Founding Father, Entrepreneur - The overlooked business career of George Washington

Reason ^ | February 12, 2009 | John Berlau

[neverdem]

Ping

[Sherman Logan]

he worked tirelessly the last few years of his like to free all of his slaves upon his and Martha's death, and also to make provisions for their education and for the support of the former slave children and elderly.

To be contrasted rather dramatically with Jefferson, who lived lavishly all his life, incurred great debts, and had most of his slaves sold after his death to pay them.

[kalee]

thanks for posting

[Deo volente]

The poor man is probably rolling in his grave at the disaster which has befallen his beloved country.

[Honcho]

Washington's first step towards becoming an entrepreneur was to abandon the most common cash crop of his native Virginia, the now-dreaded tobacco. It wasn't for health reasons that Washington stopped planting it. It was because of taxes and duties that reduced his profits and the fact that the tobacco crop was depleting Mount Vernon's soil. As Pogue writes, "By 1766 the disappointingly low prices that he was receiving in return for his tobacco harvest convinced Washington that he would be better off...producing other commodities that had a more dependable payoff."


It makes one wonder what Washington would have thought of all the restrictions on businesses of today.

[Cindy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2136635/posts
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Note: This thread is updated on a regular basis.

[ValerieTexas]

The mill produced about 278,000 pounds of flower per year,

spellcheck failure

[ValerieTexas]

The mill produced about 278,000 pounds of flower per year,

spellcheck failure

[SmallGovRepub]

I don’t know. He was one of the only presidents to actually lead troops in battle while he was a sitting president, and it was against our own citizens who were rebelling against a distilled spirits tax during the Whiskey Rebellion. The whiskey tax was a lot higher per gallon for small producers than it was for larger producers. Farmers back then commonly converted their grain that they couldn’t sell into distilled spirits or it would just spoil. When Washington opened his distillery, it was one of the largest in the country, so he paid much lower taxes than the little guys.

[Jubal Madison]

True. Our Founding Fathers were human, they all had faults. But what are the odds of getting such a great group of minds together? To my knowledge, very slim, I believe there was Divine intervention. Think about it, perhaps you will come to the same conclusion as I, we had better love and protect this Republic. It took a long time for history to produce an America, if we lose it, it may be a long time before we see another.

[SmallGovRepub]

“Whereas Franklin built gadgets at his homestead, and Jefferson built fancy buildings, Washington built was a series of integrated businesses.”

Franklin built a publishing empire. Aside from all of the writings he published, he published works for others as well. He had a huge “chain” of print shops. He was a man of modest means who became very wealthy as an entrepreneur. He didn't just build gadgets. Although it is true that he was an accomplished inventor, inventing things like the lightening rod, bifocals, the flexible catheter and many other things. He did some important scientific work with electricity. The guy was just amazing. It is an insult to infer that all he did was build gadgets at home.

[SmallGovRepub]

“True. Our Founding Fathers were human, they all had faults.”

Jefferson was elected to a second term even though it became common knowledge that he was having “relations” with one of his slave women. Most of these guys drank like fish, whored around. Ah, the good old days.

[neverdem]

It’s a synonymcheck failure. I wonder if any synonymchecks have been attempted?

[Pharmboy]

Thanks for the post and ping! I am off to dinner now with my lady, but will ping the list when I get back...most excellent!

Your Obdt. Svt.,
P_____y

[Sherman Logan]

If you take Founding Fathers to mean those who wrote the Constitution, Jefferson isn’t among them. He was ambassador to France at the time.

Obviously very important in the D of I and otherwise, but I find him quite egocentric and unsympathetic compared to Washington.

[sinanju]

“Franklin built a publishing empire. Aside from all of the writings he published, he published works for others as well. He had a huge “chain” of print shops. He was a man of modest means who became very wealthy as an entrepreneur. He didn’t just build gadgets. Although it is true that he was an accomplished inventor, inventing things like the lightening rod, bifocals, the flexible catheter and many other things. He did some important scientific work with electricity. The guy was just amazing. It is an insult to infer that all he did was build gadgets at home.”

_______________________________________________________________________________________-

Exactly. After Franklin made himself independently wealthy with his publishing business, he was happy not to patent his inventions but bequeath them to the public for anyone to make use of.

Exalting one’s personal hero does not require demeaning everyone else. The Founders would have pointed this out.

[sinanju]

“True. Our Founding Fathers were human, they all had faults. But what are the odds of getting such a great group of minds together? To my knowledge, very slim, I believe there was Divine intervention. Think about it, perhaps you will come to the same conclusion as I, we had better love and protect this Republic. It took a long time for history to produce an America, if we lose it, it may be a long time before we see another.”

__________________________________________________________________________________________—

Nothing divine about it, like Washington, the Founders were the smartest, most ambitious men in the Colonies who realized that Britain’s strangling imperial ties had to be severed if the country was to be a place to fully realize their dreams, so they got involved in a cause, organized a movement, fought a war and spent a few years in public service. Nowadays, the best and the brightest are repelled by ugliness and indignities of seeking elective office and only the most venal and power-hungry individuals who can’t make it in the business world but have the gift of gab are attracted to the political class.

This is why conservatives have a recruiting problem and liberals do not.

[Pharmboy]

Thanks sinanju and neverdem for the ping, and neverdem for finding and posting this terrific article.

I thought this pic on the front page of today's Washington Post was appropriate. The General looks over the rabble that are conspiring to ruin this country...a country that he and so many others have sacrificed for. I thought it was quite relevant re the article in the post which shows his entrepreneur's spirit in contrast to the big gummint spending and takeover of the economy.

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