A closer look, however, casts a dark shadow over that assertion.
Washington was firmly, indeed unshakably, for the Union. On June 8, 1783, just two years after his triumph at Yorktown, Washington sent a message to all the state governors, urging them to downplay local jealousies in order to strengthen the Union. He wrote:
[I]t is indispensable to the happiness of the individual states, that there should be lodged somewhere, a supreme power to regulate and govern the general concerns of the...republic, without which the Union cannot be of long duration. That there must be a faithful and pointed compliance on the part of every state, with the...proposals and demands of Congress, or the most fatal consequences will ensue; that whatever measures have a tendency to dissolve the Union, or contribute to violate or lessen the sovereign authority, ought to be considered as hostile to the liberty and independency of America, and the authors of them treated accordingly....[W]ithout an entire conformity to the spirit of the Union, we cannot exist as an independent power.
Three years later, with the need for a stronger federal government even more apparent, Washington wrote to future Chief Justice of the United States John Jay in August 1786, "I do not conceive we can exist long as a nation without having lodged somewhere a power, which will pervade the whole Union in as energetic a manner, as the authority of the state governments extends over the several states."
In late 1786, the inhabitants of western Massachusetts took up arms against monetary policies imposed by their own elected government. Historian Edmund S. Morgan wrote that Washington "was outraged by the very idea of rebellion against a republican government...in the years that followed the winning of independence, as the power of Congress continued to wane, his great worry had been that the failure of the states to support the union would destroy our national character, and render us as contemptible in the eyes of Europe as we have it in our power to be respectable.'" The difficulties the state and national governments faced in putting down Shays' Rebellion highlighted the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and eventually led to the convening of the Constitutional Convention and the strengthening of the federal government.
After the Constitutional Convention had done its work and adjourned, Washington wrote in November 1787, "[T]here are characters who prefer disunion, or separate confederacies to the general government which is offered to them...but as nothing in my conception is more to be deprecated than disunion, or these separate confederacies, my voice, as far as it will extend, shall be offered in favor of [the Union]." Morgan wrote that once Washington was president, he "identified the national interest so closely and so personally with the new national government that he could scarcely recognize the validity of any kind of dissent...[He] had borne the brunt of a war that was needlessly prolonged because of the supineness of the central government. He had watched the nation approach the point of dissolution in the 1780s, a development that threatened everything he had fought for." Washington wrote to the Irish patriot Sir Edward Newenham in 1788 that, under the new Constitution, the United States would be "nearer to perfection than any government hitherto instituted among men." He agreed with Jefferson, who confided to him in 1794, "I can scarcely contemplate a more incalculable evil than the breaking of the union into two or more parts."
The Whiskey Rebellion
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania -- October 3, 1794
In September 1791 the western counties of Pennsylvania broke out in rebellion against a federal excise tax on the distillation of whiskey. After local and federal officials were attacked, President Washington and his advisors decided to send troops to pacify the region. It was further decided that militia troops, rather than regulars, would be sent. On August 14, 1792, under the provisions of the newly-enacted militia law, Secretary of War Henry Knox called upon the governors of Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania for 12,950 troops as a test of the President's power to enforce the law. Numerous problems, both political and logistical, had to be overcome and by October, 1794 the militiamen were on the march. The New Jersey units marched from Trenton to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. There they were reviewed by their Commander-in Chief, President George Washington, accompanied by Secretary of the Treasury and Revolutionary war veteran Alexander Hamilton. By the time troops reached Pittsburgh, the rebellion had subsided, and western Pennsylvania was quickly pacified. This first use of the Militia Law of 1792 set a precedence for the use of the militia to "execute the laws of the union, (and) suppress insurrections". New Jersey was the only state to immediately fulfill their levy of troops to the exact number required by the President. This proud tradition of service to state and nation is carried on today by the New Jersey Army and Air National Guard.
As president, Washington was true to his principles. To put down the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 -- the first major insurrection against the authority of the United States -- he used military force, demanding that federal law be obeyed. The dissolution of the Union, he wrote at the time, would be "the most dreadful of all calamities." He warned, "If the laws are to be trampled upon with impunity, and a minority (a small one too) is to dictate to the majority, there is an end put, at one stroke, to republican government." Calling on the militias of Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania to stop the armed rebellion against a federal excise tax on distilled spirits, the president announced that the military's first duty is "to combat and subdue all who may be found in arms in opposition to the national will and authority."
Once the rebellion was almost bloodlessly suppressed, he wrote to his friend and Revolutionary leader Edmund Pendleton: "I hope, and believe, that the spirit of anarchy in the western counties of [Pennsylvania], to quell which the force of the Union was called for, is entirely subdued...the spirit with which the militia turned out, in support of the Constitution, and the laws of our country...does them immortal honor. [R]epublicanism is not the phantom of a deluded imagination: on the contrary...under no form of government will laws be better supported, liberty and property better secured, nor happiness be more effectually dispensed to mankind." He also wrote in May 1797 to Revolutionary War general William Heath that Americans should be "indignant at every attempt [of those who] should presume to sow the seeds of distrust or disunion among ourselves."
Washington would have denounced the view of many Confederate leaders that the Union was merely a temporary, convenient alliance between the states. He was never in any doubt that the Union was intended to be permanent, despite the Constitution's silence on the point. In 1783 Washington wrote that the first thing "essential to the well being, I may even venture to say, to the existence of the United States as an independent power [is] an indissoluble Union of the states under one Federal head." After the Whiskey Rebellion, he wrote of his satisfaction that "my fellow citizens understand the true principles of government and liberty [and appreciate] their inseparable union." As new states and their citizens joined the Union, Washington said the nation should bind "those people to us by a chain which never can be broken."
In his Farewell Address of September 1796, Washington wrote: "To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a government for the whole is indispensable. No alliances however strict between the parts can be an adequate substitute. They must inevitably experience the infractions and interruptions which all alliances in all times have experienced...[the federal government] has a just claim to your confidence and your support. Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true liberty...the Constitution which at any time exists, 'till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government." In the address, his last major statement to the nation, Washington expressed his hope that "Union and brotherly affection may be sacredly maintained."
Given his strong support for the Union, it follows that George Washington was no zealot in defense of states' rights; far from it. In 1777, during the Revolution, he was criticized by some members of the Continental Congress for permitting New Jersey citizens who had been forced to swear allegiance to the British Crown to expunge this by swearing allegiance, not to their state, but to the United States. After the Revolution he saw, under the weak Articles of Confederation that then guided the relationship between the states, the dangers of states' preeminence over the federal government -- as when New York, with impunity, negotiated a private treaty with the Indians to its own advantage.
In a July 1783 letter to historian and educator the Rev. William Gordon, Washington wrote:
It now rests with [Congress]...to make this country great, happy, and respectable; or to sink it into littleness; worse perhaps, into anarchy and confusion; for certain I am, that unless adequate powers are given to Congress for the general purposes of the Federal Union that we shall soon moulder into dust and become contemptible....We are known by no other character among nations than as the United States; Massachusetts or Virginia is no better defined, nor any more thought of by foreign powers than the County of Worcester in Massachusetts...or Glouster County in Virginia...yet these counties, with as much propriety might oppose themselves to the laws of the state in [which] they are, as an individual state can oppose itself to the Federal Government, by which it is, or ought to be bound. [When counties] come in contact with the general interests of the state, when superior considerations preponderate in favor of the whole, their voices should be heard no more; so it should be with individual states when compared to the Union....I think the blood and treasure which has been spent [in building the nation] has been lavished to little purpose, unless we can be better cemented; and that is not to be effected while so little attention is paid to the recommendations of the sovereign power.
Washington concluded, "[W]hen the band of Union gets once broken, every thing ruinous to our future prospects is to be apprehended; the best that can come of it, in my humble opinion, is that we shall sink into obscurity, unless our civil broils should keep us in remembrance and fill the page of history with the direful consequences of them."
Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee
Following the Revolution and to the end of his days, in fact, Washington was concerned that disunion would make America the plaything of European powers. Given the diplomatic flirtations of Great Britain and France with the Confederacy, this was quite prescient. Washington wrote in 1783, "[T]he United States came into existence as a nation, and if their citizens should not be completely free and happy, the fault will be entirely their own...it is in their choice, and depends upon their conduct, whether they will be respectable and prosperous, or contemptible and miserable as a nation...[it would be an] ill-fated moment for relaxing the powers of the Union, annihilating the cement of the confederation, and exposing us to become the sport of European politics, which may play one state against another to prevent their growing importance, and to serve their own interested purposes." He insisted, "It is only in our united character...that our independence is acknowledged, that our power can be regarded, and our credit supported among foreign nations."
AVAST YE SCURVY SWINE!
Birthdates which occurred on September 19:
0086 Antoninus Pius 15th Roman emperor (138-161)
0866 Leo VI Sophos Byzantine Emperor (886-912)/writer (Problematica)
1655 Jan Luyts Netherlands, scholar/physicist/mathematician/astronomer
1737 Charles Carroll signed Decl of Ind
1802 Louis Kossuth Hungary, President of Hungary (1849)
1822 Joseph Rodman West Bvt Major General (Union volunteers)
1867 Arthur Rackham England, artist/illustrator (Grimm's Fairy Tales)
1898 Giuseppe Saragat president of Italy (1964-71)
1901 Joseph Pasternak film producer (Anchors Aweigh, Date With Judy)
1902 James Van Alen created Simplified Scoring System for tennis
1907 Lewis F Powell Jr Va, Supreme Court justice (1972-87)
1911 William Golding England, novelist (Lord of the Flies-Nobel 1983)
1914 Rogers Morton Louisville Ky, US Secretary of Interior (1968-75)
1922 Emil Zatopek Czechoslavakia, 5K/10K/marathon (Olympic-gold-1952)
1926 Edwin "Duke" Snider Bkln Dodger centerfielder (406 HRs)
1926 Lurleen Wallace (Gov-D-Ala)
1928 Adam West Walla Walla Wash, actor (Batman, Last Precinct)
1931 Brook Benton Camden, SC, singer (Rainy night in Georgia)
1932 Mike Royko Chicago, journalist (Chic Daily News)/author (Boss)
1933 David McCallum Glasgow Scot, actor (Ilyla Kuryakin-Man From UNCLE)
1940 Bill Medley Santa Ana Cal, rocker (Righteous Bros-'You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin')
1940 Paul Williams singer/composer/actor (An Old Fashioned Love Song
, Planet of the Apes)
1943 Mama Cass Elliot Balt Md, singer (Mamas & Papas-Monday Monday)
1945 David Bromberg Phila, musician (Demon in Disguise)
1945 Freda Payne Detroit Mich, singer (Band of Gold)
1945 Randolph Mantooth Sacramento Calif, actor (Emergency, Loving)
1948 Jeremy Irons England, actor (French Lieutenant's Woman)
1949 Twiggy Lawson [Leslie Hornby], England, model/actress (The Blues Brothers)
1950 Joan Lunden Fair Oaks Calif, news host (Good Morning America)
1957 Richard M Linnehan Lowell Mass, US Army Capt/astronaut
1958 Kevin Hooks Phila, actor (Sounder, Aaron Loves Angela)
1965 Debbye Turner Miss America (1990)
Deaths which occurred on September 19:
1180 Louis VII, the Younger, King of France (1137-80), dies
1356 Jean de Clermont, French marshal, dies in battle
1862 [Lewis] Henry Little US Confederate brig-gen, dies in battle at 45
1863 Preston Smith US Confederate brig-gen, dies in battle at 39
1864 Archibald Campbell Godwin Confederate brig-general, dies in battle
1864 David Allen Russell US Union general-major, dies in battle at 43
1864 Robert Emmet Rodes US Confederate gen-major, dies in battle at 35
1881 James A Garfield US president, dies of gunshot wound
1968 Red Foley country singer (Mr Smith Goes to Washington), dies at 58
1978 Rolf Gunther, East German priest, self imolation
1988 Oren Lee Staley 1st pres of Natl Farmers Org (1955-79), dies at 65
1995 Orville Reddenbacher, popcorn magnate, drowns in bathtub at 88
Take A Moment To Remember
GWOT Casualties
Iraq
19-Sep-2004 1 | US: 1 | UK: 0 | Other: 0
US Sergeant Brandon E. Adams Walter Reed Medical Ctr. Hostile - hostile fire - grenade
Afghanistan
A GOOD DAY
http://icasualties.org/oif/ Data research by Pat Kneisler
Designed and maintained by Michael White
//////////
Go here and I'll stop nagging.
http://soldiersangels.org/heroes/index.php
On this day...
1356 English defeat French at Battle of Poitiers
1559 5 Spanish ships sinks in storm off Tampa, about 600 die
1657 Brandenburg & Poland sign Treaty of Wehlau
1676 Rebels under Nathaniel Bacon set Jamestown Va on fire
1692 Giles Corey is pressed to death for standing mute and refusing to answer charges of witchcraft brought against him. He is the only person in America to have suffered this punishment.
1737 A cyclone in the Bay of Bengal hits Calcutta 3,000 people killed, 1,000s of ships destroyed.
1777 Battle of Freeman's Farm (Bemis Heights) or 1st Battle of Saratoga
1796 George Washington's farewell address as president
1846 Elizabeth Barrett & Robert Browning elopes
1848 Bond (US) & Lassell (England) independently discover Hyperion, moon of Saturn
1849 1st commercial laundry established, in Oakland, California
1862 Battle of Luka, Miss
1863 In Georgia, the two-day Battle of Chickamauga begins as Union troops under George Thomas clash with Confederates under Nathan Bedford Forrest
1864 3rd Battle of Winchester, Virginia
1870 Two Prussian armies begin a 135-day siege of Paris as the 2nd Empire collapsed.
1873 Black Friday: Jay Cooke & Co fails, causing a securities panic
1879 Thomas Ray becomes youngest to break a world track & field record pole-vaulting 11' 2¬" at age 17 years & 198 days
1890 Turkish frigate "Ertogrul" burns off of Japan, kills 540
1928 Mickey Mouse's screen debut (Steamboat Willie at Colony Theater NYC)
1934 Bruno Hauptmann arrested for kidnapping the Linbergh baby
1939 Wehrmacht murder 100 Jews in Lukov, Poland
1940 Nazi decree forbids gentile women to work in Jewish homes
1944 Finland & Russia agree to cease fire
1944 Battle of the Huertgen Forest on the Belgian-German border began
1945 Lord Haw Haw (William Joyce) sentenced to death in London
1950 UN reject membership of China's People Republic
1955 Argentina's President Juan Peron is overthrown by rebels.
1956 1st intl conference of black writers & artists meets (Sorbonne)
1959 Nikita Krushchev is denied access to Disneyland
1967 Nigeria begins offensive against Biafra
1970 "Mary Tyler Moore" show premiers
1973 NL refuses to allow San Diego Padres move to Washington DC
1973 Pirate Radio Free America (off Cape May NJ) goes on the air
1980 Titan II missile explosion (Damascus, AR)
1981 Simon & Garfunkel reunite for a NYC Central Park concert
1982 New Orleans Saints 1st road shutout victory beating Chic Bears 10-0
1982 Streetcars stop running on Market St after 122 years of service
1983 St Christopher-Nevis gains independence from Britain (Nat'l Day)
1985 9,500 die in Mexico's earthquake (6.9)
1986 Fed health officals announce AZT will be available to AIDS patients
1988 Israel launches 1st satellite, for secret military reconnaissance
1989 Chase Manhattan Discovery Center at Brooklyn Botanic Garden opens
1989 Appeals court restores America's Cup to US after NY Supreme Court gave it to New Zealand (NZ protested US's use of a catamaran)
1991 Frozen mummy (Ice Age) found in the Alps Otzi (Frozen Fritz).
1998 At the 22nd annual Oktoberfest in Cincinnati 25,000 kazoos were distributed in an attempt to set a Guinness record for the "Worlds Largest Kazoo Band."
2002 Colombian Army troops kill 21 guerrillas and freed 2 kidnapped civilians. A 3rd hostage died in the fighting
2002 A Palestinian terrorist blew himself up on a crowded bus in downtown Tel Aviv, killing at least five other people and wounding 49.
2003 Former Iraqi Gen. Sultan Hashim Ahmad, Saddam Hussein's last defense minister, surrendered to an American commander. 27 on the most-wanted list.
Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
Bhutan : Blessed Rainy Day
Chile : Army Day (1810)
Laundry Day
St Kitts & Nevis Independence Day
US : National Talk Like A Pirate Day
Are You Somebody? Day
National Tie Week (Day 2)
National Butterscotch Pudding Day
National Dog Week (Day 2)
National Chicken Month
Religious Observances
Ang, RC : Ember Day
RC : Memorial of St Januarius, bishop, & companions, martyrs (opt)
Ang : Commemoration of Theodore of Tarsus, archbishop of Canterbury
Religious History
1853 Baptist pioneer missionary J. Hudson Taylor, 21, set sail from England to China. In 1865, Taylor founded the China Inland Mission, now known as Overseas Missionary Fellowship. Its U.S. branch is HQ'd today in Robesonia, PA.
1938 The Carpatho-Russian Diocese of the Eastern Rite of the U.S.A. was canonized as a diocese of the Greek Orthodox Church. Father Orestes Chornock, Orthodox bishop of Agathonikia, was made Metropolitan of the new diocese.
1943 The first Baptist church was organized in Anchorage. (Prior to this date, there had been no Baptist church in Anchorage, and only one Baptist church in all the rest of the state of Alaska.)
1948 American missionary and martyr Jim Elliot wrote in his journal: 'Father, make of me a "crisis man." Make of me a fork, so that men must turn one way or another on facing Christ in me.'
1971 Death of William F. Albright, 80, American Methodist archaeologist. Professor of Semitic languages at Johns Hopkins for nearly 30 years, he penned over 1,000 articles and books, and led several Near Eastern expeditions which excavated the biblical sites of Gibeah, Bethel and Petra.
Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
N.D. Residents Eat 4,518 Pounds of Fries
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) - Residents here have gobbled up a new record for the largest single serving of french fries. An estimated 4,518 pounds of french fries were consumed during Thursday night's annual french fry feeding frenzy.
The event is held during "Potato Bowl U.S.A" week, which recognizes the potato industry in the Red River Valley and includes a weekend University of North Dakota football game.
This year's total eclipsed the record of 4,410 pounds of fries set two years ago.
Along with 11,000 servings of fries, organizers had more than 100 gallons of ketchup on hand.
Dave Gottberg, a director with the J.R. Simplot french fry plant in Grand Forks, estimated that about 10,000 people were served.
"It was fantastic weather and the 40th anniversary and all, plus they advertised pretty well for us this year," he said.
Thought for the day :
"Whether one eats a cat or not is a personal choice, and I don't want to sway anyone one way or another. But if you do, there is one obvious cooking tip: Always remember to remove the bell from the cat's collar before cooking."
Mike Royko