George Washington’s Constitutional Legacy

We the People

National Constitution Center

News Commentary, News, History

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 21 February 2020

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Picking up on some of the themes of last week’s episode, historians Lindsay Chervinsky and Craig Bruce Smith discuss how George Washington conceived of civic virtue, honor, and public service both as a general and as president. They explain why, during the Revolution, “without Washington there was no army” and, how, later, President Washington was considered by many to be “the embodiment of the nation.” Smith and Chervinsky offer a holistic portrayal of Washington — the good and the bad — and contemplate his constitutional legacy as the creator of a powerful executive branch and the first president to peacefully transfer power. Washington’s birthday is this Saturday, February 22. Correction: In this episode, Jeff mistakenly said that Alexis Coe’s book You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington includes a claim that Washington “likely engaged in premarital sex - nonconsensual sex - with an enslaved woman.” Instead, Coe actually quotes a letter written about Washington that describes his possible premarital sex with a “Cirprian Dame,” and explains what that term might have meant. Questions or comments about the podcast? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, and welcome
0:07.8	to We The People, the weekly show of constitutional debate.
0:11.5	The National Constitution Center is a nonpartisan nonprofit chartered by Congress
0:16.2	to increase awareness and understanding of the Constitution among the American people.
0:21.1	On Monday we celebrated President's Day here at the National Constitution Center.
0:25.4	It was so wonderful to see the center full of kids in costumes of the presidents and other historic figures and this Saturday
0:35.7	we celebrate George Washington's birthday happy birthday president
0:39.5	Washington so on this episode we will explore his values, his conception of civic virtue, his
0:46.6	constitutional philosophy, and his approach to the presidency.
0:50.3	I'm joined by two of America's leading historians of George Washington and I'm so thrilled that they both convened for this discussion.
0:59.0	Dr. Lindsay Trevinsky is White House historian at the White House Historical Association.
1:04.0	She was previously a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist
1:08.6	University and her new book, The President's Cabinet, George Washington, and the creation of an American
1:14.8	institution will be published this spring.
1:18.0	Lindsay, thank you so much for joining.
1:19.7	Thanks so much for having me.
1:21.5	And Craig Bruce Smith is assistant professor of military
1:24.6	history at the School of Advanced Military Studies at the US Army Command and
1:28.7	General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
1:33.0	Previously, he was an assistant professor of history and the director of the history program at
1:37.0	William Woods University.
1:39.2	He is the author of American Honor, the creation of the nation's ideals during the revolutionary era,
	...

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