Flash from the Past: "He regarded his education as defective..."

He "regarded his education as defective"(his formal education ended at age 15), but he was determined to improve himself through reading and independent study. He would become the quintessential self-made man, inventor, land surveyor and speculator, businessman, soldier, farmer, writer, politician, and President.

This Flash from the Past lost his father at age 11, but was guided by his older brother to be a land surveyor (he surveyed his brother's turnip garden below - and added, "Survey'd by me").



As a teen, he had trouble with his temper leading a family friend to bemoan, "I wish that I could say that he governs his temper. He is subject to attacks of anger and provocation, sometimes without just cause."

At some point in his late teens, though, he began a campaign of self-improvement, read biographies and histories voraciously, and tried to tutor himself in good manners and a consistent habit of discipline that would train him to hold his temper. He was ambitious, but preferred to "let my designs appear from my works than my expression," and applied himself to doing.

Who was this? This was our first Executive-in-Chief, Founding Father George Washington.

We got hooked on learning more about GW since visiting Mount Vernon for the first time this spring. Washington was a tweaker and a genius at management - whether it was inspiring his ragtag army, orchestrating the cooperation of some very difficult personalities in his government, or running his grand estate. He was inspired by the Stoics, and his later command of his outward character would be important in establishing his new country's credibility. He had a vision for our country, and he would inspire generations to come. He was so valuable in dire times because, as David McCullough put it, he had a genius for seeing things as they were, and not as what he wished them to be.

There are more details than we can list about GW, his excellent but clearly micromanaging of Mount Vernon(experimentation with different fertilizers, crop rotation, farm implements and 16-sided threshing barn), numerous architectural tweaks (including faux stone exterior and wood stain), and of course his management of such talented but complex people as Adams, Hamilton, Jefferson, and Madison.

Last year after we visited Mount Vernon, I got hooked on learning more about Washington, enjoying both McCullough's 1776 and the Novaks' Washington's God. For an online article by the Novaks, check out What Washington Saw in God at USA Today.

Mount Vernon: George Washington
George Washington's Rule Book of Civility
George Washington: Farmer