The Life of George Washington, Vol. 5: Commander in Chief of the American Forces During the War: Which Established the Independence of His Country and First: President of the United States

Volume Five of John Marshall's monumental biography concentrates on George Washington's second presidential term, a period when the young American republic stood at the precipice of European conflict. The nation faced an impossible dilemma: Revolutionary France demanded repayment of revolutionary debts and American support, while Britain threatened maritime aggression against American shipping. Marshall, who served alongside Washington and would later become Chief Justice, provides a first-hand account of the Genet Affair, where the charismatic French diplomat Edmond Genet attempted to rally American support for France's war effort directly from American soil. The volume also reveals the bitter factionalism within Washington's own cabinet, as Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton clashed over the nation's fundamental direction, forcing Washington to arbitrate between competing visions of American identity. Marshall's account is invaluable precisely because he writes as a participant in these events, not as a later historian imagining them. This volume endures because it captures the moment when Washington established the principle of American neutrality in European wars, a policy that would constrain American foreign relations for generations.