"Slowly, through records, letters and diaries, I came to see how vegetable plots, ornamental plants, landscapes and forests had played a crucial role in America’s struggle for national identity and in the lives of the founding fathers. Golden cornfields and endless rows of cotton plants became symbols for America’s economic independence from Britain; towering trees became a reflection of a strong and vigorous nation; native species were imbued with patriotism and proudly planted in gardens, while metaphors drawn from the natural world brought plants and gardening into politics.
"The founding fathers’ passion for nature, plants, gardens and agriculture is woven deeply into the fabric of America and aligned with their political thought, both reflecting and influencing it. In fact, I believe, it’s impossible to understand the making of America without looking at the founding fathers as farmers and gardeners."
As the author notes, a belief in the moral superiority of an agrarian society reaches at least as far back as the Greeks (e.g. Aristotle) as well as the Romans (e.g. Virgil and Cicero), and our founders were well-versed in classical literature. The Age of Enlightenment and the move to non-monarchical forms of government influenced the founders' belief that a livelihood earned by citizens working the land was the backbone of any republic. Benjamin Franklin wrote: "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom …as nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." And a man working on his own land to provide for his family is, to Franklin, a truly virtuous human being.
First to receive Wulf's detailed overview is Washington’s home, Mt. Vernon. It may be surprising to us to learn that although we have been reared to regard Washington as the horse-sitting, uniformed, dignified Father of our Country, he was at heart an avid experimental farmer, and a very good one at that. Of course he did have many slaves to carry out his every wish and scheme for the improvement of his property. There is a distressing section about his slaves who were ordered to dig deep holes into hard-frozen ground in order to plant a huge number of trees, few of which survived the shock of cold and transplantation. One can only imagine that the slaves didn’t fare too well, either.
However, Washington himself was a hands-on landlord, actively engaged in the planning and improvement of his estate. He was among the first to realize that the growing of tobacco had, over many years, ruined the rich soil of Virginia. He was passionate about — of all things — manure, and experimented with all sorts of additives that could enrich the ground. He also became an early proponent of crop rotation.
In laying out his grand entrance to Mt. Vernon, he planned a wide drive and an oblong bowling green (lawn). Midway in that green were side paths opposite one another that were screened by shrubbery and led to two white outbuildings with red, bell-shaped roofs, each one of which was a "necessary" (read: outhouse). It was no accident that the plants that lined those paths were ones that produced highly-scented flowers.
Mostly, Washington planted species native to America. He scoured his woods for particularly fine specimens of tulip poplar, redbud, dogwood, and other ornamental trees that grew in the wild. His involvement with Mt. Vernon never flagged, and even during the period when he was watching the huge British naval force laying siege to New York, he managed to continue sending his estate manager long, detailed instructions for the improvement of Mt. Vernon, demanding in return frequent reports on the condition of various projects and favored plantings.
John Adams, on the other hand, left the management of his farm to his capable wife, Abigail, when he was in Philadelphia and eventually in Europe, busy with the founding of the nation. Their lively correspondence is filled with detailed information about weather and crops and harvests and improvements. (They never, however, failed to communicate their deep love and even passion for one another, something one does not often find in letters of that era).
The description of the swamp that was Washington DC during the Adams presidency is familiar, but in Wulf’s account, even more vivid. The well-known fact that Abigail had to hang her the laundry to dry in the unfinished East Room pales in comparison to the description of the second President of the United States having to teeter his way into the unfinished entrance of his mansion via a jury-rigged series of hastily-thrown-up and braced wooden boards.
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