Rediscovering George Washington

georgewashington I stumbled across a delightful website this morning, “Rediscovering George Washington.” This site accompanies a 90-minute high-definition PBS documentary that originally aired nationally on July 4, 2002.

The following paragraphs from this site attempt to describe the father of our country:

"If he had lived in the days of superstition, he had been worshipped as a god," said Benjamin Rush, of George Washington.

"He has so happy a faculty of appearing to accommodate and yet carrying his point," wrote Abigail Adams, "that if he was really not one of the best-intentioned men in the world, he might be a very dangerous one."

George Washington won an eight-and-a-half year war against the mightiest military power on earth; he presided over the Constitutional Convention; and he served as first President for eight years. At the end of every assignment, he returned his power to the system which had honored him. He embodied America’s principles, both by taking charge effectively in war and peace, and by stepping down when the time came. He was, as James Thomas Flexner called him, "the indispensable man."

The pre-eminent positions that he held, the unrivalled honors he received, can only hint at the greatness of Washington. They are rays cast by the light of his greatness itself, the qualities of mind and character that shone brilliantly in all these positions and fully deserved all these honors—and more. The three sections here introduce readers to Washington’s greatness, call attention to some of his most striking qualities of mind and character, and suggest the significance of this great man for our generation, and for every generation, of Americans.

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George Washington: Freemen or Slaves

“The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their Houses, and Farms, are to be pillaged and destroyed, and they consigned to a State of Wretchedness from which no human efforts will probably deliver them. The fate of unborn Millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this army—Our cruel and unrelenting Enemy leaves us no choice but a brave resistance, or the most abject submission; this is all we can expect—We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die: Our own Country’s Honor, all call upon us for a vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world. Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the supreme Being, in whose hands Victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble Actions—The Eyes of all our Countrymen are now upon us, and we shall have their blessings, and praises, if happily we are the instruments of saving them from the Tyranny meditated against them. Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and shew the whole world, that a Freeman contending for Liberty on his own ground is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth.”

George Washington, First President of the United States of America.  From “General Orders”, July 2, 1776.