George Washington was an 'illiterate LIAR who cheated his way to the top, wore dentures made from hippo ivory, and beat his slaves', new biography claims

UK Daily Mail ^ | February 16, 2020 | Frances Mulraney

[C19fan]

George Washington was a 'liar' who the other Founding Fathers couldn't wait to see the back of, claims a new biography on The Father of his Country. Buying teeth from his slaves at a third of the market price, refusing to free them, and causing conflict that eventually led the the start of 'humanity's first world war' are among the many ethical and moral missteps the country's first president made, claims new book 'You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington' by historian Alexis Coe. The book was released this Presidents' Day weekend, coinciding with the broadcast of the History Channel's new three-part series 'Washington', on which Coe was also a consulting producer.

[Redwood71]

“Jefferson freed ten slaves, five while alive, five in his will.”

He did, and the family of Hemings were part of those. But Sally Hemings was never officially freed. After Jefferson’s death, she was allowed to live in Charlottesville in unofficial freedom with her two sons, Madison and Eston, who were granted freedom in Jefferson’s will.

Sally Hemings was able to negotiate with her owner. In Paris, where she was free, the 16-year-old agreed to return to enslavement at Monticello in exchange for “extraordinary privileges” for herself and freedom for her unborn children. Over the next 32 years Hemings raised four children—Beverly, Harriet, Madison, and Eston—and prepared them for their eventual emancipation. She did not negotiate for, or ever receive, legal freedom in Virginia.

https://www.monticello.org/sallyhemings/

So she was able, while in Paris where she was free, to get the assistance for her future children and returned to slavery by choice, or deal, in the US. Lot of twists and turns.

rwood

[Redwood71]

“....but only the one made with hippopotamus ivory allowed him to chew comfortably.”

I can see by this why John Holiday turned to cards. No money in hippo teeth.

rwood

[PBRCat]

I doubt that the stupid book will achieve that aim. Coe is simply an agent provocateur posing as a historian. Since she cannot write a decent book that be accepted for publication, she has chosen to create a controversy predicated upon a series of lies in order to boost sales of her puerile volume.

One of the best books on Washington that I ever read was “George Washington: Man and Monument” by Marcus Cunliffe. This British historian got it right. Americans can thank Divine Providence that the Continental Congress had Washington as the leader of its army.

[GreyFriar]

And he wrote his “Rules of Civility” which we should all strive to follow:

https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/rules-of-civility

[max americana]

Thanks. I fell asleep when I watched it. I wish it was the Lincoln from Mad TV 😉

[Grampa Dave]

UK Daily Mail? Are the Limeys still sore about that Yorktown thingy?

Actually, they are still sore about the Lexington event!

What happened when the Brits try to take away our guns the first time at Lexington 0n 19 April, 1775?

Thomas Jefferson, “I enclose you a list of the killed, wounded, and captives of the enemy from the commencement of hostilities at Lexington in April, 1775, until November, 1777, since which there has been no event of any consequence …

I think that upon the whole it has been about one half the number lost by them, in some instances more, but in others less. This difference is ascribed to our superiority in taking aim when we fire; every soldier in our army having been intimate with his gun from his infancy.” - Thomas Jefferson, letter to Giovanni Fabbroni, June 8, 1778

[LibertarianLiz]

Note to the History Channel: Bet the ratings suck for your three night special...

I was actually looking forward to seeing this; now, I'm thinking I shouldn't even try to watch it if this is the guy who is behind the "history".

[Lopeover]

Thanks.

[rebel25]

The law barring criticism of the government Washington signed.

[colorado tanker]

causing conflict that eventually led the the start of 'humanity's first world war'

I guess somebody forgot to tell Frederick the Great?

[dsc]

“That’s why the Left works hard at destroying all evidence they can that puts their people in bad light.”

Which is, essentially, all evidence of everything.

Quite a task.

[MoochPooch]

a freed slave had to leave the state and she would have been homeless and living in very unsafe conditions.

Probably the reason Washington was reluctant to free his slaves.

[Redwood71]

“Probably the reason Washington was reluctant to free his slaves.”

And it was possible he kept them for worth. In the early days of the nation, the voting in the federal government was based upon the population of the area the voting member was in. The southern representatives used slaves as part of the count from all the places they were around them so the population was extremely high for them to be represented by additional voting members to increase the count for what the south would want. It didn’t make any difference that the black slaves had no say in anything concerning what they were used for in this case, but it still had a head count.

That policy went into the Constitution making blacks 3/5 of a person so the southern representatives couldn’t totally stack the votes. It still added on to the votes, but not by as wide a margin and the entire amount wasn’t erased until slavery was abolished by the 13th amendment in 1865. So the amount of slaves was an important part of the representation of the decisions in the federal government. Hence, it is possible a lot of the framers were keeping slaves after the revolutionary war to try to balance the government representation.

rwood

[nicollo]

George is in my family tree and I consider this a blood libel.

Heh, cuz!

(kinda, as I'm via the Custis line)

[nicollo]

Insofar as Washington had anything to do with sparking the Seven Years War, that’d be divine intervention, as without that war the American Revolution would not have happened.

[bob_esb]

just looked the author up on google ...

She has had stories published on wp.com, cnn.com etc. So the usual bashing ...

[Pelham]

ping

[dfwgator]

They will eventually try to expunge Washington from our history, even renaming Washington DC.

[Salamander]

Trumptopia would be good.

[Revolutionary]

An item that most Americans don’t know about Washington: He didn’t just come out of the blue to take command of the Continental Army. He was a big hero in the the French and Indian war. The indians feared him. In a major encounter, he took over leadership and had many bullet holes through his uniform jacket, but no wounds.