Within eight years of the death of George Washington in 1799, the
first major biography of “the father of his country” was written by
John Marshall and published in five volumes. Marshall, who later
became Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, was induced
to the task by the first President's nephew, Bushrod Washington.
Marshall's own principal biographer, Albert J. Beveridge, has
described
The Life of George Washington as “to this day the
fullest and most trustworthy treatment of that period from the
conservative point of view.” In fact, so significant is the
biography that Marshall later executed a one-volume abridgment,
first published in 1838 and used widely for generations in American
schools and colleges. The twentieth and final version of the
abridgement, published in 1849, is the text reproduced in the new
Liberty Fund edition of what Charles A. Beard has praised as a
“great” and “masterly” biography. The editors' foreword and notes,
together with maps of major battle campaigns not included in the
original edition, make this edition especially attractive for
classroom use. The Appendices include Washington's Speech to the
Officers of the Army (15 March 1783), Address to Congress on
Resigning Commission (23 December 1783), Letter to Congress
Transmitting Proposed Constitution (17 September 1787), First
Inaugural Address (30 April 1789), and Farewell Address (19
September 1796).
Robert Faulkner is a Professor of Political Science at Boston
College.
Paul Carrese is a Professor of Political Science at the
United States Air Force Academy.
