George Washington: Myth and Reality - Essay Sample

Introduction

The author seeks to bring out the history and involvement of George Washington from a mythical point of view. This means that the article covers different accounts of people who are enthusiasts of the legend and how they describe him. Lengel himself is an enthusiast of the life and work of George Washington with himself possessing critical information salvaged from his war diaries that could provide the truth of the matter. Once the myths have been stated and the accounts collected, the author's main concern will be to pinpoint the myths about the person of interest; which in this case is George Washington. This move by the author will assist the readers as well as the citizens of America in understanding better the leader who fronted their fight towards independence.

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Lengel's work provides a significant contribution towards the preservation of the history of America since George Washington assisted immensely towards the reclaiming of the nation from the British whose defenses were strong. Most American may seek to find out the truth about the life and times of George Washington and his contribution towards liberty, but they achieve only myths as books may only provide secondary information. From Lengel's point of view, he moves forward to substantiate his sources and his inspiring passion towards history and to bring out the real story against various competing mythologies. Through this gesture, the author can, therefore, be considered to be of patriotic intention with a motive to preserve history by passing to the lower generation through the extensive research and publication of the life and times of George Washington.

Washington's Memory for Financial Gain

From the work of Lengel, it can be gathered that most Americans in different times had slowly discovered how to make money out of the name and historical preservations of George Washington's name. His nanny Joyce Heth who was a slave, was salvaged from her old self by a young chap who bought her for a few pennies to rekindle her to tell the stories about George Washington's childhood. The nanny would sit up for long hours to tell stories and narrate the escapades of the young master when he was a toddler. This would soon gain publicity where people could be charged to go and listen to a first-hand account of the old lady. In the words of Lengel (2011), Americans had already seen the dollar bill in George Washington long before Washington appeared on the dollar bill.

Further, the writing and selling of books was the most lucrative form of making money and profits using Washington's name. Several authors had been named and believed to have provided glamorous accounts about Washington in their best seller books with which they sold for profit. The forgery and historic preservations by the citizens claiming that George Washington had slept in their house and barns during the war especially in New Jersey had led the government to allocate funds towards the renovation of this establishment for the sake of historic preservation. Washington's handwriting would also cost money as well as the letters he wrote to the different audience which some were purported to be forged. This was, therefore, the various means wit which the citizens had exploited Washington's name to gain profit.

Washington and Religion

George Washington most certainly did not speak openly about his religious inclination. The major controversial stories that led to the claiming of his faith by major Christian beliefs was brought about by a prayer book that was originally written by him. Instances of the passages in the book that were brought forward may have provided proof of his inclination towards evangelical Christianity. This brought forward claims by the clerical eulogists claiming Washington himself had stated that no wars could have been won without the interference of God and the Bible.

In other instances, claims of the full baptism of George Washington, which involved total immersion in water strengthen the beliefs about his inclination to Christianity. This was presented by a reverend who claimed to have done the baptism himself. Other religions such as the freemasons and the deists also provided different proofs about the faith of the legend from the particular prayer book and some of the language he used during his writing and speeches. Further, legends also state that Washington blurted out words from the Bible out in the field, especially from the book of Joshua upon the onset of war to motivate his troops. In the religious stance of George Washington, the surrounding stories might as well have proved his Christian affiliation.

Debunkers

The outright social information about Washington's debunking was spearheaded by Woodward who set out to tarnish the legend's name for profit. In numerous books written about Washington, many authors described him in a glamorous manner where he was the founder of the nation who fought bravely to take the independence of the country. In other terms, the era of debunking was supposed to tarnish Washington's image immensely. From this activity of debunking, various authors and storytellers vowed to tell Washington's stories the way it was supposed to since it was believed that every hero has a dark side too. For Washington, his dark side involved his countless acts of alcoholism and promiscuity where he did not consider religion since he was convinced that that was a form of social control.

For many debunkers, the gesture was to attack the icon with a bid to bring forward the war against the government or at times, political rivals. The motives of these debunkers were mixed with some intending, to tell the truth about the legend while others had political warfare against those in favor of George Washington's statutes. In most cases, these individuals would describe the story of George Washington in truth but mostly to make a profit out of best-selling books and radio shows. The context of their discussion was mainly motivated by the changing times and era as well as the urge of the Americans to find out the truth about their nation's history.

Washington's Memory

Americans given one another strived to bring forward Washington's spirit in a bid to make his memory last for decades. Numerous attempts were made to buy his articles, and in later years an autobiography was written. The stories of George Washington still live in the mouths and hearts of people as they struggle to find meaning and context of their stories through historic preservation. Apart from this, it is essential to find out that, although the debunkers had made efforts to create a lousy aura of terms about the image of the legend, this sparked more reviews and comments about the history books that were written in his honor. His romance with one sally Fairfax was also documented, and this gave the different generations of enthusiasts a story to discuss.

The paradoxical that was aroused due to Washington's life and style that was a myth setting in between his heroic gestures and his dark side signified by alcoholism and lust that led to his debunking. At the same time, the citizens loved him for his efforts of stepping up and fighting for the country a gesture that may not be forgotten. At the same time, history faces the risk of being overlooked due to its repetitive nature. In the case of Washington, the discovery and re-discovery of his sleeping places, as well as his debunking, sets ablaze to the re-formation of his stories. This means that Washington's memory has been appropriated by the Americans to serve their different interests, depending on how well they can be able to describe his character.

Works Cited

Lengel, Edward G. Inventing George Washington: America's founder, in myth and memory. Harper Collins, 2011.