George Washington

George Washington, a decorated general and the first president of the United States of America, was fascinated with expanding his agricultural product. Like other plantation owners of the time, he too was having to deal with the shrinking tobacco market, a market which had previously been the money maker and lifeblood of Virginia plantations and their owners. Seeing an opportunity to expand he, like Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, Peyton Randolph, and Lord Dunmore, decided to invest and receive shares in Philip Mazzei’s Agricultural company. Unlike Thomas Jefferson, George Washington did not seem to share any sort of friendship with Philip Mazzei. In their few letters exchanged the topics discussed were mainly pertaining to the company and particularly wine. In one letter exchanged between the two men, Philip Mazzei apologized for not keeping in reasonable contact with George Washington and then proceed to talk about the results of his experiments. In this letter Philip Mazzei said, based on his results, that Virginia is “better calculated than any other I am acquainted with for the produce of wine, but I cannot say the same for oil and lemons” (Mazzei 1779). Washington responded in a letter thanking Philip Mazzei for working on the “culture of the vine” and wished him an “agreeable and peaceful voyage” (Washington). Overall the letters between the two were slim and represent a cordial relationship between an investor and a business operator.  Considering there are very few sources about Washington growing grapes after this exchange, we can assume that with the failure of the Philip Mazzei Agricultural Company, he didn’t choose to pursue the idea any further, unlike Thomas Jefferson.