As head of household, plantation owner, businessman,
Revolutionary War general, and president, George Washington had
many different concerns and responsibilities, from running his
estate to ensuring the stability of a new nation. Alongside the
traditional demands of political life and military leadership,
he focused considerable attention on the health and safety of
his family, staff, slaves, and troops. Washington's status and
wealth gave him–and his community–special privileges. During his
lifetime, with the practice of medicine slowly becoming a
licensed profession, he could call on a growing class of experts
and new knowledge about the spread and prevention of disease.
Even so, Washington, like everyone else of his era, encountered
the limits of medicine when faced with serious illnesses. George
Washington by Gilbert Stuart, ca. 1798 Courtesy Mount Vernon
Ladies' Association Painted when the former president was 66
years old, this head-and-shoulders, three-quarter-view portrait
of Washington shows the fig