A wealthy, established gentleman planter, a British military veteran who had won his respect in the French and Indian War, a representative in the colonial legislature, a married man with two stepchildren and a bustling estate – this hardly seems like the makeup of a revolutionary firebrand, or the figurehead of a governmental overthrow. At first glance, George Washington appears a very unlikely candidate to lead the Revolutionary army. He had already fought a war for the British, retired to his estate, and was living a comfortable, well-off lifestyle. Life under British rule hardly seems like it was something so atrocious that would drive Washington from his home to risk his life, reputation, and property for an upstart patriot cause. Why, then, did Washington agree to command the Continental Army? What series of events could have convinced him to throw his weight behind such a seemingly impossible task? In fact, Washington’s patriotism was not a spur-of-the-moment decision or a quick application of peer pressure from his fellow Americans, but rather a long history of perceived injustices that turned him bitterly against the British.
Since his early 20s, Washington had been involved with the ruling military and government. Running messages from Virginian Governor Dinwiddie to western Pennsylvania, leading a Virginian regiment in the first shots of the French and Indian War, serving as an assistant to British General Braddock and rallying the King’s troops when the General was shot down, Washington believed that he had served his government honorably, and had more than earned a royal commission in the army. However, British authorities shot down his request, further emphasizing the repeated episodes of disrespect he had been shown as a Virginian. This led him to believe that it was impossible for an American to earn proper respect or recognition by the British, beginning his frustration with his government.
For Washington to sell his tobacco and purchase goods for his Mount Vernon estate, he had to go through British custom houses. The leading center for trade in the world, Washington expected to get his business done fairly and efficiently through his factor Robert Cary, but turned out to be sorely disappointed. Naturally a very reticent man, Washington ceaselessly complained about the shoddy goods he was given and the high commissions taken by the custom houses. Simultaneously, Parliament began to implement its series of infamous taxes. Had the Americans been given proper representation and equal rates on other matters, Washington may have acquiesced, but he was already being price-gouged on his transactions. As the British closed the Boston port and the entire Virginian economic system continued to suffer, gradually being forced away from tobacco production because of its unprofitability, Washington began to identify a systemic economic oppression against himself and his countrymen.
Though partial British economic policies were causing Mount Vernon to lose money and continually growing Washington’s debt, he held solace in his claims to vast holdings of western land. This land, he knew, would continue to rise in price, and could leave him and his descendants very wealthy. Unfortunately, there were others who seemed to give Washington every obstacle imaginable in holding his land. Through the Proclamation of 1763, the British denied all American land requests west of the Appalachian Mountains. Next, the British Secretary of State to the colonies ruled that the western land promised to French and Indian War veterans applied only to native British, not to Americans. Finally, Lord Dunmore of Virginia notified Washington that all the western land he had ordered surveyed and claimed had been nullified as the result of a fabricated technicality. At this point, the British had not only rendered Washington’s estate completely unprofitable, they had also eliminated all his amassed property wealth.
So how did a well-off gentleman planter become so frustrated with his government that he was willing to risk being the leader of the rebel cause? A long history of injustices had led Washington to believe that the Virginia planter class’ system of consignment to British mercantile houses was ultimately destined for failure and bankruptcy, as well as build an overall feeling of detestation towards the British attitude of superiority, both politically and economically, over the American people. Leading the Continental Army was not only a matter of principle for Washington, but also a way of maintaining his own livelihood. Though he acted as a reluctant acceptor, he was nothing less than an ardent supporter of the American cause, dedicated towards ending the slights and discriminations that had ceaselessly blocked him from achievements that he believed he truly deserved.
Sources:
Chernow, Ron. Washington: A Life. Penguin Books, 2010.
Ellis, Joseph J. His Excellency: George Washington. Alfred A. Knopf, 2011.
Raphael, Ray. Why Did George Washington Become a Revolutionary? Journal of the American Revolution, 28 Aug. 2016.
“Ten Facts About George Washington and the French & Indian War.” George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Mount Vernon.
Great analysis of the causes that impelled Washington to the Separation (from Britain), as it were. An interesting minor point to note in your analysis: you mention how the colonies lacked “adequate representation” to argue against the various taxes imposed by the British in the mid-1700s. Based on limited census data from Google searches and back of hand calculations, it can be assumed that the voting population of the British Isles was at least four times that of the number of Americans that would have been eligible to vote as of 1770, had they been given that right. If the colonies had had the representation to protest these tax acts and been voted down anyways, would the colonies still have rebelled? It’s a question I need to do more reading about myself, but a fun question to debate when considering the broader reasons often given for the beginnings of the American revolution and how meaningful those conditions really were on the start of that war. If you’d like further reading on that subject and somehow have the time, I highly recommend Bernard Bailyn’s The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution.