From Preface: Contemporary records are the stuff from which history is written; they are likewise the materials in which history can be read. Washington is rich in materials of this sort. This work includes such materials as diaries, journals, letters, articles, promotion literature, and more. This book necessarily includes only a limited selection of significant materials. The choice of items has been somewhat arbitrary; many alternative passages might have been substituted without changing substantially the character of the collection. Each selection should be read as a document which illuminates but does not completely explain the event or the historical movement to which it refers. Some passages are valuable for their factual content, while others are interesting chiefly for their point of view. Many of them, naturally, betray a lack of insight and historical perspective by reason of their contemporary character. For that reason they are accompanied by explanatory notes which indicate their setting and refer the reader to recent research.