385 Did George Washington Have Heirs?

Ben Franklin's World

Liz Covart

Earlyrepublic, History, Benfranklin, Society & Culture, Warforindependence, Earlyamericanrepublic, Earlyamericanhistory, Education, Colonialamerica, Americanrevolution, Ushistory, Benjaminfranklin

4.6 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2024

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The United States Constitution of 1787 gave many Americans pause about the powers the new federal government could exercise and how the government's leadership would rest with one person, the president.

The fact that George Washington would likely serve as the new nation’s first president calmed many Americans’ fears that the new nation was creating an opportunity for a hereditary monarch. Washington had proven his commitment to a democratic form of government when he gave up his army command peacefully and voluntarily. He had proven he was someone Americans could trust. Plus, George Washington had no biological heirs–no sons–to whom he might pass on the presidency.

But while George Washington had no biological heirs, he did have heirs.

Cassandra A. Good, an Associate Professor of History at Marymount University and author of First Family: George Washington’s Heirs and the Making of America, joins us to explore Washington’s heirs and the lives they lived.

Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/385

Sponsor Links

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Complementary Episodes

Listen!

Helpful Links

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You're listening to an airwave media podcast.
0:04.0	Ben Franklin's world is a production of Colonial Williamsburg, Innovation Studios.
0:09.0	Wash gets really into painting scenes of the American Revolution.
0:13.3	These are massive canvases, but they're really bad.
0:17.2	One of them is actually hung in the US capital
0:19.6	and there's a review of it in the newspaper
0:21.4	that's so negative that Wash writes a letter and
0:23.9	ask for it to be removed and says just throw it in the Potomac on your way home.
0:27.0	Although he continues painting. Hello and welcome to episode 385 of Ben Franklin's World.
0:42.7	The podcast dedicated to helping you learn more about how the people and offense of our early
0:47.4	American past have shaped the present day world we live in.
0:51.1	And I'm your host, Liz Kovvert. After six years of living under the
0:55.3	Articles of Confederation and the many dysfunctions of the Confederation Congress, a
0:59.4	group of Americans decided to create a new national government that had some power to ensure that the new nation paid its bills on time,
1:07.0	regulated trade in international relations, and had the ability to compel the states to act when doing so meant serving the good of the whole
1:14.8	nation.
1:16.3	As we know from episodes of this podcast, the United States Constitution of 1787 gave many Americans
1:22.1	pause about all the different powers the new federal government
1:25.1	would be able to exercise and about having just one chief executive, the president.
1:30.8	Now the fact that George Washington would likely serve as the new nation's first
1:34.1	president calmed many Americans fears that the new nation was actually creating an
1:38.6	opportunity for hereditary monarch. George Washington after all had already proven his commitment to the new Democratic form of government
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Liz Covart, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Liz Covart and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.