The property of the nation : George Washington's tomb, Mount Vernon, and the memory of the first president / Matthew R. Costello.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Costello, Matthew (Matthew R.), author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Collective memory--United States--History.

Collective memory.

Presidents--United States--Biography.

Presidents.

Washington, George, 1732-1799.

Washington, George.

Mount Vernon (Va. : Estate)--History--19th century.

Mount Vernon (Va. : Estate).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 336 pages) : illustrations ;

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Lawrence, Kansas : University Press of Kansas, [2019]

Summary:

"In the nineteenth century, George Washington became remembered as a man of the common people and the father of American democracy, despite the fact he was an aristocratic elite who believed in a strong centralized government. Following his death in 1799, the political leaders and social elites of the time competed for control of his memory and symbolic status, seeking to use Washington as a figurehead for their particular cause. But these episodes shed little light on how the greater American populace remembered him. In The Property of the Nation, Matthew Costello tells the story of Washington's tomb, the popularity of which tells us more about how ordinary Americans remembered, shared, and believed in a variety of narratives that made Washington a man of the people. The tomb served as an intersection for historical tourism, race and class relations, popular culture, and religious expression, all facets of life transformed by the growth of political democracy. These experiences illuminate how the democratic impulse transcended the present, as more Americans sought to know, touch, and even possess pieces of Washington's past"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

The body republic : Pater Patriae and the politics of disinterment

"There's money in old George's bones" : John Augustine Washington III and the advent of historical tourism

Cultivators of legend : enslaved storytellers at Mount Vernon

Frontiersman, solider, and farmer : the democratic Washington in popular culture

The civic pilgrimage : Washington's tomb and the veneration of Washington relics

"Guardians of a national shrine" : the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association and the legacy of Washington

Conclusion: Washington of the people, by the people, for the people.

Notes:

Revision of the author's 2016 dissertation The property of the nation : democracy and the memory of George Washington, 1799-1865.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographic references (pages [217]-326) and index.

ISBN:

0-7006-2827-4

OCLC:

1224517514