When Washington crossed the Delaware why did he stand up in the boat?

Question

When Washington crossed the Delaware why did he stand up in the boat?

Answer 1

It is unlikely that (crossing a dark and ice blocked river at night) he would have stood up.  But it makes a more dramatic painting.  Call it poetic license

Answer 2

If you are referring to the famous painting by Emanuel Leutze which depicts this scene you are asking about a fictional scene. Sure, General Washington crossed the Delaware river at some point, probably in a boat similar to the one in the painting, but this painting was not done from life. It is only what the artist imagined the scene would have looked like. Leutze probably positioned Washington as he did in order to make him the main focal point of the picture. Otherwise he would just be one of many dark figures in a boat. The pose tells the viewer of the General's power, importance and command.

Answer 3

because he was posing for the camera

Answer 4

He had just farted.

Answer 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbRom1Rz8...

Washington did a lot more than just stand up in a boat...

Answer 6

He didn't. Thay just made it like that in the painting so it would look better.

Answer 7

He was trying to see through the fog.

Answer 8

While running into HUGE chucks of ice, that weighed several times the weight of the loaded boat, only fools stand up to be tossed out into freezing water by running into the ice.

  Standing or sitting, you feet are in the water in the bottom of the boat.   If it is so deep you have to stand so your butt does not get wet, you are sinking, and need to SIT DOWN and BAIL... NOW!

  Fisher's "Crossing" is considered fiction- very accurate fiction, but he made up some of the dialoge.  Nor does he seem to know much about boats!

Answer 9

You do realize that the artist wasn't actually THERE, right?  The painting wasn't made until 1851.

"Washington's stance, obviously intended to depict him in a heroic fashion, would have been very hard to maintain in the stormy conditions of the crossing. Debunkers of the painting's historical accuracy have traditionally said that Washington would have been sitting down; historian David Hackett Fischer has argued, however, that everyone would have been standing up to avoid the icy water in the bottom of the boat (the actual boats used had higher sides)."