Washington: A Life

Congress’s slow certification intensified Washington’s dread as he prepared to leave Mount Vernon. After Charles Thomson delivered official notice on April 14, 1789, Washington departed April 16 and was swept through celebratory stops—Alexandria, Philadelphia, Trenton—before a triumphal waterborne entry into New York. On April 30 at Federal Hall, he took the oath on a borrowed Bible, delivered Madison-drafted remarks stressing humility, unity, and providence, and attended services at St. Paul’s. The chapter also follows Billy Lee’s determined effort to rejoin him and Martha Washington’s reluctant arrival and early duties as first lady, which she found confining.

Washington organized an improvised executive household—Tobias Lear, David Humphreys, and William Jackson—while leaning on James Madison for early constitutional guidance. He confronted symbolic questions shaping the office, rejecting inflated titles, establishing weekly levees, and orchestrating formal dinners as controlled access points. Martha hosted Friday receptions.

Critics, notably Senator William Maclay, decried “courtly” airs; Chernow shows Washington’s stiffness, partial deafness, and cost battles with steward Sam Fraunces. From the cramped Cherry Street mansion, Washington curated republican dignity—walks among citizens, church attendance, theatergoing—while projecting ceremonial authority via dress, equipage, and ritual.