

and those watchwords were
intended to remind the troops

that there was no turning back--

they either won or they died.

We shall attack
the Hessian garrison at Trenton

in three days.

You are a mariner,
are you not, Glover?

You will find us boats.

Colonel Knox, you will
organize the troops.

You gentlemen shall move
my army across this river.

He sees Trenton
as an opportunity

to focus Americans' minds again
on what they're fighting for,

on the cause.

The plan
that General Washington created

for Christmas night, 1776,

was to get across
the Delaware River

approximately 10 miles
north of Trenton,

swing south on a force march
at night,

hit Trenton long before dawn,

catch a Hessian garrison
of about 800 by surprise,

capture them all.

People have always questioned

why did Washington make
this radical decision

to attack Trenton.

It was the equivalent

of Washington picking up
the dice and shaking,

and he better come up
with two sixes.

That's what the odds were.

Now, let's look at the numbers
who crossed with him.

About 2,500 men left.

During the battles
around New York,

there was close to 30,000.

Who were those 2,500 men
that were left?

That was the hard core.

And on the day
that was to be launched,

a true nor'easter
came up the coast.

A real nor'easter.

Winds 30, 35 miles per hour,
sleet, rain, snow.

On Christmas night,

as his troops prepare
in the cold,

Washington orders Thomas Paine's
The American Crisis

to be read throughout
the entire camp,

with its famous first sentence:

"These are the times
that try men's souls."

And it was a challenge

to every man and woman
in America.

Are we going to stand up,

or are we going to lay down
and submit?

"Tyranny, like hell,"
Paine writes,

"is not easily conquered.

The harder the conflict,
the more glorious the triumph."

These words encourage
Washington's men.

He could read the
morale of men like nobody else.

And what he would do
is use oratory

to incite those thousands

and to recruit more
to the cause.

And that inspired men.

Every time you thought the
Continental Army had dwindled,

he was able to bring
a new life back into it.

Washington's plan calls

for multiple assaults
on Trenton.

Most of his offensive plans

were too complicated,
too intricate,

and he didn't have troops
capable of carrying them out.

It wasn't until Washington

actually started his own move

that word came to him that the
other two commanding generals

said sorry, sir,
river's too high.

You're on your own.

And so when
he knows that,

it's, okay, should we
go forward with this

with a much smaller force
and risk defeat,

or should we recognize
that it's not going to happen?

He goes forward.

General Washington
crosses early

to organize his troops
for the attack.

But moving 2,500 men, artillery,
horses and supplies

across the Delaware

takes far longer
than Washington anticipated.

What should have been
a one to two-hour river crossing

takes nine hours.

Just before dawn,

the last boats
unload Washington's troops

on the New Jersey side
of the Delaware.

The men are cold, tired

and now face a grueling
8-mile march to Trenton.

The roads were
so badly iced over

that the men could barely get
their footing.

And when we're talking
about footing,

most of them were barefoot.

You could easily follow
the track of the army

because the road
was covered in blood.

Bleeding feet staggering
through the winter night.

Ahead are 1,400 Hessians,

professional soldiers
whom the British have hired

to supplement their troops.

General Washington fears

the Hessians will have
sentries on watch.

But he also knows
some will be sleeping off

their Christmas night
celebrations.

Many would later say
that storm was heaven sent

to cover the approach
of the army,

because the Hessian commander
was thinking

nobody is that crazy to be
out there in a storm like this

in the middle of the night.

And so there's
that sense among the troops

of despite
their physical hardships,

despite the elements, that
they're marching toward destiny.

Washington and his troops

arrive outside of Trenton
hours behind schedule.

With daybreak, they've lost
the element of surprise.

But Washington is committed.

At 8 a.m. he orders the attack.

Fix bayonets.

Fix bayonets!

Washington went
into that battle

wearing his formal uniform.

He did so because he
half expected to die that day.

But he was going to die
with honor.

March.

The Hessian colonel,
Johann Rall,

is unprepared for the attack.

He had reportedly spent
Christmas night playing cards.

One account says an aide
handed Rall a message

warning of a surprise attack,

but that Rall put the note
in his coat pocket

without reading it.

Rall does not survive
the attack.

The note was later found
in his pocket.

The ending of
the Battle of Trenton, I think,

is one of the finest moments
in American history

and sets a precedent
in American history.

Because the Americans
facing them

had witnessed the Hessians
executing prisoners

in Manhattan and on Long Island.

This was a moment that could
have spun out of control,

but blessedly
with the American troops

were some of German descent.

And these American troops
started shouting in German--

Kamerad, Kamerad,
lay down your arms,

we will take your surrender.

And with that, the Hessians all
started to drop their weapons,

put their hands up,
there was no massacre.

On New Year's Eve, 1776,

Washington again asks his men
to stay with him.

The inspiring victory
at Trenton

and a promised 10-dollar bonus

convinced many
to stay and fight.

Hip Hip Huzzah!

Hip Hip Huzzah!
Hip Hip Huzzah!

Washington follows up

with another surprise victory
at Princeton.

He makes the British believe
he is still in his camp

by ordering his men to leave
their campfires ablaze,

then marches his men
to Princeton

to attack Cornwallis' flank.

At Princeton
and the campaign that follows,

Washington drives the British

almost entirely
out of New Jersey.

He wipes out all the gains
that they made

in that previous autumn of 1776.

In an incredibly short time,
less than two weeks,

Washington has completely
changed the course of the war.

Washington has restored hope.

Washington has restored

the American people's belief
in victory.

General Washington winters
with the Continental Army

at Morristown.

There, he begins to discover
a strategy to survive.

Washington believes
in continuing to maintain

constant pressure on the enemy

so that when he withdraws
to winter quarters,

he doesn't just sit there
and observe things.

He's sending out cavalry,
he's sending out militia

to pressure the British
and their German allies

at every possible point,
constantly,

throughout the remains
of the winter

and into the spring.

He doesn't give Howe
a moment to rest.

Washington had to survive

and he had to tell people
in America

that I'm not losing and we're
going to gain strength,

and the British can't do this
indefinitely.

And he was right about that.

You know, when we deal
with the Continental Congress,

we're dealing with the creation
of the United States in 1776,

well, these politicians--
Jefferson, Adams and the rest--

you know, they sign their names,
they go back home.

Adams goes to Massachusetts,
Jefferson to Virginia.

The Revolution
was a marathon.

Okay, he's on horseback
for 7 1/2 years.

I mean, he's out there
all that time.

Washington has to find
how to fund this army,

how to keep them equipped.

He's the star
of the American Revolution,

not because of his cunning
on the battlefield,

but he kept the spirit
of the Continental Army alive

even in its darkest moments.

By the spring of 1777,

Washington has grown
the Continental Army

back to a force of 9,000 men.

But in September,
at the Battle of Brandywine,

Washington is defeated,

and British General William Howe
takes control of Philadelphia,

the American capital.

Losing Philadelphia
is another devastating blow

to General Washington.

Coupled with General Gates'
victory at Saratoga,

some question Washington's
ability to lead and to win.

Washington was
very much revered

by the men who served
underneath him,

especially the officers.

His fate was going to be
their fate.

Now, not everyone
loved George Washington.

There were some generals
who competed

and wanted to have his job:

General Gates,
General Charles Lee,

General Conway.

But one by one,
each of those generals

in their attempts
for personal glory

kind of fell away.

And George Washington was
the last one standing.

In December of 1777

Washington and his troops arrive
at Valley Forge for the winter.

Washington had been told

there would be 8 months' worth
of food in storage.

In reality, there were
just 8 days' worth of supplies.

At Valley Forge,
Washington's troops suffer

from hunger, disease
and exposure.

2,500 soldiers die
by the end of the winter.

Valley Forge was indeed
the terrible winter.

Disease spread through the Army.

It's said that approximately
20% of the entire army

died of disease that winter.

The troops didn't have
adequate clothing to wear,

they were still wearing
their old summer uniforms.

They were down to just
a few barrels of flour.

They didn't have any meat,

and their suffering
was incredible.

Washington realizes
that the morale of his men

is part of that preservation.

He inspires his troops
by appealing to their emotions,

like he had before the crossing
of the Delaware.

He has Joseph Addison's play
Cato read to his troops.

It tells the story
of a selfless patriot

who holds to his belief
of liberty in the face of death.

A day, an hour,
of virtuous liberty...

is worth a whole eternity
in bondage.

What pity is it

that we can die but once
to serve our country.

Washington had a genius

for keeping the morale high
of his troops.

He knew just how far
a human spirit could go

and when they would need

a kind of a different type
of fellowship.

And he was able to provide that.

And Washington was
trying to remind them

that they were republicans,

that they believed in the idea
that people had the right

to elect their own leaders
and make their own laws.

That's a kind of an abstract
thought for an army

in the field of battle;

so he was trying to imbue it,

I guess the word would be
revolutionary fervor.

Part of that
revolutionary fervor came back

to the basic necessity
of a well-trained army.

In February of 1778,

an unemployed
Prussian army officer

arrives at Valley Forge

with a letter of introduction
from Benjamin Franklin.

He is Baron von Steuben,

and he is offering his military
skills to the cause.

When Baron von Steuben
arrived at Valley Forge,

he was very well trained
in European military tactics.

But it didn't take long

for von Steuben to realize
in his inspections

that these men really needed
some skill sets

to be a better fighting force.

When Benjamin Franklin
was in Paris,

he corresponded often
with Washington.

Occasionally they had
sort of a bit of run-ins

because Franklin
was always recruiting people

to come help Washington fight,

and Washington
wasn't sure he needed

all these commissioned officers

that would run into Ben Franklin
in the courts of Paris.

We get all sorts of people,

including Lafayette
and von Steuben,

but there are a few riffraff

that I think Ben Franklin
sent over.

And at one point,
Washington is saying, hey,

vet these people
a little bit more carefully.

Von Steuben
speaks little English.

His translators struggle
with his frequent expletives.

He trains Washington's men
into a professional army.

Fire!

First rank!

Within a couple of months,

you had a very confident
fighting force.

What's great about the story
of Valley Forge

is that it's an organic,
natural, true story.

A bedraggled, hungry,
starving, naked army

goes into Valley Forge;

but a confident, fearless
fighting force emerges.

Over and over again,
you see George Washington

looking for that right moment
to strike.

His army left Valley Forge,

he knew that the British
were evacuating Philadelphia,

and they converged
at the Battle of Monmouth.

I think at Monmouth
that was the first time

that Washington saw that
in a classical set battle

they would not lose;

not that they would win easily,

but the Continental Army
at least could hold its own

against regular British forces.

And though neither side
really won

the Battle of Monmouth,

the British realized they were
dealing with a different army

than they had been
prior to that point.

Washington is one of
the greatest military leaders

in American history
and in world history.

But most of the great generals
in world history end up losers--

Hannibal, Napoleon,
Robert E. Lee.

Washington was not tactically
a good general.

He does begin
to learn the lesson

that's going to be
so significant,

the strategic lesson,
not the tactical lesson,

the strategic lesson
that the British have to win;

all I have to do is not lose.

But it takes him a while.

This goes against every instinct
in his body.

He's a fighter.

Fire!

France enters the war
in 1778

on the side of the Americans,

convinced in part
by Ambassador Benjamin Franklin

and the Americans'
stunning victory

at the Battle of Saratoga.

The French Navy

and a young French aristocrat,
the Marquis de Lafayette,

finally help turn the tide

to an American victory
at Yorktown in 1781.

Everybody knew
George Washington wanted

to defeat the British
in New York

because he had been
so badly beaten

by the British there in 1776,

and the Marquis de Lafayette
wrote him a letter and said,

look, I know you really have
your eye on New York,

but I'm telling you,
the British General Cornwallis,

he's building up a fortification
here in York, Virginia--

I don't think
he's going anywhere.

Washington has a choice.

He can continue to pursue
his fixation on New York City,

or he can recognize
an opportunity.

Washington lets go of his pride.

Washington lets go
of his fixation.

That decision
that Washington makes,

decides the fate
of the United States of America.

Washington tricked
the British,

he made them think he was going
to attack in New York,

but instead
they surrounded Cornwallis

and defeated him
at the Battle of Yorktown,

the last major battle
of the war.

Washington
and his Continental Army

have won the War
for Independence.

Washington defeated
the British by outlasting them.

Plain and simple.

He defeated the
British Army by staying alive,

by keeping his troops moving,

by not giving in,
a war of attrition.

And we see pictures
of these guys

with bloodstained bandanas--

it's all true.

They're all starving to death.
They're not fed.

Those are the guys
that won the war.

And let us also
give credit where credit is due.

The French intervention
was crucial.

And one can almost say
it was not so much that we won,

it's that they lost.

Anytime an army
lands on foreign soil,

there's only a finite period
they have to win,

and we don't know
what that finite period is.

But it's usually predicated
on how much money they spend,

how many troops they lose,

and whether they have
a perception of winning

and bringing definite benefits
to the population back home.

But as two years
of peace talks drag on in Paris,

Washington's troops and officers
go without pay.

There are even rumors
of a military coup

unless Washington
is more forceful

in demanding funds
from Congress.

In the winter of 1782,

our army was encamped
in Newburgh, New York,

starving, unpaid--

not unlike the winter
at Valley Forge.

We know that Yorktown
is the last battle in the war.

They didn't know that.

Washington assumed the war
was going to continue.

The British still had
25,000 troops in country.

And the officer corps,

many of them decided to rebel.

At a gathering of
officers led by General Gates,

Washington makes
a surprise appearance.

He denounces
the threat of a coup

and implores the men to remember
the liberty they had fought for.

Washington drew
a speech out of a pocket,

looked at it, and then
did something unimaginable.

In his pocket, he also
pulled out his spectacles,

something a military man did not
wear in the 18th century.

I have grown gray
in the service of my country.

Now I find I am growing blind.

Reportedly some of
the officers in the room wept,

so moved by General Washington's
total commitment

and personal sacrifice
to his men and the cause.

What he had said
to all of his officers was

I am loyal to the last drop
of my blood to this Congress,

to this government,
to this republic--

and you should be, too.

And at that moment in the room,

you could almost have heard
the air going out of any plan

to threaten, intimidate,
or mutiny against Congress.

And in that one statement,
Washington did it all.

What a moment.

And what an extraordinary man
to be able to do that.

Seven years after
his retreat from Manhattan,

General George Washington rides
triumphantly back into the city.

Washington's liberation
of Manhattan in 1783

was really the capstone
of the Revolutionary War

and a moment of great relief
and exhilaration

by the American people.

It was so because
they had suffered so long

during the revolution.

And so when word finally came

that the British were relenting
and evacuating New York City,

the whole sky broke loose.

The people rejoiced.

The city went wild.

Fireworks were shot off
at night.

A week later,
at Fraunces Tavern,

his former New York
headquarters,

Washington says goodbye
to his officers.

It is with a heart
full of love and gratitude

that I take my leave of you.

We forget what a
sentimental man Washington was,

how close he was
especially to his men

with whom he'd fought
for so long.

We think of him as that
wax figure on the dollar bill,

but he was, he was very close
to these men,

and this was his chance
to say goodbye.

He raised a toast to them,

he raised a toast
to their future--

not his own, but their future.

And Washington,
choked with emotion, left.

In late December 1783,

Washington sets out on horseback
to Annapolis, Maryland,

where he will offer
his resignation

as Commander
of the Continental Army.

His travels take him
through many of the areas

where he had fought
the War of Independence.

Second rank!
Make ready!

These were
key sites of the war,

where the people
had felt the battles,

and they all looked
to Washington,

who had led battles
in those places,

as their liberator.

So, at every stop,
he was greeted with salutes,

with balls in the evening.

He loved to dance.

Every woman wanted
to dance with him,

and he made a point of staying
until each had a chance to.

It was step by step by step

through New Jersey,
Pennsylvania and Maryland--

a moment of triumph
for Washington,

but even more so a shared
triumph for the country.

December 23, 1783.

Washington arrives at Annapolis.

He is eager to return
to Mount Vernon by Christmas,

but is compelled to perform
one last act for his country.

At the end of the war,

Washington
could have become king,

but here at
the Maryland State House,

he resigns as commander-in-chief
of the Continental Army

and returns happily
to civilian life

at Mount Vernon.

This is another
beautiful moment

in American history.

In some ways,
it's choreographed.

Congress fully expected
Washington

to resign his commission.

That was one reason that
the delegates to Congress

don't get up
and applaud Washington,

because they want
to be careful to show

that they're not accepting
a favor from Washington,

but that Washington
is performing his duty

as an American.

I here offer my commission

and take my leave of all
the employments of public life.

No man has ever been
trusted more in American history

than Washington is trusted now.

Washington gives control
of the military

back to the people

and is hailed as a hero.

King George III
said the act made him

"the greatest man in the world."

Now, if you
think about it, see,

Julius Caesar didn't do this,
Oliver Cromwell didn't do this,

Napoleon's not going to do this.

National leaders
had often been military leaders.

Generals became presidents,
prime ministers,

despots, tyrants.

When Washington
handed over his sword

and resumed civilian life,

it signaled this country
was going to be different.

He resigns,
walks out the door,

gets on his horse and rides off.

It is almost--
almost fiction.

Like Cincinnatus,
the hero from antiquity

who put down his plow,
fought for his country,

and declined personal power,
Washington rides home.

He has no intention of ever
again serving in public life.

When he goes back
to Mount Vernon,

he never thinks he's leaving.

I want to stay here
and live out my days

under my vine and fig trees.

He feels he's done
what he said he would do.

And so
in the Continental mind,

Washington is a Cincinnatus
in the sense

that he didn't really ask
for the job,

he had a life before.

And after the crisis had passed,
he went back to his farm.

And it really resonated

because the natural inclination
of all people is...

is not to do that.

He arrives at Mount Vernon
as promised, on Christmas Eve.

After tending to Mount Vernon,

which had suffered
in his absence,

he ventures west
to the land he purchased

during
the French and Indian War.

Perhaps the most
significant event

of Washington's entire
retirement

was his trip to visit
his frontier properties.

Washington had always realized

that what made Americans
different was the frontier,

that in Europe people
were basically trapped

in their hometown.

The country was full,

they could basically be
what their parents had been.

What made America different
was the frontier,

the fact that Americans
with initiative and ambition

could always move west

and create a new life
for themselves.

He had, of course, covered
these territories as a youth,

alone on horseback,
as a surveyor.

And he loved those days.

Now he was going back

as the most famous person
in the world,

and America's leading celebrity.

And so he just wore his coat,

had a saddlebag
and his great horse.

He would try to find a settler's
home to stay with at night.

And could you imagine
the surprise of a person

living in a broken-down cabin
in the frontier

who hardly ever has any guests,

suddenly knock on the door
and you open the door,

and here is George Washington
standing there

asking for a place to stay.

But other nights, he would
literally sleep under the stars

or under a bush with only
his coat thrown over him.

And from reading his diary,

I think in his own way
he loved every minute of it.

And though he is
determined in his retirement,

he is persuaded to attend
the Constitutional Convention

in Philadelphia in 1787.

He didn't want to do it,
and they begged him

because they knew they needed
his gravitas

when he entered the room,
that he was the hero,

and with him in the room,
it might happen.

And, finally, he said,
"I'll do it,

but only if we succeed."

Washington is elected
as President of the Convention.

For the next three months,
in the hot Philadelphia summer,

he attends every session.

Washington understood

that the American experiment
in self-government

had depended on American success
in the Revolutionary War;

but that was just
achieving independence.

Now putting independence
into effect

required getting the new
government up and running.

America's first attempt
at a government of independence,

the Articles of Confederation,
had been a failure,

and that's why there was
a Constitutional Convention.

Our founders
understood the importance

of the document
they were designing.

It was a blueprint
for a system of government

that would create a country
unique in human history,

a great experiment
in human liberty.

There's something very deep

about understanding the people
who founded our country,

because they're the ones
who imprinted our DNA,

they're the ones who said
here are our values.

And we've become
the greatest republic

in the history of the earth,

and it's because of the values
that they imparted to us.

They also knew their
goal of "a more perfect union"

would be a constant work
in progress.

The framers
of the Constitution

understood that there were
some big holes

that were left in this charter.

The two most important were

what do we do about slavery
in a republic,

what do we do about the balance
between the states

and the federal government?

George Washington
changed over his lifetime

on the issue of slavery.

When he was a child,
his father died,

and he inherited slaves.

The revolution was
a transformative experience

for Washington.

He travels in the north,

he sees blacks fighting
in the Continental Army,

he's got Billy Lee
with him all that time,

his closest associate,

and he comes to realize
that slavery as an institution

is incompatible with the values

with which the American
Revolution is based on.

He has no problem with that.

But how do you end it?

The only way to end it he thinks
is by gradual emancipation.

He sits in
the Constitutional Convention

and listens and he understands

that if you raise the issue
of slavery frontally,

it means the end of the union.

Let's get the republic
established

before we raise this issue.

If he had, we wouldn't be here

because we wouldn't
have had a republic.

And he's the only one
of the Virginia dynasty

that frees his slaves
in his will.

After the convention,

Washington's long-time aide,
Alexander Hamilton,

along with James Madison
and John Jay,

help get the United States
Constitution ratified

through a brilliant series
of anonymously published essays,

known as the Federalist Papers.

And, per the new constitution,

a president, our first,
is elected.

The vote is unanimous.

Yes, he expected
to be named president;

that doesn't mean he wanted
to be president.

He wanted nothing better than
simply to return to Mount Vernon

and work on his farms.

He doesn't grasp for it.
He accepts it.

I would say that no
president in American history

did not want to be president
more than George Washington.

He didn't think
of the presidency

as a capstone to his career;

he thought of it as an epilogue.

And if he could have gotten out
of doing it, he would have.

The ride of Washington
from Mount Vernon

to New York City to Wall Street

where he gets sworn in
as president,

it's remarkable--

people pouring out
of the countryside

just to have a glimpse
of General Washington.

There he goes, that journey

was sort of the founding
of our country.

You can feel how strong

the institution of the president
was going to be

as a symbol for the nation
when Washington took that ride.

On April 30, 1789,
George Washington is sworn in

as President
of the United States

at Federal Hall
in New York City.

As our first president,

Washington realized
he was establishing precedents

for how future presidents
would govern,

including the appointment
of the first cabinet.

Washington understood
that in some ways

it was up to him
to define the presidency.

He understood
that the American people

would follow his example
for good or for ill.

The Constitution
was vague enough

on how the executive
should be organized.

So Washington put pillars
into the building.

He's the reason
why Washington, D.C.,

is located between Maryland
and Virginia.

That was
George Washington's desire.

And so the vision of having
this district

was really George Washington's
vision for the nation's capital

to be geographically
at the center of the 13 states.

The symbolism
of the presidential office

was also important.

John Adams suggested
that President Washington

be addressed as "your highness."

But Washington felt that
echoed of European royalty

and preferred "Mr. President."

Washington was aware
that there were those

who wanted the presidency

to be essentially a monarchy
in republican guise.

They were talking
of a presidency for life.

Washington serves
a four-year term

and reluctantly serves another,

when fighting between the newly
created Federalist Party,

led by Alexander Hamilton,

and Democratic Republican Party,
led by Thomas Jefferson,

threatens the future
of the country.

I, George Washington,
do solemnly swear.

I, George Washington,

do solemnly swear.

That I will faithfully...

But during
his eight years as president,

Washington shapes
the very institutions

that make us American.

He establishes
the United States Navy,

the State Department,
and the Supreme Court.

And his Treasury Secretary,

Alexander Hamilton,

creates a visionary system

enabling the new nation
to handle its debts

and establishes
a federal banking system.

I think Washington
surprised people perhaps

by his vision as president,

and he had a very powerful
economic vision.

He believes his role
is to remove barriers,

to create opportunities.

He saw himself in some ways
as a facilitator

for liberty, for prosperity,

which he felt
would naturally grow

if the American people
were given the opportunity.

After two terms as president,

to the surprise of many,

Washington once again
sets a precedent.

In Washington's
farewell address,

he refuses a third term
as president

and warns about the dangers
of factions or political parties

that put their own interests
ahead of the nation's.

Washington was representative

of the founding generation
in the sense

that the word "political party"
was an epithet.

They thought of parties

in the same way we think
of partisan lobbyists.

They distort the conversation,
the political conversation

in ways that are not
in the public interest.

In some ways,
the most important thing

that George Washington did was
to leave office after two terms.

Washington could have remained
in office as long as he wanted,

but by voluntarily
stepping down,

and this at a time

when the Constitution
did not require that.

He said two is enough,
and this set a precedent

for presidents right down
to the 20th century.

Washington also stresses

the importance of religion
and morality.

He writes, "Of all
the dispositions and habits

that lead
to political prosperity,

religion and morality
are indispensable supports."

And Washington helps
to establish the American view

of religious tolerance...

in a short
but enormously impactful letter

to the Jewish congregation
at Newport, Rhode Island.

Washington writes,

"May the children
of the stock of Abraham

who dwell in this land

continue to merit
and enjoy the good will

of the other inhabitants."

Washington was a man
who was profoundly convinced

of the virtue
of religious tolerance.

Because it is
religious tolerance

which makes for peace,
and peace is what he wanted.

He promotes tolerance,
but yet he also sees

that religion has
a major role to play

in the lives of Americans,

because what, after all,
holds together a republic?

A monarchy is held together
by corruption and patronage.

But a republic
is held together by virtue.

Where is virtue to come from?

He could find virtue arising
really only from one source,

and that was from religion.

Washington spent
the last years of his life

here, at his beloved
Mount Vernon.

He rose early each morning

to actively manage
every aspect of his farm.

During the daytime
he was helping to create

innovative ways of farming,

including new methods
of crop rotation.

In the evening,

he and Martha entertained
an endless stream of visitors.

On the morning
of December 12, 1799,

Washington goes out for his
daily ride to inspect his farms.

It is freezing and raining.

It will be his last ride
at Mount Vernon.

Washington arrives home
five hours later

and finds visitors.

Not wanting
to keep them waiting,

he decides against changing
out of his wet clothing.

That night Washington falls ill.

His throat swells with infection

and he begins
a three-day process

of suffocating to death.

He couldn't breathe,
he was choking,

he had been bled repeatedly
by his doctors.

He had done one thing, however.

He had prepared two wills,

and he asked that those wills
be brought to him.

And he looked at them,
and he tore up one.

We don't know what it says,
but he tore up one,

and he said this was the one.

This was the one
that freed his slaves,

this is the one that went down
to posterity.

Then in the end, he said,
"'Tis well," and died.

Washington dies
on December 14, 1799, at age 67.

A funeral is held at
Mount Vernon four days later,

and memorial services are held

in many cities
throughout the nation.

Washington's trusted friend
Alexander Hamilton

helps stage some
of these tributes.

Hamilton writes, Washington was

"a character unrivaled
on the list of true glory."

In Philadelphia,
church bells toll,

alongside cannon
and gunfire salutes.

Thousands of Americans wear
mourning clothes for months.

In France, Napoleon orders
a funeral oration.

In England,
flags of the English fleet

are lowered to half mast.

Back at Mount Vernon,
to protect their privacy,

Martha Washington burns
almost all of the letters

the couple had exchanged
over the years.

Their innermost thoughts
during the War for Independence

and creation of the country
are lost to us,

but Washington's legacy remains:

that of citizenship, sacrifice,
honor, and integrity.

After his death,

Americans marveled
at Washington's dedication

to creating and preserving
our republic.

In his eulogy he was remembered

as "first in war,
first in peace,

and first in the hearts
of his countrymen."

More than
any other person,

George Washington enabled us
to better understand who we are

as a people and a nation.

He remains the greatest figure
in American history.

This is what Americans
need to understand,

to go back to the beginning.

The statue was a living,
breathing human being

who went through all
of these incredible sacrifices

and experiences, dangers,
and succeeded.

Fire that weapon!

There are two founding
moments in American history--

when we declare our independence

and when we declare
our nationhood--

Washington is the central figure
in both of those moments.

In further support
of this declaration...

He is more important for us

in the 21st century
as an example

than he was perhaps at any time
since he was alive.

I think Americans need him now
as a unifying force

of what it means to serve,

what it means to sacrifice
for the nation.

If you don't understand
George Washington,

you don't understand
what's important about America.

And nowadays,
I don't think children

are being taught in schools
the original founding history.

It is Washington
more than anybody else--

more than Jefferson,
more than Franklin,

more than Adams,
more than any of the others--

who makes
the American experiment,

as he called it, a success.

And without him,
it is simply incomprehensible

to think of the United States

surviving more than a decade
or two decades

in the environment
in which it was born.

He's the father
of our country

because at a time when we were
being torn apart

and we needed to be led,

he held us together with
his rectitude and his honor.

It's easy to be smart,
it's easy to be clever,

but what's important
is to be wise,

and that's what you found
in George Washington.