Washington in Domestic Life. from Original Letters and Manuscripts

For nearly two centuries, Americans have monumentalized Washington - the commander, the president, the reluctant father of his country. This book demolishes that marble stillness. Richard Rush gathered Washington's private letters to his longtime secretary, Tobias Lear, revealing a man obsessed with the quality of his table linens, anxious about his wife's health, concerned about his children's education, and meticulous in managing his Virginia estates from the temporary capital. These are not the measured pronouncements of a statue. They are the unguarded letters of a husband, father, and householder trying to run a household, raise a family, and preside over a young nation all at once. The correspondence spans Washington's presidential years, tracking his move from New York to Philadelphia, and it shows how even the most public of men conducted an intensely private life. You'll see him worry about servants, debate window treatments with his architect, and write tender notes about Martha's wellbeing - the same hands that signed bills into law once held a pen to ask if the new carriage had arrived safely.