General Washington Welcomes an Honored Guest
George Washington meets Phillis Wheatley
George Washington stands in his Cambridge headquarters across the Charles River from the British troops stationed in Boston waiting to formally receive the famous poet Phillis Wheatley. Wheatley, though only 23 years old, is already a famous poet. Her first and only volume of poetry, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, was published in 1773 and gained notoriety in England and the colonies. It is now early 1776 and the War for Independence has begun in earnest.
Like so many others in colonial America, Wheatley went through a transformation in her feelings toward British authority and about colonial liberty. She started out like Washington himself, with feelings of obedient approbation toward the British crown, followed by dissatisfaction and mild admonition, which ultimately transformed into full support of the revolutionary ideals and liberty from Great Britain.
By the mid-1770s, Wheatley was a strong supporter of American independence. She wrote numerous poems about the Revolution and liberty. She wrote poems about the Stamp Act and the Boston Massacre. In 1775…
