Quotes About Washington

Any writing teacher tells you to write what you know, and for better or for worse, Washington is a world I know well.

It is no secret that Washington, D.C., is a tempest of people and institutions relentlessly seeking power over the lives of everyday Americans.

History buffs probably noted the reunion at a Washington party a few weeks ago of three ex-presidents Carter, Ford and Nixon-See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Evil.

Regardless of how earnestly bankers trumpeted the virtues of laissez-faire, in times of unrest markets looked to Washington to provide stability.

Washington quibbled with Hamilton on one or two points but otherwise stood in perfect agreement. His letter to Hamilton again corroborates what the Jeffersonians found difficult to credit: that Washington never shied away from differing with the redoubtable Hamilton but agreed with him on the vast majority of issues.

Both as a matter of temperament and policy, Washington was taciturn, once advising his adopted grandson, "It is best to be silent, for there is nothing more certain than that it is at all times more easy to make enemies than friends.

For Washington, parties weren't so much expressions of popular politics as their negation, denying the true will of the people as expressed through their chosen representatives.

The unflappable Washington then continued with the session as if nothing had happened. It was a classic performance: he exercised the greatest self-control when roiled by the most unruly emotions.

For Hamilton, the Jay Treaty victory represented the culmination of his work with Washington. By settling all outstanding issues left over from the Revolution, the treaty removed the last impediments to improved relations with England and promised sustained prosperity.

This was a powerful argument for Washington, who had gone to Philadelphia feeling that the war would be incomplete without a new Constitution; now, he knew, the Constitution would be incomplete without an effective new government.

Lafayette showed a courtier's love of compliments, was a master of flattery, and liked to hug people in the French manner. Perhaps Washington doted on the young man because he dared to express emotions that he himself stifled, thawing his frosty reserve and opening an outlet for his suppressed emotions.

People did not always realize how observant he was. "His eyes retire inward . . . and have nothing of fire or animation or openness in their expression," said Edward Thornton, a young British diplomat, who added that Washington "possesses the two great requisites of a statesman, the faculty of concealing his own sentiments, and of discovering those of other men.

Washington's hair was reddish brown, and contrary to a common belief, he never wore a wig. The illusion that he did so derived from the powder that he sprinkled on his hair with a puffball in later life.

As a West Point graduate, Grant had enjoyed an insider's knowledge of military personnel during the war, but as a Washington outsider, he needed the valuable advice of seasoned professionals about appointments.

Washington has suffered from comparisons with other founders, several of whom were renowned autodidacts, but by any ordinary standard, he was an exceedingly smart man with a quick ability to grasp

A whirlwind of energy, Madison would seem omnipresent in the early days of Washington's administration. He drafted not only the inaugural address but also the official response by Congress and then Washington's response to Congress, completing the circle.

In closing, Washington referred to the character of Jesus, "the Divine author of our blessed religion.

When Grant made Edward S. Salomon governor of the Washington Territory, it was the first time an American Jew had occupied a gubernatorial post. (When Salomon proved corrupt, Grant handled his case leniently, letting him resign.) Elated at this appointment, Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise said it showed "that President Grant has revoked General Grant's notorious order No. 11.

Few First Ladies—and the name wasn't yet commonly used—have so reveled in the White House or developed such a proprietary feeling about it. "Eight happy years I spent there—so happy!" Julia would reminisce. "It still seems as much like home to me as the old farm in Missouri, White Haven.

How this seemingly dull, phlegmatic man, in a stupendous act of nation building, presided over the victorious Continental Army and forged the office of the presidency is a mystery to most Americans. Something essential about Washington has been lost to posterity, making him seem a worthy but plodding man who somehow stumbled into greatness.

Washington initially oversaw a larger staff of slaves and servants at Mount Vernon than he did as president of the United States—but the new government quickly overshadowed his estate in size.

In addition to his better-known title of Father of His Country, Washington is also revered in certain circles as the Father of the American Mule.

It did not occur to these tourists that Washington felt burdened by uninvited visitors gaping at him, particularly since he wasn't a backslapping soul who feigned friendship with total strangers. His modesty disappointed those who expected him to narrate the wartime drama especially for them.

Democratic army would stage a military raid on Washington and declare Tilden the winner. To guard against this menace, Grant and Sherman redeployed troops from the interior to Washington and secured the federal arsenal along with three critical bridges leading to the capital.