Summary
Though Washington had accumulated many enemies over his
eight years as president, when he retired all was forgotten. People
hailed him as a hero. He attended the inauguration of the new president, John
Adams, in a simple black coat. He sat in the corner. Adams was
dressed splendidly, ready to take office, but no one seemed too interested
in Adams: all eyes were on Washington.
Washington returned home to Mount Vernon to find, again,
that it had declined in his absence. He went to work trying to
fix it up, and quickly made it profitable again. Yet he lacked
the energy he used to have. He also seemed to lose some of his
judgment; where he had always been polite and gentlemanly before,
he now sometimes became violently angry. He realized that his mind
was deteriorating.
President Adams was soon faced with an emergency: war
with France seemed imminent. Congress passed a resolution to raise
an army. There was no question as to who would lead it. Washington reluctantly
took command. Soon, however, he fell to bickering with Adams over
who would be his generals. His behavior was erratic. Fortunately
the threat of war passed, and before Washington had a chance to
make a bigger fool out of himself the army disbanded.
In his final days, Washington was lonely. Martha was ill
and could not provide much company. Many of his best friends were dead
or had turned on him. He sensed the end was near. It came on December
12, 1799. Washington had been out riding in poor weather and returned
feeling ill. Soon he was bedridden. His doctors bled him, a practice
common at the time, which only made him weaker. On December 14,
he died.
The entire nation mourned. The new country had never seen such
an outpouring of grief. Nearly every one of Washington's former
enemies came forward to affirm the man's greatness. Henry Lee,
a fellow Virginia planter, spoke the words at Washington's funeral
that have since become famous. Washington, he said, was "first
in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."
Even in death Washington managed to be extraordinary.
In his will, he ordered that his slaves be freed and commanded
that elderly slaves receive a pension from his estate. The children
were to be educated in local schools. This was radical: the whole
economy and society of the south depended on slavery. Famous patriots
such as Jefferson and Madison talked loudly of freedom while owning
slaves, but none of these men freed their slaves in life or
death–only Washington.
