Lafayette in the Somewhat United States

by

Sarah Vowell

George Washington Character Analysis

George Washington was the Commander in Chief of the Patriot army, the first president of the fledgling United States, and Lafayette’s closest personal friend and father figure. Over and over again, Lafayette and his fellow generals described Washington as a “majestic figure,” poised, patient and always able to rally the Patriot army even against seemingly impossible odds. Crucially, the French were so enamored of Washington’s can-do attitude that they placed faith in him even when he suffered military losses. And perhaps most importantly, Washington’s “homebody” attitude and his devotion to his family home at Mount Vernon ensured that he left office after only two terms. This set the precedent that American presidents would always engage in a peaceful transfer of power.

George Washington Quotes in Lafayette in the Somewhat United States

The Lafayette in the Somewhat United States quotes below are all either spoken by George Washington or refer to George Washington. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Democracy, Disagreement, and Compromise Theme Icon
).
Pages 1-59 Quotes

Who knows what happened to that particular chair. It could have been burned during the British occupation of Philadelphia in the winter of 1777-78, when firewood was scarce. But it might have been a more helpful, sobering symbolic object than that chair with the rising sun. Then perhaps citizens making pilgrimages to Independence Hall could file pass the chair Jefferson walked across an aisle to sit in, and we could all ponder the amount of respect, affection, and wishy-washy give-and-take needed to keep a house divided in reasonable repair.

Related Characters: Sarah Vowell (speaker), George Washington, Thomas Jefferson
Page Number: 15
Explanation and Analysis:
Pages 126-190 Quotes

As for Washington, how could he not envy Gates? Saratoga was the turning point of the war, the most spectacular patriot victory to date. And when it went down, His Excellency was more than 200 miles away, licking his wounds from his recent setbacks.

Related Characters: Sarah Vowell (speaker), George Washington, Horatio Gates
Page Number: 130
Explanation and Analysis:

When Lafayette wrote his letter to Washington worrying that America could lose the war not at the hands of the redcoats but rather “by herself and her own sons,” he might not have been referring solely to the Conway cabal. He may have also had in mind the observable fact that the military, congressional, and state bureaucracies responsible for supplying the common soldiers with luxuries like food, water, and shoes word, to use an acronym coined by the grunts of Ike’s war, FUBAR.

Related Characters: Marquis de Lafayette (speaker), Sarah Vowell (speaker), George Washington, Thomas Conway , Dwight D. Eisenhower
Page Number: 152
Explanation and Analysis:

Washington had also been ruminating on a deeper, less obvious stumbling block than the fact that summer—and summer battle season—was coming all too soon. Namely, that the rebels under his command were not fighting to become free; they were cornered into fighting because the government of Great Britain had failed to understand that they already were. […] Yet the self-respect and self-possession that incited said people to revolt was hindering the revolution goal, independence, because functional armies required hierarchy and self-denial, orders barked and orders followed.

Related Characters: Sarah Vowell (speaker), Marquis de Lafayette, George Washington, Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben
Page Number: 167
Explanation and Analysis:
Pages 190-268 Quotes

De Grasse cajoled Lafayette by promising “to further your glory. Lafayette later confessed, “The temptation was great, but even if the attack had succeeded, it would necessarily have cost a great deal of blood.” Therefore he decided not to sacrifice the soldiers “entrusted to me to personal ambition.” Lafayette was growing up. Two days later he turned twenty-four.

Related Characters: Marquis de Lafayette (speaker), Sarah Vowell (speaker), George Washington, Count de Grasse
Page Number: 231
Explanation and Analysis:

Washington repeated this performance as president, leaving office after two terms rather than staying on his president for life, because he honestly wanted to live out his days, as Voltaire put it, cultivating his own garden—and painting his dining room the world’s most alarming shade of green. Washington’s homebody side tempered his ambition, staving off the lure of power.

Related Characters: Sarah Vowell (speaker), Marquis de Lafayette, George Washington
Page Number: 233
Explanation and Analysis:

The lesson of Yorktown is the value of cooperation—the lack of it among Britain’s top commanders, and the overwhelming strength of the Franco-American alliance. […] A more interesting aspect of the Franco-American collaboration was the way the French and American officers kept talking each other out of bad ideas.

Related Characters: Sarah Vowell (speaker), George Washington, Count de Grasse
Page Number: 241
Explanation and Analysis:
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George Washington Quotes in Lafayette in the Somewhat United States

The Lafayette in the Somewhat United States quotes below are all either spoken by George Washington or refer to George Washington. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Democracy, Disagreement, and Compromise Theme Icon
).
Pages 1-59 Quotes

Who knows what happened to that particular chair. It could have been burned during the British occupation of Philadelphia in the winter of 1777-78, when firewood was scarce. But it might have been a more helpful, sobering symbolic object than that chair with the rising sun. Then perhaps citizens making pilgrimages to Independence Hall could file pass the chair Jefferson walked across an aisle to sit in, and we could all ponder the amount of respect, affection, and wishy-washy give-and-take needed to keep a house divided in reasonable repair.

Related Characters: Sarah Vowell (speaker), George Washington, Thomas Jefferson
Page Number: 15
Explanation and Analysis:
Pages 126-190 Quotes

As for Washington, how could he not envy Gates? Saratoga was the turning point of the war, the most spectacular patriot victory to date. And when it went down, His Excellency was more than 200 miles away, licking his wounds from his recent setbacks.

Related Characters: Sarah Vowell (speaker), George Washington, Horatio Gates
Page Number: 130
Explanation and Analysis:

When Lafayette wrote his letter to Washington worrying that America could lose the war not at the hands of the redcoats but rather “by herself and her own sons,” he might not have been referring solely to the Conway cabal. He may have also had in mind the observable fact that the military, congressional, and state bureaucracies responsible for supplying the common soldiers with luxuries like food, water, and shoes word, to use an acronym coined by the grunts of Ike’s war, FUBAR.

Related Characters: Marquis de Lafayette (speaker), Sarah Vowell (speaker), George Washington, Thomas Conway , Dwight D. Eisenhower
Page Number: 152
Explanation and Analysis:

Washington had also been ruminating on a deeper, less obvious stumbling block than the fact that summer—and summer battle season—was coming all too soon. Namely, that the rebels under his command were not fighting to become free; they were cornered into fighting because the government of Great Britain had failed to understand that they already were. […] Yet the self-respect and self-possession that incited said people to revolt was hindering the revolution goal, independence, because functional armies required hierarchy and self-denial, orders barked and orders followed.

Related Characters: Sarah Vowell (speaker), Marquis de Lafayette, George Washington, Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben
Page Number: 167
Explanation and Analysis:
Pages 190-268 Quotes

De Grasse cajoled Lafayette by promising “to further your glory. Lafayette later confessed, “The temptation was great, but even if the attack had succeeded, it would necessarily have cost a great deal of blood.” Therefore he decided not to sacrifice the soldiers “entrusted to me to personal ambition.” Lafayette was growing up. Two days later he turned twenty-four.

Related Characters: Marquis de Lafayette (speaker), Sarah Vowell (speaker), George Washington, Count de Grasse
Page Number: 231
Explanation and Analysis:

Washington repeated this performance as president, leaving office after two terms rather than staying on his president for life, because he honestly wanted to live out his days, as Voltaire put it, cultivating his own garden—and painting his dining room the world’s most alarming shade of green. Washington’s homebody side tempered his ambition, staving off the lure of power.

Related Characters: Sarah Vowell (speaker), Marquis de Lafayette, George Washington
Page Number: 233
Explanation and Analysis:

The lesson of Yorktown is the value of cooperation—the lack of it among Britain’s top commanders, and the overwhelming strength of the Franco-American alliance. […] A more interesting aspect of the Franco-American collaboration was the way the French and American officers kept talking each other out of bad ideas.

Related Characters: Sarah Vowell (speaker), George Washington, Count de Grasse
Page Number: 241
Explanation and Analysis: