The Epidemic That Almost Killed The Nation

 by

       M. Richard Maxson

      George Washington was a tall man, taller than his peers. He had a vigorously sturdy constitution but his immune system was weak. He lived longer than both his father and his beloved half brother, Lawrence, who both died young of infectious diseases. He wrote to the Marquis de Lafayette in a 1784 letter, “Tho’ I was blessed with a good constitution, I was of a short lived family.” Throughout his life, he was regularly struck with illnesses and brought to the brink of death. And one of those severe illnesses, a bout of the flu in May 1790, nearly threw the new country into chaos.

      The influenza epidemic was very first observed in September 1789 in New York. We know this as fact as Noah Webster, of future dictionary fame, kept a detailed journal of epidemics, such as smallpox, in the young nation. He wrote, “Dr. [Benjamin] Rush informs me, that it was brought to Philadelphia by the members of Congress,” he wrote. From there “It overspread America, from the 15th to the 45th degree of latitude in about 6 or 8 weeks.”

      In 1790, Washington had served as the nation’s first president for just two years, and the temporary capital was in New York. The city was already crowded, by colonial standards, and its streets were positively septic. The president didn’t catch the flu the first time it came around. But after a mild winter, there was a second wave in late spring 1790. James Madison, then a member of Congress and an adviser to Washington, caught it. On April 27, Washington unwisely asked Madison to stop by for a visit at his residence anyway.

      He became ill almost immediately. Indisposed with a bad cold and in a “undesirable chilly” home all day writing letters on private business,” Washington last wrote in a journal on May 9. Soon, he was bedridden, suffering from labored breathing, sharp pains in his side, harsh coughing, and blood in his spittle.

      Then, it worsened into pneumonia. First lady Martha Washington stayed by his side constantly. The city’s best doctors were brought in to consult. Then they called in from Philadelphia the personal physician of Benjamin Franklin. Franklin had just died of an infection of the lungs. After dark, they brought the doctor into Washington’s residence so as not to alert and panic the public but rumors swirled anyway when the street around the residence was closed.

      The “new” Constitution had lacked detailed instructions on how to treat presidential incapacitation and death. Had he died then, the United States might have died with him. (It wasn’t until the 20th century that this was remedied by the 25th Amendment). Vice President John Adams, a brilliant but polarizing figure, would never have been the unifying figure needed to launch this new constitutional experiment.

       As the infighting began, Washington’s personal secretary basically ran the government for a few weeks.,” Chernow wrote. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton acted like a “de facto head of state,” while simultaneously accusing Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson of positioning himself to assume the presidency.

      On May 15, Sen. William Maclay of Pennsylvania wrote in his journal: “Called to see the president. Every eye full of tears. His life despaired of.” But on May 16, the next day, Washington took a turn for the better. Within days, his fever had faded, and he sat up in bed. Still, Washington remained in a weakened state, so drained of energy that he did not resume his daily diary until June 24^th.

      He survived, the nation survived, his immune system was still genetically weak. Washington was less than two years into his retirement when, just like his father had more than 50 years earlier, he rode his horse in the rain, caught a fast-moving illness and the Father of our country died in December 1799.