Hi, these days I am looking for a kind of historical document that seems to be nearly impossible to come by. In early February I will be holding a presentation on the early American republic, which includes of course the presidency of George Washington. It was certainly a very difficult presidency with everything George Washington did becoming a precedent. With all the adorsion of Washington that set in very quickly there was however also a lot of criticism. For example he (who had refused to take a crown) was accused of monarchist and anti-American leanings (no kidding, the accusation is not as recent an invention as most of us would probably think). People like Thomas Paine (the man who wrote "Common Sense" and first proposed the name "United States of America") actually publicly wished for a soon death of Washington :blink:
From what I read even caricatures of Washington being guillotined (at a time when this was conducted en masse in France) appeared. However, while I read such describtions I haven't found any depiction of any anti-George Washington caricature done in his lifetime. Neither in any of my books, nor on any webpage have I found any such material, almost like we intended to "gloss over" that part of history. Did anyone of you ever see such a caricature or (better even) does anyone of you have any access to any anti-Washington caricature or other material printed in his lifetime? It would be really a great help for me if anyone could help me with my search for that kind of material.
