"Gordon Wood investigates George Washington's contributions to the creation of the American republic. The bicentennial of his death in 1999 sparked a reassessment of this extraordinary man and his times. He was commander in chief of the revolutionary army, a leader in the formation of the Constitution of 1787, and the first president of the new United States. Despite these great accomplishments, he remains strangely distant and inaccessible to us in the early twenty-first century. This brief but intensive course helps explain the sources and meaning of Washington’s greatness."

This institute will focus on the life of George Washington as seen through several lenses. Focusing on Washington's personal life and connecting it to his public career will be the theme of the first week of the institute. Participants will consider Washington's education, his relationships with women, and his attitudes towards fame, religion, and death. Participants will look at Washington's own words in an attempt to understand the man. Traveling to Longfellow House, participants will meet with Paul Blandford, who has devoted his life to studying Washington's year in Cambridge. Blandford will also explain Washington's place in 19th-century New England culture. In the second week, participants will contrast the heroic Washington with the revisionist appraisal. How did John Marshall and Mason Locke Weems view Washington? Why does Richard Brookhiser still consider Washington’s life "exemplary?" Participants will analyze Michael Pack's documentary Rediscovering George Washington and meet with William Martin, writer of the novel Citizen Washington and the screenplay for a documentary on the life of Washington, George Washington: The Man Who Wouldn't Be King. To offer an alternative to the heroic Washington, participants will meet with the radical revisionist historian Howard Zinn. His visit will provide an opportunity to discuss what role the life of Washington should play in national and state history standards. Looking at current research, participants will attempt to determine whether Washington holds up in a reality-based age, whether his Mount Rushmore image and iconic status remain compelling. In the third week, participants will focus on Washington's public career and legacy. The guest speaker for the third week will be Karal Ann Marling, author of George Washington Slept Here, and numerous other books on American history. Professor Marling has taught Art History and American Studies at the University of Minnesota. She will speak on "George Washington and Memory," or "How the Colonial Revivals of the 19th and 20th centuries reshaped the character of our first President." During the third week, participants will also take a field trip to Bunker Hill and Dorchester Heights.