[368]

Post-presidency (1797–1799)
Further information: Post-presidency of George Washington
Retirement
Washington retired to Mount Vernon in March 1797 and devoted time to his plantations and other business interests, including his distillery.[369] His plantation operations were only minimally profitable,[48] and his lands in the west (Piedmont) were under Indian attacks and yielded little income, with the squatters there refusing to pay rent. He attempted to sell these but without success.[370] He became an even more committed Federalist. He vocally supported the Alien and Sedition Acts and convinced Federalist John Marshall to run for Congress to weaken the Jeffersonian hold on Virginia.[371]
Washington grew restless in retirement, prompted by tensions with France, and he wrote to Secretary of War James McHenry offering to organize President Adams' army.[372] In a continuation of the French Revolutionary Wars, French privateers began seizing American ships in 1798, and relations deteriorated with France and led to the "Quasi-War". Without consulting Washington, Adams nominated him for a lieutenant general commission on July 4, 1798, and the position of commander-in-chief of the armies.[373] Washington chose to accept, and he served as the commanding general from July 13, 1798, until his death 17 months later.