4th. Washington was a visionary.
He learned the vastness of the American landscape during his surveying career and during the French and Indian War. Early on, he realized that the West was a land of opportunity, and he believed that the colonies had more in common with one another than with Great Britain. Washington’s vision of an American nation inspired him to command the Continental army. It gave him the courage to risk his reputation by serving two terms as president. It also gave him a concern for the political and economic survival and success of America, not only for his generation but also for future citizens, whom he called “millions unborn.”
5th. Washington was exceedingly practical.
He had little inclination toward philosophical ruminations; he was a man of action. Whether supplying troops, overseeing his plantations, or guiding his stepchildren and grandchildren, Washington always had in mind some practical end. This quality gave him insight into how to join his personal interests and well-being with those of the emerging nation. It also gave him the greatest moral quandary, in that he could see no way out of participating in the system of slave labor that underpinned his native Virginia. To his credit, wrestling with that quandary eventually led him to free his own slaves, although it meant dismantling his beloved Mount Vernon estate and upending the lives of his wife’s slaves, to whom he could not legally grant freedom.
6th. Washington suffered great failure and loss.
He lost his father when he was 11; his half-brother and mentor when he was 20; his stepdaughter, Patsy; and his stepson, Jacky. He failed to win a British army commission, lost important battles, and survived attempts made on his life. As a president who warned against factions, his popularity waned as partisan bickering turned on him. His farms suffered through years of drought, and his western lands drained time and resources. He endured serious illnesses and was denied the wish of his final years, to “glide gently down the stream of life in tranquil retirement,” when he was struck down with a sudden and fatal illness.
One of my favorite Washington quotes - because he was talking about my people...
“If all else fails, I will retreat up the valley of Virginia, plant my flag on the Blue Ridge, rally around the Scotch-Irish of that region, and make my last stand for liberty amongst a people who will never submit to British tyranny whilst there is a man left to draw a trigger.”
George Washington, at Valley Forge.
One of heroes. When they made him, they indeed broke the mold. My daughter gave a speech about him which was delivered well. She did not receive any recognition because it was not PC enough. Afterall, our kids are taught that he owned slaves and that is pretty much all they know about him.
"Droll"?
I do not think that word means what you think it means...
The man who could have been a King, but founded a Republic instead, like Brutus.
The man who led our armies to victory, only to beat his sword into a plowshare and go back to the land, like Cincinnatus.
I remember reading that Washington strove at all times to observe strict propriety in all things and was excessively careful about appearances, his own and that of his associates… he never wanted to appear as anything short of proper and a gentleman.
America showed King George III what they thought of hereditary monarchies and made itself into a country without an aristocracy (truly a novel idea)... that said, the real distinction between people was not wealth, titles or rank.
Nothing demonstrated your status in society so much as your demeanor. No matter what you owned or what rank you held, if you did not possess acceptable manners and correct deportment, you would be excluded from good society and would be held in low esteem. No on wanted to be seen in that light.
Little known fact. He hates Barrack Obama.
Patriot ping.
“First in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”
The only thing your kid knows if taught at a public school:
He owned slaves
/***src off***/
Thanks for posting this on Washington’s Birthday.
BTTT!
Excellent piece. BTTT...
Washington: “Integrity and firmness are all I can promise,”
It was the quality and integrity of the men who began our republic that brought about our form of government. The King of France at the time, I don’t remember his name, once said that he was not surprised that Washington was elected president of the newly formed United States. What completely floored him was when Washington stepped down after his two term presidency ended.
The French king had assumed that George Washington would be just like any other man who was placed in power - to make himself a king. I think the word this king used was “astonished” at Washington’s actions.
This is why I’m not sure a democratic republic works as well any where else. You have to have leaders who truly care more for the health of their country than for their own personal gain.
The Founders were definitely flawed men, as we all are, but they knew enough of history and human nature to establish our form of government on the idea that “all men are created egual and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights”. So, the rights we enjoy were not “granted” to us by a constitution or by the whims of the government. No, the Founders stated unequivocally that our value and rights are granted us by God and that no human government has the right to take those away. Instead, the role of our constitution was to place limits on what the government could do and, further, declared that the main role of the federal government was to protect those God-given rights.
Somehow, this has gotten all backward today.
WE need to teach these things at home, for they won’t be taught in our socialist schools - there, Che is the hero
give you kids history lessons at home - and watch these together and dicuss
Thre’s a great TV series too - forget the name.
But here’s a DVD -
http://shop.history.com/detail.php?a=76018
We are to blame if our kids don’t learn our real history...if we don’t have the time and committment - we have no room to fault anyone else.
I am proud to share Washington’s birthday. And on a much lesser note, the day (30 years ago) when the USA beat Russia in the Olympics. As an 11 year old soul brother from the ‘hood in the noted hockey town of Los Angeles, I wasn’t a hockey fan yet. Oh how excited I would have been!
Someone else might have the details but I got the essence right.
I didn’t see any reference to the fact that Washington was a Federalist, not a “compact theory” Jeffersonian.
Didn’t know if you saw this.