At the very least, those that were writers we can still read their words, and can get a feel for who they were as people (or at least how they wanted to be pres

At the very least, those that were writers we can still read their words, and can get a feel for who they were as people (or at least how they wanted to be presented as people), their ideas, and what they cared about. George Washington, for example, was a prolific writer. Here's a link to 14 volumes of his writings (mostly letters, journals, and speeches, it looks like): https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/washington-the-writings-of-george-washington-14-vols https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/washington-the-writings-o... As an example, here's an interesting letter I ran into of him sending a letter to a captain telling him to sell a negro he included with the letter as a slave and fetch him certain goods in return: https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/washington-the-writings-of-george-washington-vol-ii-1758-1775#lf1450-02_head_079 https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/washington-the-writings-o...