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Bibliographic Essay

Mason Locke Weems's colorful prose--in his biographies, tracts, and letters--remains a delight to read and a marvelous window onto the early nineteenth century. His Life of George Washington appeared in dozens of nineteenth-century editions, originally as M. L. Weems, A History, of the Life and Death, Virtues and Exploits, of General George Washington (Georgetown, 1800). The sixth edition (Philadelphia, 1808) introduced many of the famous stories, including the cherry tree. The two important scholarly editions were edited by Marcus Cunliffe (Cambridge, Mass., 1962) and by Peter Onuf (Armonk, N.Y., and London, 1996). Onuf's introduction places Weems's Washington squarely within the Jeffersonian context and provides useful biographical information on Weems (see xvii-xx). The other essential primary text is Emily Ellsworth Ford Skeel, ed., Mason Locke Weems: His Works and Ways, 3 vols. (New York, 1929), which contains Weems's extant correspondence, descriptive bibliography for all the editions of Weems's works, and copious extracts from contemporary reviews including elusive newspaper squibs. St. George Tucker's April 4, 1813 letter to William Wirt appeared in John P. Kennedy, Memoirs of the Life of William Wirt, Attorney General of the United States (Philadelphia, 1849).

Recent scholarship on Weems is voluminous, as the peddling parson has become a cultural icon of the early republic. I've referred here to R. Laurence Moore, Selling God: American Religion in the Marketplace of Culture (New York and Oxford, 1994), 20-24; Steven Watts, The Republic Reborn: War and the Making of Liberal America, 1790-1820 (Baltimore and London, 1987), 142-144; Jay Fliegelman, Prodigals and Pilgrims: The American Revolution Against Patriarchal Authority, 1750-1800 (Cambridge, 1982), 201; T. Hugh Crawford, "Images of Authority, Strategies of Control: Cooper, Weems, and George Washington," South Central Review 11 (Spring 1994), 61-74. Lewis G. Leary's biography, The Book-Peddling Parson: An Account of the Life and Works of Mason Locke Weems, Patriot, Pitchman, Author, and Purveyor of Morality to the Citizenry of the Early United States of America (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1984), is also helpful; and Catherine Clinton, "Wallowing in a Swamp of Sin: Parson Weems, Sex and Murder in Early South Carolina," in The Devil's Lane: Sex and Race in the Early South, ed. Catherine Clinton and Michele Gillespie (New York and London, 1997), 24-36, provides useful information on Weems's sermon-tracts. My own book, Constructing American Lives: Biography and Culture in Nineteenth-Century America (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1999), explains the early-republican debate over biography at greater length and discusses Weems extensively. The quotations about James Parton and biographical truth appeared originally in "Aaron Burr," Southern Literary Messenger 26 (May 1858), 322-323; Harriet Beecher Stowe to James Parton, n.d., James Parton Papers, Houghton Library, Harvard University. For an article geared toward a more popular audience, see Will Molineux, "The Cherry Tree, the Silver Dollar, and Parson Weems: Blessed by Imagination, a Preacher Takes for his Text the Parables of George Washington," Colonial Williamsburg 22 (Spring 2000) 36-43.

Weems's letters to Mathew Carey and other publishers, which appear in Skeel's Mason Locke Weems: His Works and Ways, reveal much about print culture in the era before mass production and distribution. Secondary scholarship draws heavily on this correspondence: see James N. Green, "'The Cowl Knows Best What Will Suit in Virginia': Parson Weems on Southern Readers," Printing History 17 (1995): 26-34; James Gilreath, "Mason Weems, Mathew Carey, and the Southern Booktrade, 1794-1810," Publishing History 10 (1981): 27-49; Ronald J. Zboray, "The Book Peddler and Literary Dissemination: The Case of Parson Weems," Publishing History [Great Britain] 25 (1989): 27-44; Jason Epstein, "The Rattle of Pebbles," New York Review of Books 47 (April 27, 2000), 59.

For earlier twentieth-century material on Weems and Washington's reputation, see Robert Partin, "The Changing Images of George Washington from Weems to Freeman," Social Studies 56 (February 1965): 52-59. On Grant Wood's painting, see Cecile Whiting, "American Heroes and Invading Barbarians: The Regionalist Response to Fascism," in Prospects: An Annual of American Cultural Studies, vol. 13, ed. Jack Salzman (Cambridge, 1988): 295-324. On Virgil Thomson's ballet score, see Anthony Tommasini, Virgil Thompson: Composer on the Aisle (New York and London, 1997), 513.

I refer to these Weems-related web sites. Taylor Davis, "Overlooking Mount Vernon: After Wood's 'Parson Weems' Fable," Oak Grove Review (1998); David E. Leininger, "The Ten Commandments. #9 - No False Witness" (sermon delivered at St. Paul Presbyterian Church, Greensboro, N.C., November 22, 1998); "Buchanan Brigade Library--Our American Heritage" (1996); Linda Chavez, "How America Lost Its Moral Compass," Jewish World Review, August 18, 1998; and the Weems-Botts Museum, which includes links to a biographical page on Weems, activities at the museum, and the Peddling Parson shop. Weems-related newspaper articles discussed include Ann O'Hanlon, "He's the Cherry of a Curator's Eye: George Washington's First Biographer Gets a Place in History at a Tiny Museum," Washington Post, February 19, 1996, p. E1; Michael Lewis, "The Capitalist: The Lying Game," New York Times, April 23, 1995, sec. 6, p. 24.

Edmund Morris's book is Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan (New York, 1999). It generated widespread commentary as soon as Morris's approach became known--even before the book appeared. I quote from the following: Joyce Appleby, "Biography Lite: It's Tasty, But Check the Label," Washington Post, September 26, 1999, p. B1; Alan Brinkley, "Good Writing Gone Bad," Slate, October 4, 1999; Dinesh D'Souza, "Last Gasp of the Intelligentsia," Slate, October 4, 1999; Joseph J. Ellis, "Role of a Lifetime," Washington Post, October 3, 1999, p. X01; Michiko Kakutani, "A Biographer Who Claims A License To Blur Reality," New York Times, October 2, 1999, p. A15; Charles Krauthammer, "Edmund Morris's Whydunit," Washington Post, October 1, 1999, p. A33; Judith Shulevitz, "Who Framed Ronald Reagan," Slate, September 29, 1999; Gore Vidal, "A Biographer Who Writes Himself Into the Picture," New York Times, September 26, 1999, p. A17; Linton Weeks, "How to Pen One For the Gipper: Reagan Biographer Edmund Morris Defends His 'Dutch' Treatment," Washington Post, September 30, 1999, p. C1; Linton Weeks, "Can Put it Down! 'Dutch' Generates A Blizzard of Buzz," Washington Post, October 4, 1999, p. C1; George F. Will, "A Dishonorable Work," Washington Post, September 29, 1999, p. A29.

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