Inventing George Washington Book Essay Analysis

Edward G. Lengel’s novel, “Inventing George Washington” is a biography based on how George Washington was portrayed and viewed by others throughout his lifetime and the legacy he left behind. Lengel is an author and historian, who has won many awards for multiple writings. In his novel, he shares the many different beliefs people have of George Washington. With so many made up books about him and forged letters, people may never know the real Washington.

Throughout the history of America, Washington has been changed to fit people’s agenda at the time. Lengel describes how after Washington's death, people exploited his personal love-life, used him for their own financial gain, and used him for religious purposes. Being in the public eye, everything Washington did was scrutinized. This is no exception when it came to his love-life. Before marrying Martha, George was known as a womanizer, which is not necessarily a good thing. With being very handsome, the ladies would fight over George. One woman by the name of Caroline Kirkland shed some light on the subject when she wrote one of the first biographies of Washington called “Memoirs of Washington. ” In this biography, Kirkland discusses George’s youthful and handsome prime. However, some of these anecdotes were not entirely true, Kirkland knew what women wanted to hear about Washington, and she made it happen. But with this story out this would change the way some Americans viewed Washinton, as a womanizing lover instead of a fighter. However, some might say that once George married Martha, he became cold and stern, this is not the case. Even though their marriage started out as being for benefit purposes, they fell in love throughout the years. Also, as they grew older they depended on each other so much that “Martha spent the majority of the Revolutionary War with her husband, even at places such as Valley Forge. ” (58) This proves that in fact, George was always a lover, from the time of his womanizing stage to his marriage. Once George Washington's passing, many Americans found it acceptable to exploit him for their own financial gain.

The most popular way to use the Founding Father for financial gain back then was by composing and selling books about him. A man by the name of “Parson” Mason Weems was all too well at this. He is the author of “The Life and Memorable Actions of George Washington”, this book is known for “the most believed lies in American history. ” (19) Weems wrote this book when America had just lost their founding father, so he knew what they wanted to hear. The people wanted to hear stories of innocent George, and Weems knew exactly how to do that. His first edition of the novel was a bestseller instantly. Although Weems was considered the best at telling stories, there were other ways people made a profit off George Washington. A man by the name of Robert Spring began to exploit Washington for his own financial gain somewhere around the 1850s. Spring owned his own book shop; however, it was not making him enough money. So, around the 1850s, Spring turned the back room of his book store into a “forger’s workshop. ” (46) In here Spring would write letters and sign them to make them look like they were written by famous people. It was not long until he figured out that the people wanted George Washington letters. Soon, Spring began buying a few of Washington letters and studied them. Though he never perfected the handwriting, it was close enough. People bought these letters believing they were real. It was not until 1869 when Spring was arrested that he stopped selling the fakes. In both accounts, these men were using the vulnerability of Americans after George’s death to exploit him for their own financial reasons. Various religious groups used Washington for their own religious gain.

For example, in the 1870s and 1880s, a couple of John Gano’s followers signed affidavits saying that Gano had Baptized Washington during the winter at Valley Forge. John Gano was a minister who served as military chaplain during the revolutionary war. If this story were true, it would have helped the Christian religion, if the founding father was willing to get baptized as a Christian, during a war in the freezing cold, then others would want to follow. Despite the baptism story never proven to be true, this would have helped their religion gain more followers. Also, another religious group used Washington to help their religion, the Jews. In the 1880s and the 1890s, there were claims that Washington had visited a Jew named Daniel Hart. While never proven, Washington told Hart a story about Valley Forge. In this encounter Washington supposedly told Hart that on Christmas eve, he found a Jewish boy crying holding a Hanukkah lamp.

When Washington asked what it was, the boy proceed to tell him about what the lamp means and how he had hoped that the army could have the same victory as the Israelites. Allegedly, Washington told Hart that this encounter made him want to “fight on against all odds. ” (92) This would be helpful for the Jews for the same reason as the Christians, if the great George Washington could be moved by the story of the Jewish beliefs, then maybe more people would want to join their religion. With saying this, Washington's religion could never be proven to this day, which gave different religious groups the perfect opportunity to use him for the “face’ of their religion. Throughout the history of America, George Washington has been changed to fit people’s personal agenda and beliefs. The novel “Inventing George Washington” gives an inside look on what is true and false. Though most of the myths that are still believed to be true by Americans today, Lengel shuts down throughout the novel. The book makes us, as Americans, question everything we believe to be true about George Washington; Have we gown up learning myths or false accusations? Was he really the great founding father? Though these questions may never be answered, this book gives us a better understanding and insight on Washington's life.