Washington vs Bolivar

• Background

• Military Importance

• Attitude towards Race

• Political Role

BACKGROUND

Washington

• Plantation elite• Surveyor and land

speculator• Officer in militia• May have accidently

started the French and Indian War

• Made a war hero, nonetheless

Washington • Marries into land wealth• Leader in House of

Burgesses starting 1758• 1770--creates Va bill to

boycott Brit goods• 1774--offers to raise

own army in Boston’s defense

• --Sent to Continental Congress

Bolivar• Wealthy Venezuelan

family• Tutored by

Enlightenment philosopher

• European years• Fascination with

Napoleon• Mixture of ambition

and love for freedom

Bolivar• Part of 1808 junta in

Venezuela• Sent to Britain as

ambassador in 1810• Caracas junta falls 1812

after earthquake• Turns Miranda over to

Spanish, 1812 -– “I arrested Miranda because he

was a traitor to his country”– and goes into exile in the

Caribbean, but returns to Cartagena, 1813

MILITARY IMPORTANCE

Washington• 1775--head of

continental army• Small army of

irregulars• 3 month terms• So--stay alive, avoid

direct engagements, fool the Brits, and keep army unified

• For example…

Siege of Boston, 1776

Crossing the Delaware, 1776

Valley Forge, 1777

• 2,500 men of the 10,000-strong force died

• Naked and starving as they are/We cannot enough admire/The incomparable Patience and Fidelity/of the Soldier

• Training by Baron von Steuben

Washington

• “He seldom won a battle but he never lost a campaign.”

Bolivar

• Manifesto of Cartagena, 1813

• Admirable Campaign

• Cucuta

• “War to the Death”

• Llaneros attack, 1814

• Bolivar in exile, 1815

Bolivar

• 1817-1823:

• Liberation of reconquered lands

• Creation of Gran Colombia

• End of slavery and the casta system

• Replaces San Martin in 1822 and reconquers Peru

RACE

Washington

Washington

• Initially banned blacks from serving

• Created all-black regiment by 1778

• By 1781, believed in abolition

• Manumitted slaves in his will

• Foresaw civil war split, but favored the North

Bolivar

• Claimed to be Indian and Black

• Fall of Venezuelan republic forces change in army constituency

• Announces end of slavery, casta

• Enshrinement of equal rights in the constitution

POLITICAL IMPORTANCE

Washington• A classical figure, not

revolutionary• A master of etiquette

– Now sir, you must make me forget that you are General Washington, and I am Stuart, the painter.

– Mr Stuart need never feel the need of forgetting who he is, or who General Washington is.

Washington • How to conserve his reputation?

• Presiding over the Constitutional Convention, 1787

Washington

• An elected monarch?– Royal processions– A “royal remove”– A royal bureaucracy– A dominant executive– A compliant Congress

U.N.I.T.Y.• Favored the building of roads, canals,

postal service

• Handled the creation of Washington DC

A Cincinnatus

• No kids

• Walks away from power in ‘96

• Refuses to return in 1800--mostly as he didn’t want to have someone vote against him

Bolivar• A strong executive, but…• revolutionary in promoting racial equality

• enshrined constitutional rights like freedom and property

• equality was worth losing everything else

• still considered the foremost revolutionary in L.A.

• Believed in a strong executive to protect the weak

Bolivar• Wrote the constitution for Bolivia, which was

considered the most liberal in the world • Civil liberty• Freedom of speech, press, • Freedom of work, movement• Equality before the law• Abolition of slavery• Due process and right to jury

U.N.I.T.Y?• 1826 Congress of Panama, but…

• Saw the fragmentation on LA in his lifetime

• Saw his generals fight over leadership, with assistance of foreign powers

Bolivar• 1828--elected dictator for two years in Colombia,

spent last years fighting to impose stability in other countries

• As his health declined, Britain and his closest allies schemed to place a European prince on a hereditary throne as a means of ensuring unity and stability.

• Bolivar told them to go to hell• Resigned in 1830, died two months later