Working Class History Test

[Lisa & Ian Murray]

Washington may have been the wealthiest by virtue of his immense land
holdings [significant portions of Pennsylvania, plus parts of VA].  I'm
trying to remember which text has this....the dendrites have since been put
to other use....perhaps others can fill in.

Ian


> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> [mailto:owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com]On Behalf Of Tom Lehman
> Sent: Thursday, July 22, 1999 6:38 PM
> To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> Subject: Working Class History Test
> Importance: High
>
>
> A fellow who is putting together a copyrighted Working Class History
> Test for the Labor Party sent me a copy of the test for my perusal.
>
> Question #4 asks, "Who was the richest man in America at the time of the
> Revolution?  Answer, George Washington.
>
> I very seriously doubt that Washington was the richest man in America at
> the time of the Revolution---even exempting Tories from consideration.
> Everything that I have ever read indicates that Washington was "land
> poor" i.e. he owned frontier properties that produced little or no
> income.  His main source of income was from farming, and, although large
> scale not any larger than any of his neighbors.  Washington did marry
> into money, when he married Martha.  Was her fortune any larger than any
> other colonial fortune?  If anything Douglas Southall Freeman
> Washington's most thorough biographer indicates that Washington was
> broke at the end of the Revolution.
>
> Any comments from the professionals on the list?
>
> Tom Lehman
>