Courtesy Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Washington Irving was one of the most famous American authors of the nineteenth century. While he is primarily remembered for short stories such as “Rip van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” he also penned an extensive biography of George Washington.

Irving tapped the popular imagination and opened authorship to new kinds of writers. He believed that a republic was more than a political form: A republic of the imagination invested in the promise of a spirited people by keeping alive the memory of a host of appealing characters, whether fictional or real.