More Civility
Some of the other Rules of Civility that Washington copied as a young boy:
• “Let your countenance be pleasant, but in serious matters somewhat grave.”
• “Show not yourself glad at the misfortune of another, though he were your enemy.”
• “In writing or speaking, give to every person his due title according to his degree and the custom of the place.”
• “When a man does all he can, though it succeeds not well, blame not him that did it.”
• “Strive not with your superiors in argument, but always submit your judgment to others with modesty.”
• “Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for ’tis better to be alone than in bad company.”
• “Let your conversation be without malice or envy. And in all causes of passion admit reason to govern.”
• “Undertake not what you cannot perform, but be careful to keep your promise.”
• “When you speak of God and his attributes, let it be seriously and with reverence.”
• “Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.”
A NEARLY PERMANENT RULING CLASS
For Washington, holding power was the sacrifice; giving it up was easy. Government was something a citizen took part in as a patriotic duty, not a career. It is sadly ironic, then, that this lesson has been forgotten by nearly everyone who now lives in the city named after him.
Time to Move On
Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii must be the modern-day opposite of Cincinnatus. He has been a senator for nearly forty-nine years.
Washington probably never could have imagined a professional politician. Yet, these days, there is no shortage of them. Put it this way: twenty-one present senators have served more than twenty years in Congress. Forty senators are sixty-five or older and twenty-two are age seventy or older. These are political lifers. This is the ruling class that the Founders feared.
George Washington, on the other hand, is often compared to the great Roman statesman Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus. Cincinnatus had given up his idyllic life on the farm to serve as Magister Populi—a title giving him all dictatorial powers and the ability to deal decisively with any emergency threatening the republic. Once Rome had defeated its rival tribes and the threat had passed, Cincinnatus voluntarily surrendered those powers and returned to the Roman Senate, and back to plowing his fields and living the life of the average citizen.
The Society of the Cincinnati was an association founded after the Revolutionary War by military officers to honor their own “Cincinnatus” and to “preserve the rights so dearly won; to promote the continuing union of the states; and to assist members in need, their widows, and their orphans.”
The society’s motto, Omnia relinquit servare rempublicam, means “He relinquished everything to serve the Republic.”
Not surprisingly, in December 1783, George Washington was elected as the society’s first president.
That was all Washington wanted. Throughout his entire career he had fought, both literally and figuratively, against the idea of an American royalty or nobility. Nothing did more to cement that legacy than his voluntary decision to leave the presidency after two terms.
In retrospect, it’s not surprising that Washington made another difficult decision—he’d been making them his entire life. The harder the choice, the higher he seemed to rise above it. In the end, he made the hardest decision of all—one that has confounded even the most well intentioned people over the years—he turned his back on power.
Through that act he not only set a precedent for those who would follow him (FDR being the one notable exception), he also set an example for all Americans. After all, it’s one thing to talk about raising a standard for the wise and honest—it’s another thing to actually do it. We can talk about things like honor and character and humility until we’re blue in the face, but if we’re not ready to live our lives according to those principles, then we’re really no better than those we claim to resent.
Being George Washington was not easy—and neither is attempting to live by the standard he set. But if Washington taught us one thing, it’s that doing the easy thing is rarely the right thing, and doing the right thing is rarely easy.
Conclusion
True Greatness Dwells in the Soul
The name of Washington will live when the sculptured marble and statue of bronze shall be crumbled into dust—for it is the decree of the eternal God that “the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance, but the memorial of the wicked shall rot.”
—RICHARD ALLEN, A FORMER SLAVE,
FROM HIS EULOGY OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, 1799
George Washington’s overriding fear in life was that he might be dishonored in death.
His reputation with his family, his fellow countrymen, and his God meant everything to him and it constantly motivated him to become a better person. It’s why he taught himself the rules of civility. It’s why he was always loyal, honest, and humble. It’s why he educated himself on policy, history, science, and human nature. It’s why he pushed himself out of his comfort zone time and time again. It’s why he did the tough things and made the difficult choices—even when every ounce of his being was pulling him in the opposite direction.
George Washington, like you and I, was a flawed, imperfect man. He was born that way, and he died that way. He had no exceptional powers or unique abilities, except for one: he did not care for public accolades, only private honor. As William Bentley said during one of the many eulogies that were delivered in Washington’s honor, “True greatness dwells in the soul.” Washington lived his life as though that were his motto. If we live as though it is ours, we will be well on our way to following in his footsteps.
Being George Washington in today’s world means a daily struggle between your heart and your brain; between instant gratification and enduring greatness.
Being George Washington means passing up awards, honors, and public admiration in exchange for real honor and the admiration of only those who know you best.
Being George Washington means looking out for our families, our neighbors, and our countrymen—standing for them when they can’t stand for themselves. Washington wrote: “How pitiful, in the eye of reason and religion, is that false ambition which desolates the world with fire and sword for the purpose of conquest and fame when compared to the milder virtues of making our neighbors and our fellow men as happy as their frail conditions and perishable natures will permit them.” In other words, choose small but real victories over false idols such as fame.
Being George Washington means putting country above party. Washington loathed the idea of partisanship because it “serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarm; kindles the animosity of one part against another; foments occasionally riot and insurrection.” Have his words ever rung more true? That doesn’t mean that we can’t disagree on policy—of course we can—but it does mean that we need return to the core ideas of our founding because they are the concepts—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—that all Americans, regardless of party, can agree on.
Being George Washington means becoming a leader. Not of a country or an army, but of yourself, your community, and your own family. It means taking personal responsibility for your actions and holding those around you to the same standard.
Being George Washington means accepting that this country was chosen for Divine protection because the struggle for freedom is worthy of God’s protection. It means believing that miracles can happen to all of us because a great Author is writing the script. But it also means not sitting around waiting for them. George Washington certainly didn’t wait—and look at what he experienced. As a young man he was a mere subject of the British Crown; as an old man he was one of the few people in the history of the wo
rld to ever experience true freedom.
That is a miracle.
What other mortal can lay claim to a legacy that has allowed so many to experience freedom around the world?
We need to continue that legacy, but we’ve been searching for the “next” George Washington in all the wrong places. The truth is that he doesn’t exist—yet. It’s up to us to build him—and it starts inside every single one of us.
So the real question is this: Are you willing to lose everything to do what’s right?
Washington did. He risked it all—his life, his fortune and his sacred honor—to complete a journey that, quite often, he didn’t even want to be on. Nothing less than that level of dedication is required of us today.
Being George Washington will be the hardest thing you ever do. There will be days you’ll want to give in, moments where you’ll wonder if all of the hard work and personal sacrifices are really worth it. Trust me, they are. You may die without awards, there may not be any monuments built in your honor, and your face may not be printed on our currency, but you’ll leave this earth with something else, something far more enduring and valuable: the reverence of your family, friends, and God, all of whom will know that true greatness dwelled in your soul.
Glossary
Aide-de-camp—A personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank; Washington’s aides-de-camp included Hamilton, Lafayette, Joseph Reed (a great critic of Benedict Arnold), and Edmund Randolph (America’s first attorney general).
Cock hat—A three-cornered hat worn in colonial times.
Comte—The French equivalent of a count.
Cornet—A now-abolished British and early American military rank, most equivalent to a second lieutenant.
Diphtheria—An illness of the upper respiratory tract.
Dragoon—A light cavalryman.
Drumhead—The portion of a drum formerly made of animal skins (usually lamb, but often goat) upon which the tune was beat.
Durham boat—A flat-bottomed boat used to transport iron, wood, grain, and whiskey. They measured three feet deep and were generally thirty to forty feet in length. On occasion they might reach sixty feet in length. Built originally for the Durham Iron Works in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Feu de Joie (“fire of joy”)—A celebratory running of musket fire.
Gibbet—The gallows structure upon which a dead criminal was left on public display after his execution.
Grenadier—An elite infantryman. Originally so called because they were specialized in throwing grenades. The high, peaked caps worn by Hessian troops, akin in shape and design to a bishop’s mitre, are called “grenadier’s caps,” even though they might be made of brass.
Guinea—A former unit of British currency. Made of gold and equivalent to twenty shillings. Issued from 1663 to 1813.
Hesse-Kassel—A central German state of the Holy Roman Empire ruled by a “landgrave” or count. The landgrave of Hesse-Kassel at the time of the American Revolution was Friedrich II, uncle of Great Britain’s King George III.
Hessian—Specifically refers to a soldier from Hesse-Kassel, which supplied so many mercenaries to Great Britain, but applied broadly to any German mercenary soldier who fought for the British in the Revolutionary War.
Loyalist—An American colonist loyal to the British Crown.
Musket—A muzzle-loaded, flintlock-fired firearm, a predecessor of the modern rifle.
Pleurisy—An inflammation of the cavity surrounding the lungs.
Prussia—Former north German kingdom, which formed the core of the new German Empire in 1871. Famous for its military prowess.
Quinsy—A complication of tonsillitis.
Sloop—In the eighteenth century, a warship with a single gun deck, armed with less than twenty guns.
Spanish dollar—The Spanish dollar was originally a silver coin worth eight reals, and thus the dollars were often called “pieces of eight.”
Sugar House—A notorious British prison built in 1763 at lower Manhattan’s Duane and Rose streets. Hundreds of American prisoners of war died there from 1776 to 1783.
Tory—A sympathizer of the British; royalist; Loyalist.
Cast of Characters
John Adams (1735–1826)—Massachusetts attorney and patriot. At the Second Continental Congress, Adams will nominate Washington to be commander of the Continental Army. Ambassador to the Netherlands and to Great Britain. Washington’s vice president and his successor as president. Appoints Washington commander of the American army in 1798.
Ethan Allen (1738–1789)—Vermont patriot. Alongside Benedict Arnold, Allen’s “Green Mountain Boys” will seize Fort Ticonderoga in May 1775. With Washington at Valley Forge.
Major John André (1750–1780)—Cultivated and highly popular chief of British intelligence. A close friend of Benedict Arnold’s wife Margaret “Peggy” Shippen. Offered Arnold twenty thousand dollars to betray the American cause. Captured by patriots. Ordered hanged as a spy by Washington.
Major General Benedict “the Hannibal of the Revolution” Arnold (1741–1801)—Connecticut merchant and patriot. The real hero of Ticonderoga, Valcour Bay, and Saratoga. Court-martialed for corruption as military governor of Philadelphia. Arnold’s treasonous plot to betray West Point—and Washington—to the British fails and he is appointed as a British brigadier general. Has an illegitimate child in exile in Canada. Dies of dropsy in London.
Margaret “Peggy” Shippen Arnold (1760–1804)—Benedict Arnold’s second wife. Member of a prominent Philadelphia family, the daughter of suspected Loyalist judge Edward Shippen IV. Friend of John André.
General John “Gentleman Johnny” Burgoyne (1722–1792)—His march down from Canada is key to the British plan to dividing the colonies and crushing the rebellion. Burgoyne’s defeat in the Second Battle of Saratoga in October 1777 is crucial to bringing France into the Revolutionary War on the American side.
General Edward Braddock (1695–1755)—Washington’s British commander in the French and Indian War (1754–63). Mortally wounded in the Battle of the Monongahela.
John Cadwalader (1742–1786)—Wealthy Philadelphia merchant and American military officer. Unable to cross the Delaware to join Washington at Trenton. General Howe will occupy Cadwalader’s home during the British occupation of Philadelphia. Challenges Horatio to duel following the Conway Cabal affair.
General Sir Henry “the Knight” Clinton (1730–1795)—The final and perhaps the ablest of Britain’s three North Americans commanders during the Revolutionary War. Clinton will, nonetheless, tarry in New York City with his mistress, Mary Baddeley, the Irish-born wife of a sergeant in his army, and fail to relieve Cornwallis at Yorktown. Major John André is his adjutant and spymaster.
General Thomas Conway (1735–ca. 1800)—Irish-born French general whom Congress will appoint inspector general of the Continental Army. Ambitious and conceited. At the heart of the Conway Cabal against Washington.
General Charles Cornwallis (1738–1805)—British veteran of the battles of Long Island, Brandywine, Monmouth, and Charleston. Defeated at Princeton. In charge of Britain’s Southern Campaign after Henry Clinton’s departure for New York. Victorious at Camden and Guilford Courthouse. His surrender at Yorktown effectively ends the Revolutionary War.
Admiral François-Joseph-Paul, Comte de Grasse (1722–1788)—Commander of French naval forces in the West Indies. At General Rochambeau’s urging, the massively built Comte de Grasse will sail northward to trap Cornwallis at Yorktown. Victory in hand, de Grasse will ignore Washington’s entreaties to remain in American waters, and return to the Caribbean.
Brigadier General James Ewing (1736–1806)—The western Pennsylvanian who despite valiant efforts failed to ferry his men across the hopelessly ice-choked Delaware River to assist Washington at Trenton.
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)—Printer and newspaper editor. Inventor. Author of Poor Richard’s Almanack. Member of the Committee of Five, which drafts the Declaration of Independence.
American envoy to France.
General Thomas Gage (1719 or 1720–1787)—Survivor of the Battle of the Monongahela. British commander at Boston during the Boston Massacre, the march to Lexington and Concord, and the Battle of Bunker Hill. Replaced by William Howe.
General Horatio Gates (1727–1806)—British-born Revolutionary War general. Served alongside Washington during the French and Indian War. Refuses to join Washington before the Battle of Trenton—and connives against him with Congress. American commander at Saratoga. Part of the Conway Cabal. Disgraced at the Battle of Camden.
Edmond-Charles Genêt (1763–1834)—Revolutionary France’s incendiary envoy to America. He will try to incite opinion in his nation and against the policy of neutrality practiced by Washington.
Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Graves (1725–1802)—British naval commander at Yorktown, defeated by the Comte de Grasse.
General Nathanael Greene (1742–1786)—The Rhode Island Quaker merchant who became Washington’s most-trusted general. Appointed quartermaster general at Valley Forge. His campaign against Cornwallis in the South (including Cornwallis’s pyrrhic victory at Guilford Courthouse) helped lead to Yorktown.
Half King (ca. 1700–1754)—Seneca leader (real name: “Tanacharison”) allied with the Virginians against the French. With George Washington, he defeats the French under Ensign Jumonville in May 1754.