Posted on 02/22/2010 4:33:31 PM PST by Salvation
"Almighty God; We make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy holy protection; that Thou wilt incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government; and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow citizens of the United States at large.
And finally that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation. Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
If you go and review his published pre-Revolution letters, especially those to his friend and land agent William Crawford, you'll find that he was a fairly selfish schemer and cheated his own F&I War Virginia Regiment veterans out of valuable lands in the Ohio Valley.
Of course he wasn't the only land jobber doing this at the time, but his ruthless ambition for land and wealth clearly comes through in his correspondence with his brothers and Crawford and also the last two royal governor of Virginia, Lord Botetourt and Lord Dunmore.
It's historical fact, and I can provide citations for anyone who asks.
I agree.
Great find!
I think the article alluded to that. Simple person, many faults. But a good general and leader.
And to think we don’t have a national holiday for this great man.
He had great charisma, both in battle and with his peers at the tables in the inns and taverns after a day at Independence Hall. He took less of a role in drafting and debating to a large part because he played the role of adjudicator, not advocate. That role was one that was equally sought by him and bestowed on him.
I can't recommend too highly Flexner’s well respected “Washington, The Indispensable Man.” Several decades old and still the best work on George Washington available.
Oldplayer
Thank you for the ping. Excellent.
George Washington would be ripped to shreds if he were in todays American political spectrum. The media would Palinize him X100.
I read a fairly sympathetic biography of him recently. It said he saw that the slave-owning economic model was going down the tubes. He decided on tenant farming, based on practices in Pennsylvania. Later in life, abolitionists persuaded him that he shouldn’t hold slaves, but he didn’t feel he had the right to get rid of his wife’s slaves, since she inherited them, not him. Also, he worried about some of the elderly ones who would be unemployable if freed. I think the best he came up with was to not use any on land that was not his wife’s.
Another insight he had was that shipping your product to England on somebody else’s ship, and letting a guy on the other end buy for you what he thought you needed was for the birds. He bought his own ships, and cut out the middle man. The guy had an eye for business that the other VA farmers did not, because he felt he had to make his own way, and not just manage his wife’s lands.
Also, as to the expenses he incurred, he was committed to looking the part of an impressive general. So, yes, he spent a lot on uniforms. It seemed to help him maintain authority. Also, clothing back then was more expensive than mass-produced clothing is. Good fabric and good construction was indeed pricey, and social position had its imperatives. I don’t think we can blame them for not being as egalitarian as many of us are now. We have to look at it from the context of the time.
He also did a fair job of managing Alexander Hamilton. That guy was insanely smart and overly ambitious. (I read another biography of him a couple years ago.) I think Washington did a good job of getting the benefit of Hamilton’s economic knowledge, without letting Hamilton get anywhere in his worst military scheming.
True, he was not perfect, but as a national leader, founding a unique democracy, do you know anyone who has done even better?
” and lacked the charisma of many of his successors” On the contrary, he was powerfully impressive in person. No, orator —because of his teeth-—he was physically powerful, and” the best horseman in America.” He could bellow like a bull on the battlefield, had a sailor’s vocabulary when he chose to use it.
Washington was also an expansionist. He was the last president until Jackson who knew the West. During the 1780’s he sought to create the Potomac canal from Alexandria west to the mountains and go the rest of the way to the Ohio Valley by road. He failed by want of capital and engineering talent in America. he was in every state, and lost every bit of Virginia parochialism. he shared Hamilton’s economic ideas, and certainly was influenced by Hamilton’s anti-slavery opinions. Hamilton and Jay were leaders of the abolitionist movement in NY.
“George Washington would be ripped to shreds if he were in todays American political spectrum. The media would Palinize him X100.”
Washington would rip them to shreads right back.
He was a very industrious man and dedicated to his priciples.
He could have been king if he wanted. He was asked to be king even though he had just defeated one.
He was president of the Continental Crongress tasked to write our current constitution and set the precedent of volutarily stepping down from a ruling position for the first time in human history.
Thanks for that recommendation. I’ll look for that book.
Nevertheless, he was our President at that time and kept our country together through wartime and a tenuous beginning.
Give him some credit.
Respectfully disagree. There were low-lives at the founding. We know of Washington and Roger Sherman for instance because of their character and virtue. We know of others, Jefferson and Paine for instance, who talked a good game but were without virtue. Human nature doesn't change. Some of the venal will always rise to the top.
Far as those in congress today and those waiting in the wings, that is a very broad statement to make. How can they possible be all the same? Michelle Bachmann is in Congress. So is Charlie Rangel. Rubio is waiting in the wings but so is Chris Dodd's replacement who is no better than Dodd.
My comment was meant in sarcasm. Washington towers above the giants of our founding.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.