Summary
Washington spent his years as a planter trying to gain
economic independence from the London merchants who bought his
crops. Like many colonists, he grew frustrated at what he and many
other colonists saw as unfair laws. In the 1760s, the colonists
repeatedly clashed with the British Parliament over questions of
taxation and trade. The British government had racked up a massive
debt during the French and Indian War. Since American colonists
had benefited from the British victory in this war, Parliament
believed it only fair that Americans help pay for the effort. But
Americans have never liked paying taxes and have never shied from
using the language of rights to justify not paying. Parliament,
for its part, never took American grievances very seriously. In
the space of one decade, the 1760s, these grievances grew from
grumbles about taxes to a strong desire for independence.
A series of Parliamentary laws goaded the colonists to
increasing levels of anger: the 1765 Stamp Act led to boycotts
and protests; the Townshend Acts of 1767 resulted in a movement
to stop importing British goods. Washington was a leader in this
movement. In retaliation, British troops occupied Boston. An unfortunate
skirmish between colonists and British troops, portrayed by Samuel Adams and
other rebels as the Boston Massacre, brought further opposition
to heavy-handed British policies. Continuing disobedience in Boston
led Parliament to pass the Coercive Acts, which completely closed
Boston harbor in an attempt to cut off the Boston rebels from the
rest of the colonies. On April 19, 1775, the Battles of Lexington and
Concord broke out when British troops tried to seize a rebel stockpile
of weapons. This began the Revolutionary
War.
Washington watched these developments with fear. He would lose
a lot if a rebellion took place. In 1758 the idea of rebelling against
Britain was unthinkable to him, as it was to most colonists. Yet
he was also angry at Britain for having been denied a commission
in the British Army and humiliated by the army's lack of respect
for the Virginia militia. Like many colonists, he was hurt financially
by the effects of the Stamp Act and Townshend Acts. He believed,
like many of his contemporaries, that he and his fellow Americans
were being taxed without representation.
Washington vigorously joined the non-importation movement and
presided over a meeting in 1774 at the Fairfax County Court House.
The delegates affirmed Americans' right to govern themselves and
threatened to rebel if Britain would not respect this right. Later
that year Washington attended the First Continental Congress in
Philadelphia, where representatives of the different colonies tried
to agree on a common response to Britain. Washington impressed
his fellow delegates; his fame as a military leader had spread beyond
the borders of Virginia. By the time the Second Continental Congress
was held in 1775, Parliament had declared Massachusetts to officially
be in revolt. War seemed certain. Washington, who had attended
the meeting in his militia uniform, was elected supreme commander
of the Continental Army–this was to be the American army. Though
convinced that the colonies were justified in rebelling, Washington
doubted his own ability to lead, but despite his fears he accepted
the job.
Analysis
The Revolutionary
War is now so far in the past that it is difficult
for us to imagine what was at stake for the people who fought it.
The colonists saw themselves as British. Even the fierce rebels
like Samuel Adams believed they were standing up for the rights
traditionally belonging to British subjects. They wanted a different
economic relationship with Britain–they didn't necessarily want
independence.
George Washington didn't want independence either, at
least not at first. He was connected to British merchants by trade.
He was connected to the British Army by loyalty. Yet he saw himself
as American, and became convinced that the British
did not respect Americans. He saw evidence for this in the way
Parliament taxed Americans without any regard for how it would hurt
their livelihoods. He also saw it in the way he and other members
of his social group were treated by the British. He never forgave
the British Army for denying him a commission simply because he
came from a colony. Washington was officially a British subject
but was treated like a second-class citizen in his own land by
people who commanded him from across an ocean. This hurt his pride.
For Washington, the struggle against Britain was not simply a dispute
over taxes; it was a struggle for an American identity. While men
like Thomas
Jefferson and John Adams saw the rebellion in political
terms, Washington saw it in largely personal terms. Later, as president,
he would see leadership in the same way.
