George Washington
Books
- The Officers at Newburgh George Washington, the Newburgh Conspiracy, and the Crisis That Forged the American Republic · Liszt Think
In March 1783, peace had been signed but the Continental Army remained unpaid and restless at Newburgh. Two anonymous addresses circulated through camp, urging officers to defy Congress and march on Philadelphia.
- The Unpaid Army at Newburgh…sprawled across a plateau overlooking the river, a temporary city of log huts and dirt paths that had become permanent by default. General George Washington had established his headquarters there in April 1782, taking up residence in the stone farmhouse of the Hasbrouck family. It was his longes…
- The Nationalist Gambit in PhiladelphiaThe letter from Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, dated February 13, 1783, arrived in Newburgh at a moment when patience had worn to its final threads. Hamilton had written it the same day…
- The Pen of John Armstrong Jr.…England, he had served in the British Army before casting his lot with the American cause. His victory at Saratoga had made him a rival to George Washington, and the so-called Conway Cabal—a shadowy attempt by some officers and politicians to replace Washington with Gates—had left a residue of d…
- The Summer the Capital Emptied Yellow Fever, Race, and the Collapse of Philadelphia in 1793 · Liszt Think
In August 1793, yellow fever struck Philadelphia, then the nation’s capital. Within weeks, George Washington fled and half the city followed. Five thousand died before the first frost. Amid the exodus, Dr.
- The Nation’s New Seat of Government…of Congress, Supreme Court justices, and the officers of the executive departments arrived in waves, seeking quarters near the State House. George Washington, re-elected to a second term in March 1793, occupied a house on Market Street, a block from the seat of the legislature. His cabinet secret…
- A Philosophy of the Blood and the Bile…overnment, still headquartered in Philadelphia, had no authority to intervene. The Constitution said nothing about public health. President George Washington was in Virginia for the summer, and his cabinet was scattered. The republic had no mechanism for dealing with plague. It would have to impr…
- The Coffee-House Exchange and the Waterfront Stench…zed into distinct but permeable zones. At the top sat the federal government, still finding its footing in its Philadelphia home. President George Washington occupied a rented house on Market Street. Congress was not in session, which meant that the political class had dispersed—some to their hom…