OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE AMERICAN FORCES, DURING THE WAR WHICH ESTABLISHED THE INDEPENDENCE OF HIS COUNTRY, AND FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. COMPILED UNDER THE INSPECTION OF THE HONOURABLE BUSHROD WASHINGTON, From Original Papers BEQUEATHED TO HIM BY HIS DECEASED RELATIVE BY JOHN MARSHALL. SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND CORRECTED BY THE AUTHOR. Entered according to act of congress, in the year eighteen hundred and thirty-one, by Carey & Lea, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. STEREOTYPED BY J. CRISSY AND G. GOODMAN, NEW AORK PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. THE author persuades himself that no apology will be required for offering to his fellow-citizens a revised edition of the Life of General WASHINGTON. The period during which he lived, and acted a conspicuous part in American affairs, was the most interesting of American history. The war of our revolution, the very instructive interval between its termination and the adoption of our present constitution, the organization of the new government, and the principles which were developed in its first operation, form great epochs, claiming the attention not only of every statesman, but of every American unwilling to remain ignorant of the history of his country, and the character of his countrymen. The transactions of this period constitute the subject of the following pages. In compiling them, the Author has relied chiefly on the manuscript papers of General Washington. These have supplied the requisite information respecting all facts immediately connected with himself. But as many occurrences are unavoidably introduced in which he acted no direct part, it has been drawn occasionally from other sources. The history of General Washington, from the time of his appointment to the command of the American armies, is the history of his country. Yet the peculiar character of biography seemed to require that his private opinions, and his various plans, whether carried into execution or neglected, should be given more in detail than might be deemed proper in a general history. Copious extracts have, therefore, been made from his correspondence. Many political events, too, especially during the war, while his particular duties were of a military character, seem less appro |