George Washington, Entrepreneur

How Our Founding Father's Private Business Pursuits Changed America and the World

John Berlau

• Publisher: All Points Books
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9781250172617
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Political Biographies
• Index: Politics & International Relations

A business biography of George Washington, focusing on his many innovations and inventions.

George Washington: general, statesman...businessman? Most people don't know that Washington was one of the country's first true entrepreneurs, responsible for innovations in several industries. In George Washington, Entrepreneur, John Berlau presents a fresh, surprising take on our forefather's business pursuits.
History has depicted Washington as a gifted general and political pragmatist, not an intellectual heavyweight. But he was a patron of inventors and inveterate tinkerer, and just as intelligent as Jefferson or Franklin. His library was filled with books on agriculture, history, and philosophy. He was the first to breed horses with donkeys to produce the American mule. On his estate, he grew countless varieties of trees and built a greenhouse full of exotic fruits, herbs, and plants. Unlike his Virginia neighbors who remained wedded to tobacco, Washington planted seven types of wheat. His state-of-the-art mill produced flour which he exported to Europe in sacks stamped "G. Washington"—one of the very first branded food products. Mount Vernon was also home to a distillery and became one of the largest American whiskey producers of the era.
Berlau's portrait of Washington, drawn in large part from his journals and extensive correspondence, presents a side of him we haven't seen before. It is sure to delight readers of presidential biography and business history.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Notice
• Dedication
• A Note on Spelling
• Introduction: Washington’s Greenhouse
• 1 • Iron Roots: How the Washington Family’s Fortunes Rose, Fell, and Rose Again
• 2 • The Education of an Entrepreneur: An Eighteenth-Century Boyhood
• 3 • A Dirty Job: The Origins of Washington’s Career as a Surveyor and Land Speculator
• 4 • Washington’s Social Network: The Key to Success in Business, Life, and Politics
• 5 • George and Martha: Partners in Life and Business
• 6 • Washington’s Green Thumb: The Fields and Orchards of Mount Vernon
• 7 • Washington’s Mount Vernon: The Making of an Industrial Village
• 8 • Success and Revolution
• 9 • Father of Invention: Washington’s Support for Eighteenth-Century Innovators
• 10 • Never at Rest: Washington’s Final Years
• 11 • Mount Vernon and Washington’s Legacy
• Acknowledgments
• Appendix: A Selection of Washington’s Business Correspondence
• Notes
• Index
• Also by John Berlau
• About the Author
• Newsletter Sign-up
• Contents
• Copyright