George Washington: a re-evaluation of the man who became a rebel

Why did George Washington become a rebel? In 1775 he was an apparently wealthy forty-three year old southern plantation owner when he decided to lead the fight against the representatives of the most powerful empire in the world. While many of his peers hesitated, what drove Washington to act in so provocative and precipitous a manner? In the more than two centuries since the outbreak of the American Revolution the motivation of the revolutionaries has been reviewed, revised and debated. However, Washington has largely remained outside this analysis and his motivation has been only lightly examined, limited by a tendency towards hagiography. In comparison to the Revolutionary period and his Presidential terms, Washington’s pre-revolutionary years have been relatively neglected. The relative lack of analysis of his motivation is in contrast to that of other American revolutionaries (and even other Founding Fathers and Presidents). This thesis re-evaluates the motivations of the man who became a rebel. He will be located within his specific historic milieu and the context examined for insights into the development of his values and attitudes. His particular individual experiences will be reviewed to ascertain the seminal influences of his youth and the extent to which his attitudes and experiences were typical of his peers. The re-evaluation will seek to gain an understanding of the priorities of the pre-revolutionary Washington through a close examination of his attitude and actions as revealed in his diaries, correspondence and financial records. I will contend that George Washington was a complex and ambitious figure and that a commitment to patriotic ideology alone is insufficient to explain his actions and his decision to become a rebel. Rather, he was significantly motivated by self-interest and in particular by a desire to secure the title to a large quantity of western land. His passion for land was a longstanding one and his pursuit of it had been a prominent characteristic of his pre-revolutionary life, exceptional even when judged by the land-hungry standards of colonial Virginia. It was when the British government threatened Washington’s land claims in the Ohio Valley that he aligned with those who opposed British rule. Joining the rebellion offered Washington his best chance to counter the British threat and secure the land. He rebelled, therefore, in large part because the continuation of British rule threatened his financial and social position. He felt he had no choice but to go to war and create a new country in which his desires could be fulfilled. Incorporating this factor into our narrative of Washington forces us to reconsider both the complexity of this leading figure in American history as well as the range of motivations that led him and others to take up the Revolutionary cause.