Free Republic

(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...

A stack of leather-bound gardening books sat on a simple wooden desk in the middle of a small room. Two broad-brimmed hats, one for winter and one for summer, hung on pegs in the corner. In the bedroom, a pair of shoes lay at the foot of the bed, as if the gardener had just stepped out of them.  With the restoration of a two-story pine structure used by one of George Washington's gardeners, William Spence, Mount Vernon is again complete nearly 209 years after the first president died.  The gardener's house, built around the spring of 1776 and...

On July 9, 1755, Colonel George Washington was traveling with General Edward Braddock’s army toward Fort Duquesne when they were ambushed by Indians and French hiding in the woods. In the ensuing massacre, hundreds of British soldiers, including Braddock, were killed or seriously wounded. Perched on their horses, officers were perfect targets. One after another, they were hit. Bullets ripped through Washington’s coat, knocked his hat off, and killed two of the horses he rode. Rumors circulated that Washington had been killed. On July 18, he wrote his brother from Fort Cumberland, “As I have heard since my arriv’l at...

WHY ARE YOU SUPPORTING GEORGE WASHINGTON FOR PRESIDENT? ANSWER: People are always complaining that there are no great leaders today. The truth is that the only reason we don't have great leaders is because we don't demand them. By supporting George Washington....

February 22 is the birthday of George Washington, the man who, more than any other, made possible our republican form of government. The third Monday in February has come to be known - wrongly - as President's Day. America's political leaders should take this occasion to remember Washington's deeds, recollect his advice, and once again call the holiday celebrating him by its legal name: Washington's Birthday. James Flexner, George Washington's greatest biographer, called him the "indispensable man" of the American Founding. Without Washington, America would never have won our War of Independence. He played the central role in the Constitutional...

This is ridiculous. We have "President's Day" celebrated today and the only sign of it, other than empty schools and government offices, are the ads for white sales at the department stores and a funny television ad I saw for "Millard Fillmore Soap on a Rope." Thank you, Richard Nixon. Until his President's Day proclamation in 1971, and subsequent legislation, we had separate holidays for both Abraham Lincoln on February 12 and George Washington on February 22. Not all states celebrated both, and the days came close together, but so what? School children routinely made studies about the lives of...

It was August 1781, and George Washington learned British Gen. Charles Cornwallis had occupied Yorktown, Va., with 9,500 troops. Cornwallis' soldiers were exhausted and in a defensive stance. For more than six years, the British had mostly been on the offensive in the Revolutionary War. Their sudden defensive posture showed they were starting to weaken. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington saw potential for victory. His plan: surround Cornwallis' troops on land and prevent their escape by sea with the help of the French navy. The surprise attack would be the greatest risk of Washington's military career. If he...

HOUSTON -- It did not take long Tuesday for the Texas Department of Transportation to find out what the Houstonians at a public hearing thought about the proposed 600-mile Trans-Texas Corridor, KPRC Local 2 reported. "George Washington, Sam Houston would vomit on you people," one attendee said. Chris Zora, who opposes the plan, attended the hearing at the Arabia Shrine Center in Southwest Houston. "I'd like to see a show of hands here of anybody that approves of this corridor," Zora said. "Is there anyone in this room who approves of this corridor? Raise your hands if you approve of...

George Washington remains the greatest man of our age. But he was no genius. That our children don't really know of Washington's greatness is a devastating indictment of our current schools. As little as a century ago, American children memorized the farewell address, with its stern warning against "entangling" European alliances. Why do you suppose that's now gone? Too many big words? Washington's officers wanted to march on the capital for their back pay and install him as king. He pulled on his eyeglasses and declined. I have met a few modern politicians who might have had the decency and...

Lessons on Leadership by: Amanda Busse, January 14, 2008 From George Washington to George W. Bush, British historian Paul Johnson used the lives of political figures to teach lessons of leadership in a recent speech during a Hillsdale College cruise. The keys to good leadership, according to Johnson, include familiar words and phrases such as self-restraint, communication, willpower and magnanimity. They do not, however, always come across in the typical fashion, as Johnson explained. George Washington, for example, was able to show self-restraint simply by the way he dressed. “Washington might wear a uniform when the Republic was in danger,...

Of all the things that make no sense about New Jersey, the state's failure to invest, promote and capitalize on our Revolutionary War history has always led my list. People who ran state tourism said there was no money in it. But 40 years ago, the government leaders of Pennsylvania saw the 1976 Bicentennial coming and funded the Valley Forge Convention and Visitors Bureau. It cost them about a million bucks to promote the historic significance of the area, the natural beauty and the proximity to Philadelphia. In time, hotels and restaurants went up, most with a historic theme. Within...

I don’t watch a lot of TV, but I do read a lot of it. It saves hundreds of hours to read the transcripts of what interests me, after the broadcast. I get what I want, and skip all the commercials. Thus it was that today I read Neil Cavuto’s editorial, “Personal Responsibility is Being Banned in America.” I like Neil. He comes across as a nice guy with a large amount of common sense. In the heart of that editorial, he wrote, “We're stupid. We're fat. We're lazy. We're clueless. And the government is coming in to make things...

WASHINGTON CROSSING, N.J. (AP) — This George Washington could not make it across the Delaware River. Ronald Rinaldi III was prepared to play the role of the military leader whose daring Christmas crossing led to a rout of British-led forces and revived the downtrodden Continental forces. Rinaldi, 45, had taken part in every re-enactment of Washington's crossing of the Delaware since 1976, amassed more than 500 books on the American Revolution and earned a degree in U.S. military history. But this year, he and his fellow re-enactors were done in by the river's strong currents. As Rinaldi and hundreds of...

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 to New Jersey. The British followed in hot pursuit, chasing the Americans through...

There is a Christmas story at the birth of this country that very few Americans know. It involves a single act by George Washington -- his refusal to take absolute power -- that affirms our own deepest beliefs about self-government, and still has profound meaning in today's world. To appreciate its significance, however, we must revisit a dark period at the end of America's eight-year struggle for independence. The story begins with Gen. Washington's arrival in Annapolis, Md., on Dec. 19, 1783. The country was finally at peace -- just a few weeks earlier the last British army on American...

Dry run on river By CHRIS ENGLISH Bucks County Courier Times General George Washington didn't get a rehearsal 231 years ago when he and his troops crossed the icy Delaware River on Christmas night and prepared to strike the Hessians in Trenton. It was either get it right the first time or choke down another painful setback in the American Colonies' bid for independence from the British. Washington got it right, and so did more than 50 re-enactors Sunday afternoon in a dress rehearsal for their annual Christmas crossing that relives that fateful day more than two centuries ago. Led...

A gold and enamel medal that once belonged to the American Revolutionary hero the Marquis de Lafayette goes on auction here Tuesday, and could fetch as much as 10 million dollars, experts said. The medal being sold by Lafayette's descendants was given to the Frenchman in 1824 by relatives of America's first US President George Washington, when Lafayette was 67 years old. The gift was made a quarter-century after the death in 1799 of Washington, who as a general led US troops to victory in their battle for independence against Britain. -snip-

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 favor; 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 and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:" Now, therefore, I do...

George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving 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 favor; 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 and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and...

A national conservative group yesterday called on George Washington University to expel students who admitted that they targeted the group in a hoax that covered the campus with hundreds of anti-Muslim posters. "Vicious personal attacks levied on students are intolerable and should not go unpunished," Ron Robinson, president of the Young America"s Foundation, told university President Steven Knapp. In a letter (downloads PDF) obtained by The Washington Times, Mr. Robinson cited a statement by Student Association Executive Vice President Brand Kroeger, who said he "would support expulsion" of students responsible for distributing the "heinous" posters. The foundation was the target...

The creation of the United States Constitution—John Adams described the Constitutional Convention as "the greatest single effort of national deliberation that the world has ever seen"—was a seminal event in the history of human liberty. The story of that creation in the summer of 1787 is itself a significant aspect in determining the meaning of the document.In June 1776, amid growing sentiment for American independence and after hostilities with the British army had commenced at Lexington, Massachusetts, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced a resolution in the Second Continental Congress for the colonies to collectively dissolve political connections with Great...

[T]he policy or advantage of [immigration] taking place in a body (I mean the settling of them in a body) may be much questioned; for, by so doing, they retain the Language, habits and principles (good or bad) which they bring with them. Whereas by an intermixture with our people, they, or their descendants, get assimilated to our customs, measures and laws: in a word, soon become one people. -- George Washington (letter to John Adams, 15 November 1794)

Day camp affords kids a look at 18th-century life . Each summer, youngsters ages 9 to 12 have the opportunity to spend a week in the ranks of Gen. George Washington's army. History becomes a personal experience for those who take part in the Old Barracks Summer Day Camp at the Old Barracks Museum in Trenton. Children at the day camp participate in indoor and outdoor activities that re-create life in the 18th century. Campers muster into Gen. George Washington's Continental Army on the Old Barracks parade grounds, used more than 200 years ago by British, Hessian and Continental soldiers,...

Who was the man that some consider to be the first president of the United States? Samuel Huntington was born into a family of ten children. Three of his brothers were sent to study theology at Yale, but Samuel’s parents decided that his education would be of a different kind. They apprenticed Samuel to become a cooper and enlisted his help in running the family farm. However, a farmer was not what Samuel wanted to be. At age twenty-two, he left the family farm in pursuit of bigger dreams. Intent on becoming a lawyer, Samuel decided to teach himself all...

In 1776 Lt. Col. Thomas Knowlton seemed to be precisely the kind of military officer the American military needed to win the Revolution. He was a veteran of the French and Indian War two decades earlier. He proved to be a supreme leader of men in combat outside Boston. And he was tapped by Gen. George Washington to start a new elite military unit--Knowlton's Rangers--that was capable of operating behind enemy lines.

President George Washington's Farewell Address — 1796Friends and Fellow Citizens:The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice...

(CBS 3) PHILADELPHIA The archaeological dig at Independence Mall has uncovered another historical treasure. Archaeologists have been working furiously in Old City for the past couple months, revealing the foundation of George Washington’s former office. “We could never have expected to find a find like this. Things that have such cultural value,” said Ed Lawler of the Independence Mall Association. A foundation fragment from the first president’s office can now be seen protruding from the ground. “We think that may be the corner where the north wall of the office met the west wall of the office,” said Lawler. The...

GLENDALE, Ariz., May 7, 2007—The Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) has placed a professor on forced administrative leave and has recommended that he be terminated for e-mailing a Thanksgiving message to his colleagues last November. On the day before Thanksgiving, Professor Walter Kehowski sent out the text of George Washington’s “Thanksgiving Day Proclamation of 1789” and a link to the webpage where he’d found it—on Pat Buchanan’s web log. After several recipients complained of being offended by the e-mail, MCCCD found Kehowski guilty of violating the district’s Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) policy and technology usage standards. Kehowski then contacted...

From time to time, I return to my favorite subject, which I freely admit is a tad boring for most people. That subject is Constitutional Law. This time, George Washington made me do it. An article in the New York Times on 27 April reported on the find of a previously unknown letter from George Washington in May, 1787, to Jacob Morris. It was contained in a scrapbook gathered by a 10-year-old girl in 1826, and was found among the trunks and boxes of her descendants’ gift of their mansion and its contents to the State of New Jersey, in...

APDollar Coins Missing 'In God We Trust' Wednesday March 7, 12:51 pm ET By Joann Loviglio, Associated Press Writer U.S. Mint Says Unknown Number of New One Dollar Coins Missing 'In God We Trust' Inscription PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- An unknown number of new George Washington dollar coins were mistakenly struck without their edge inscriptions, including "In God We Trust," and made it past inspectors and into circulation, the U.S. Mint said Wednesday. In this undated photo released by Professional Coin Grading Service, a George Washington dollar coin missing the edge inscription is shown. The properly struck dollar coins, bearing the...

Misguided motives for politically correct education have cut a deadly swath through public school textbooks, resulting in less and less information about the Founders. The heroism and virtuous character of Washington, in particular, are seldom discussed. Children start developing personal heroes at age five and six. Our kindergarten and first grade students study George Washington for most of the month of February, with gratifying results. Temporarily at least, we persuade them to give up Spiderman and Superman and adopt George as their role model and hero of the month. (Even though George didn’t fly, he did have a cape.) They...

  Honoring China's 'The Year of the Pig' Over the weekend, Google highlighted the Chinese New Year – the year of the pig – with a couple of the porkers dancing in place of the "Os" in its name. But today, the Internet behemoth that recognizes holidays and special events with modifications to its logo declined to recognize the birthday of George Washington, "the father of our country" and the first president of the United States. It's been able, in recent months, to highlight special honors for Percival Lowell, Edvard Munch and Louis Braille. Lowell was an astronomer, Munch an...

Last year I learned an embarrassing lesson from Basil of Basil's Blog. President's Day is not a holiday, Washington's birthday is. If you don't believe me, check the US Code (5 USC 6103). It is most appropriate that Washington's birthday be the one celebrated, because he serves as a reminder of what public service can be. For some, politics is something your whole life is centered on. The desire to be the President consumes all else, including principle, loyalty, all in a desire to have the top job. Yet, Washington was a President who'd rather have retired than run. He...

[Posted 2/19/07, from 2004 Washington Times piece.] February 22, 2004 -- George Washington unfortunately has become a cliché. For an older generation, he was too often treated as such a mythic figure that it was difficult to appreciate his true importance. In today’s politically correct society many treat him as a white, male oppressor. Most of us celebrate his birthday by shopping the sales at the mall. This is not a bad use of our time, but it is appropriate to take a moment to reflect on the real greatness of the real Washington and the moral lessons he taught...

Chuck Norris The truth will find you ouch I was not surprised to read this past week, WND's report about a rural pastor who discovered documents in the Smithsonian Institution's files that reveal a possible cover-up in identifying Ten Commandments displays in the U.S. Supreme Court. Is anyone shocked anymore to discover when one conceals the truth? It has become a normal way of life. Lying isn't the problem – getting caught is. But hasn't history (ours and others) taught us anything about the fact that lies will eventually be revealed and the truth will ultimately triumph? Pick a decade!...

George Washington is one of the most recognized figures in U.S. history. But familiarity breeds contempt. More often than not, Washington is an old painting on the wall – solemn, impersonal and distant – or the subject of childhood stories and nursery rhymes. We all know that he chopped down a cherry tree and had wooden teeth. The actual Washington is much more compelling. We can all see the brilliant flourishes of Jefferson's pen, Madison's constitutional handiwork or the success of Hamilton's economic policies, and that can cause us to overlook or underestimate the magnitude of Washington's achievement. Yet he...

Researchers re-create Washington's face Fri Feb 16, 7:02 PM ET PHOENIX - Researchers at Arizona State University and the University of Pittsburgh have mixed technology, art and science to re-create the real face of George Washington. Using anthropology, 3-D scanning and digital reconstruction, the 2 1/2-year project has culminated in new life-size figures of the nation's first president and some say the images are the most accurate yet of Washington at a younger age. There is Washington at age 19 as a land surveyor, Washington at 45 during the Revolutionary War, and Washington at 57 when he took the presidential...

Continental Army General George Washington’s celebrated “Crossing of the Delaware” has been dubbed in some military circles, “America’s first special operation.” Though there were certainly many small-unit actions, raids, and Ranger operations during the Colonial Wars – and there was a special Marine landing in Nassau in the early months of the American Revolution – no special mission by America’s first army has been more heralded than that which took place on Christmas night exactly 230 years ago. Certainly the mission had all the components of a modern special operation (though without all the modern battlefield technologies we take for...

ANNAPOLIS, Md. Maryland will spend 600-thousand dollars to buy George Washington's handwritten resignation from the Continental Army. Maryland archivists said in February that they'd acquired the speech to put in the State House in Annapolis, where the Revolutionary War hero resigned his commission in 1783. The state Board of Public Works approved that purchase yesterday, along with 150-thousand dollars for an accompanying letter written by a witness describing the event. The speech is seen as a turning point in America's formation because it established that the military should be subservient to civil authority. The 750-thousand dollars granted by the Board...

Even before he died in December 1799, a battle began over the nature and significance of George Washington's faith. Was the father of our country a deist, a Unitarian, a lukewarm Christian, or a fervent evangelical? Popular paintings depict Washington praying in the snow at Valley Forge during the Revolutionary War and ascending to heaven after his death. Few of the varied aspects of the Virginian's life have caused as much contention as his religious beliefs and habits. Moreover, no other president has had his religious life so distorted by folklore. Given Washington's immense contributions to the American republic, semi-divine...

In this world of pain, confusion and question, today we give pause. We don’t today focus on the half empty cup but rather CHOSE to look at the joy of life, the blessings of life and the friendships of life. Today we give thanks to God for his gift of life & blessings in this troubled world. We give thanks to friends and family for the gifts of friendship and joy they share with us Today is day ONE of the LONG 4-day Thanksgiving Weekend here at the Singles Thread. We are thankful that Jim & John Robinson have...