Free Republic

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Yes, fellow citizens, that tall man you saw Tuesday night promenading around State Circle in Annapolis while wearing a blue and buff lieutenant general's uniform and a sword was none other than George Washington. The commanding officer of the Continental Army and first president of the United States was here to visit the town where, as a young man in the mid-1700s, he enjoyed all kinds of sporting events - and lost substantial sums at the horse races and gaming tables. "Reynolds Tavern," he said at one point while standing on the steps of St. Anne's...

Rare Artwork by Mount Rushmore Creator For years, it sat as a paperweight in the home of Jeane Funkhouser. In fact, her daughter, Charlene Mitchell, remembers having to dust under it the entire time she was growing up. It turns out she was dusting under what may be worth millions of dollars. For several decades, the Victoria family has been in possession of an extremely rare Steuben Glass George Washington head created by artist Gutzon Borglum, the man behind the Mount Rushmore sculpture. Funkhouser, also an artist, was given the model as a gift from Borglum's son, Lincoln Borglum, in...

Watch the "Choose George Washington" video at http://www.atlah.org

MENDHAM -- Rick Pressl burst into the board of trustees meeting, a boyish exuberance overcoming his normally reserved temperament. The retired fire chief pulled aside Tanya Sulikowski, the executive director of the Schiff Natural Lands Trust, to show off a rusty, barely recognizable object. It was a Revolutionary War era stirrup, Pressl said, his first major find while excavating the nature preserve. He would soon have much more to show the board. Photo by Hilary Klimek/For the Star-LedgerRick Pressl, a retired fire chief, and students from Ridge High School have unearthed Revolutionary War era memorabilia in Mendham, including a set...

In 1754, Lt. Col. George Washington quit the Virginia militia, an obscure fact that now seems a bit more interesting in the wake of Gov. Sarah Palin's resignation in Alaska.

Just about every American, from the time they're 6 or so, learns that Mount Vernon is Founding Father George Washington's home. They draw pictures of the grand farmhouse in art class. Study it in history. File onto buses and reverently visit the hallowed ground along the Potomac River. And right now, that's Mount Vernon's problem. There's just too much George, according to some international culture experts, who are considering whether the historic estate belongs on the United Nations' list of World Heritage sites. A group advising the U.S. government on getting American sites onto the prestigious list initially rejected Mount...

Three descendants of Venus' son, who was called West Ford, say that according to a family tradition two centuries old, George Washington was West Ford's father. They hope to develop DNA evidence from Washington family descendants and his hair samples to bolster their case... There is, however, reason to believe that if the child's father was not Washington, it might have been someone closely related to him. The cousins' claim has several elements of truth, enough to set up a historical mystery as to the identity of West Ford's father and to add a new strand to the emerging links...

According to an email received by McCabe from the office of U.S. Congressman Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), the Marion monument project has already received the blessings of U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham (R–S.C.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), as well as Congressmen Henry Brown (R–S.C.), Gresham Barrett (R–S.C.), Bob Inglis (R–S.C.), John Spratt (D–S.C.), James Clyburn (D–S.C.), and Wilson. The next step is the actual bill, which McCabe believes, will be introduced in Congress over the coming weeks.

Was America’s greatest general and first president also a political philosopher? Regent University professor Jeffry H. Morrison says yes, in his just-published book, The Political Philosophy of George Washington. He recently took questions from NRO’s John J. Miller. JOHN J. MILLER: George Washington was a lot of things — a general, a president, a symbol of hope and inspiration for people with wooden teeth — but was he also an intellectual? Did he actually develop a political philosophy? JEFFRY H. MORRISON: He was and he did, though it sounds a little highfalutin to put it that way. Washington developed a...

God & George Washington by: Alanna Hultz, April 21, 2009 In Tara Ross and Joseph C. Smith Junior’s book Under God: George Washington and the Question of Church and State they discuss George Washington’s view of religion and how it played a role in church and state. They also examine Thomas Jefferson’s views on religion and how they differed from George Washington’s. Ross and Smith believe “George Washington knew that the miraculous care of Providence had enabled him to survive the French and Indian War.” During the war Washington escaped unharmed even though he had 4 bullets in his coat...

The opening of a sex shop in the historic district of Alexandria, Va., has generated outrage among local residents, who claim such a business sullies an area once frequented by the Founding Fathers. Were there sex shops in George Washington's day? No. There is little record of sex toys, let alone a sex toy industry, from America's Colonial era. To the extent that Colonials used sex props, they would have made them on their own. (In one of the few references to sex and inanimate objects from the time, a 17th-century New York court described a prostitute flamboyantly measuring her...

"Guard against the postures of pretended patriotism."-

Despite the outward signs last Monday, there's actually no such holiday as President's Day to be found in the federal statutes. Or should that be Presidents' Day? Or just plain old, apostrophe-less Presidents Day? Like its legal standing, even the name of the holiday is uncertain Unmoored from the past, like a Presidents' Day connected to no particular president, holidays lose their meaning. Honor all presidents and you honor none; pretend all presidents are equal and they all fade into an equal obscurity. It would be a harmless practice, designating the third Monday in February as an all-purpose, all-presidents holiday,...

WHY WE DON'T CELEBRATE 'HISTORIANS DAY'February 18, 2009Being gracious winners, this week, liberals howled with delight at George Bush for coming in seventh-to-last in a historians' ranking of the presidents from best to worst. This was pretty shocking. Most liberals can't even name seven U.S. presidents. Being ranked one of the worst presidents by "historians" is like being called "anti-American" by the Nation magazine. And by "historian," I mean a former member of the Weather Underground, who is subsidized by the taxpayer to engage in left-wing political activism in a cushy university job. So congratulations, George Bush! Whenever history professors...

In 1789, America got its first President, George Washington, and its first R.C, Bishop, John Carroll. At the time of the former’s death in 1799, Bishop Caroll gave the following eulogy on the Founding Father’s passing:

On February 16, the United States will celebrate the birth of one of its greatest—and least acknowledged—entrepreneurs: George Washington. Washington's political and military exploits are of course well-known: He was a member of colonial Virginia's House of Burgesses and a delegate to the Continental Congress; he led the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and won a hard-fought victory for independence; and he served as the first president of these United States. Yet his business ventures are impressive in their own right. During America's time as an English colony, Washington ran a fishing operation that processed 1.5 million fish per...

Founders Quote Daily "There exists in the economy and course of nature, an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy, and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity; since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained." --George Washington, First Inaugural Address, 1789

George Washington – The Preservation of the Nation as a Whole Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together; the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels, and joint efforts of common dangers,...

Washington Crosses the Delaware, 1776 Back | EyeWitnesstoHistory.com Washington Crosses the Delaware, 1776 December 1776 was a desperate time for George Washington and the American Revolution. The ragtag Continental Army was encamped along the Pennsylvania shore of the Delaware River exhausted, demoralized and uncertain of its future. The troubles had begun the previous August when British and Hessian troops invaded Long Island routing the colonial forces, forcing a desperate escape to the island of Manhattan. The British followed up their victory with an attack on Manhattan that compelled the Americans to again retreat, this time across the Hudson River...

The year 2008 will not go down as a banner year in American history. It has been, as Queen Elizabeth described 1992, the year of the Diana-Charles divorce, an “annus horribilis.” Financial implosions at home, upheavals abroad, and the specter of unemployment stalk too many families this holiday season. But no matter how bad we think we have it — no matter how awful we think it can get — our problems are but a pittance compared to the horrors that were staring George Washington in the face during the Christmas season 202 years ago....

President-elect Barack Obama is asking the country to look to George Washington's improbable crossing on the Delaware River on Christmas Day as inspiration to get through current tough times. Obama said in a holiday message that Washington and his army "faced impossible odds" as they fought against the British on Dec. 25, 1776, the day they surprised Hessian forces and won victories that gave new momentum and hope to American Independence. Obama used that story to say that "hope endures and that a new birth of peace is always possible" — even as many Americans are serving overseas and others...

“My brave fellows, you have done all I asked you to do, and more than could be reasonably expected, but your country is at stake … The present is emphatically the crisis which is to decide our destiny.” Gen. George Washington in an appeal to his troops following the surprise attack on the Hessians at Trenton, December 26, 1776....

Christmas Night, 1776 By Newt Gingrich On Christmas Day, 1776, nearly all thought the Revolution was lost, except for a valiant few who still believed in "The Cause." We owe our liberty today to those valiant few. Led by George Washington, most of his army, dressed in rags and barefoot, faced a winter gale of rain, sleet, ice and snow. This band of patriots braved a midnight river crossing and a nine mile march over frozen roads to win a spectacular victory at Trenton, New Jersey, the following morning. Those were indeed times, as Thomas Paine would write, that "try...

Imagine this: It's Christmas day in Pennsylvania. Cold weather, rain, sleet and snow are the order of the day. The Revolutionary War is almost over, and the British are about to win, leaving America under British control. Indeed, most of the colonists at the time believed that the war was over and the cause was lost. So much so that even local businesses and banks were refusing to give credit to the pro-Freedom cause or anyone connected with it. Nonetheless, a Colonial General and 2400 of his men took shelter on the Pennsylvania banks of the Delaware river. They were...

George Washington showed a keen awareness of political symbolism back in 1789 when he was preparing for his first inauguration. "The cloth and buttons which accompanied your favor of the 30th ... really do credit to the manufacturers of this country," Washington said in a letter to Acting Secretary of War Henry Knox. The letter was displayed at a news conference today at the National Archives. Archives historian Marvin Pinkert said Washington had made a conscious decision to have his inaugural suit made in Boston instead of in one of the European fashion centers. "It's striking that the president was...

racial discrimination in the Arab world ... Yemeni paper Al-Tagheer ...the paper had space to tackle another serious social ill in Yemeni society: racial discrimination. The celebrated Yemeni poet Ali Al-Maquarri warned that Yemen's blacks, pejoratively called Al-Akhdam (servants), are ill- treated and suffer a fate far worse than slavery and that they have to contend with systematic racial discrimination. His novel "Black tastes, black odours", was received with much critical acclaim in his native Yemen and elsewhere in the Arab world. Al-Maquarri's views, the paper said, will hopefully prompt others -- media workers, writers and human rights activists --...

In September 1789, Congress asked President George Washington to “recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a Constitution of government for their safety and happiness.” Washington complied, and in early October sent a proclamation to the governors of the states. The proclamation asked the governors to make Thursday, November 26 a day of Thanksgiving, saying it “is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty...

General Thanksgiving By the PRESIDENT of the United States Of America A PROCLAMATION WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a DAY OF PUBLIC THANKSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many single favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a...

resident George Washington proclaimed Thursday November 26, 1789 as a day of national thanksgiving to God "for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degreee of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;...

9 PM National Geographic channel--available in HD....The Real George Washington DO NOT MISS!! Ride to tell the neighbours...tell the kids! Your Obdt. Svt. P_____y

George Washington was acutely aware that his presidency would set the course for all that followed. No where is that clearer than the way that Washington handled the "Whiskey Rebellion" that began August 1, 1794 near the end of his first term. The Whiskey Tax was the original "sin tax" conceived by Alexander Hamilton as a way to pay off the Federal Government's assumption of the country's Revolutionary War debt. Adversely affected by the new sin tax were some Pennsylvania farmers who were thought to be a few over consuming (whiskey) "bumpkins" by the government "elites." These bumpkins resorted to...

As the election draws nears, it seems that O’Biden can’t help but dole out clues as to who they really are. Those clues include: · O’Biden telling us that paying more taxes is "patriotic;" · O’Biden lowering the income level as to who is going to suffer their tax increase from $250,000 to $150,000 and now perhaps $120,000 – and that’s just what is advertised; and · O’Biden telling us that our desire not to pay higher taxes is selfish. There are so many points to be made here, but I shall try to confine it to just two: 1....

The children of Paul Emery Washington think of their father as an unpretentious, generous guy who climbed the corporate ladder to become regional manager at CertainTeed manufacturing, a building-supply company. Now 82, he takes care of his wife, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, while spending time on the San Antonio, Texas, property that he shares with his children. "I think he would've been a great king," says son Bill Washington—a statement, we admit, that might seem a little odd. Except that Paul Emery Washington is a direct descendant of George Washington, our nation's first president and perhaps the only man...

The May fire aboard the carrier George Washington that injured 37 sailors, caused $70 million in damage and delayed the ship’s forward deployment to Japan was “entirely preventable,” according to the Pacific Fleet commander in a final report made public Friday. Adm. Robert Willard faulted the ship’s leadership for improperly handling the conditions that led to the fire. And he blamed inadequate firefighting training for the long amount of time it took to locate and extinguish the fire. Willard also aimed higher, questioning naval leaders in Hawaii, San Diego and Norfolk about “possible shortcomings” while the ship was undergoing training...

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — Thousands of people crowded onto Yokosuka Naval Base’s Pier 12 on Thursday to welcome the aircraft carrier USS George Washington to its new home in Japan. The historic significance of the event was repeatedly emphasized by U.S. Navy and Japanese military officials, as the George Washington is the only nuclear-powered ship to be forward deployed to Japan. "I think this is beautiful," said Chief Petty Officer Cleo Bowie, who was among a smaller group of George Washington sailors who arrived ahead of the ceremony. "A lot of people maybe haven’t really taken it in yet,...

TOKYO — Groups opposed to Thursday’s arrival of the USS George Washington to Yokosuka Naval Base say demonstrations will grow in size and number in upcoming days. "We want to express our opposition to America," Masahiko Goto, a lawyer and leader of a Yokosuka citizen’s group, said Tuesday. "We want a withdrawal of the deployment." On the day of the ship’s arrival to its new forward-deployed base, a rally will be held at 6 a.m. at Kannonzaki Park near Uraga station, where protesters can watch the carrier as it approaches, organizers said. Protesters also will embark on boats to follow...

"If I could have entertained the slightest apprehension that the Constitution framed by the convention, where I had the honor to preside, might possibly endanger the religious rights of any ecclesiastical society, I would never have placed my signature to it." -- George Washington -- There is an ever-growing debate in America over the relationship between government and religion. In recent times, Constitutional law, or at least the modern-day interpretation thereof, has moved from one of accommodation concerning religion to a position many call hostile to the expression of personal faith in the public square. From their writings, it's clear...

Does George Washington's warning about political parties resonate with Americans in 2008? Or will this just not make sense to people? "The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissention, which in different ages & countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders & miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security & repose in the absolute power of an Individual: and sooner or later the chief of some...

(Fourth in a series of ten) Most Americans don’t know there was another U.S. government before the Constitution was drafted. Simplified books and courses leave out the Articles of Confederation, the government of the United States for its first eleven years. There were several fatal defects in the Articles of Confederation, and one was its presidency. Concerned with the dangerous powers of the king of England and monarchies generally, the first dramers created a presidency which was too weak. The "President of the United States in Congress Assembled" was elected for a one-year term by Congress itself. That "President" had...

Researchers announced Wednesday that remains excavated in the last three years were those of the long-sought dwelling, on the old family farm in Virginia 50 miles south of Washington. The house stood on a terrace overlooking the Rappahannock River, where legend has it the boy threw a stone or a coin across to Fredericksburg.

So…On this week in which we celebrate the birth of our nation and the liberties and freedoms which our predecessors have fought so hard to uphold, I bring you a simple message; a reminder and a warning from our First President and the man who was charged with uniting and building this great nation...

Fire damage aboard the USS George Washington will delay the swap out with USS Kitty Hawk and may push back the carrier’s arrival to Japan, the Navy announced. The Kitty Hawk, which left Yokosuka last month for eventual decommissioning in Bremerton, Wash., was to turn over duties to the George Washington this month at Pearl Harbor. The aircraft carrier transfer will now happen in San Diego in August, according to a Navy release. The George Washington is already in San Diego undergoing repairs. A May 22 fire aboard the George Washington damaged electrical cabling and components in about 80 of...

The USS Kitty Hawk will have to remain in the Pacific longer than initially planned after its replacement, the USS George Washington, was damaged by a recent fire, a Navy official said. The two carriers were to meet in Pearl Harbor next week for a "hull swap," with the newer George Washington taking over for the 47-year-old Kitty Hawk, the oldest active-duty warship in the fleet. About 900 Kitty Hawk sailors and the carrier’s air wing were expected to transfer to the George Washington. But a fire broke out on the George Washington on May 22, while the carrier was...

The North Texas Masonic Historical Museum & Library invites you to experience a unique American and Masonic Treasure. For the first time ever, the George Washington Inaugural Bible will be in North Texas on the weekend of June 28, 2008. This King James Bible, on loan from St. John’s Lodge No. 1 of New York, is the Bible that George Washington placed his hand upon while taking his Presidential oath of office in 1789. This Bible was also chosen by Presidents Warren G. Harding, Dwight D. Eisenhower, James E. Carter, and George H.W. Bush, and it was also utilized at...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- One sailor was treated for first-degree burns and 23 others for heat stress after a fire on a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier burned for hours, the Navy said Friday. The U.S. Navy described a fire as "serious" aboard the USS George Washington. There were no fatalities on the ship.

Name your three top American Revolution Heroes

ONE OF THE most important dates in American history passed unnoticed last weekend. It was the 225th anniversary of the day we didn't become a banana republic. It ought to be a national holiday, right up there with July Fourth. But hardly anybody remembers it any more. The date was March 15, 1783. The Revolutionary War had just been won. Trouble was, the army hadn't been paid during the war. They were promised that they'd get their money when the war was over; but now that the time had come, Congress was reneging on that pledge. Resentment rippled through the...

Getting there: Route 95 south to Washington, D.C., cross the Potomac River on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, move to the far right lane. After crossing the bridge, take the exit for Route 1 north, marked Alexandria. Once on Route 1, make the first right turn, onto Franklin Street. Turn right again at Washington Street, which is marked for Mount Vernon. Washington Street becomes the George Washington Parkway as you leave Alexandria, and Mount Vernon is 8 miles south, at the large traffic circle at the end of the parkway. Info: 703-780-2000 or mountvernon.org. Hours: Basement is open weekends from 9...