Column for Washington's birthday

Presidents’ Day combines, I suppose, the Washington and Lincoln birthdays, and perhaps all presidents. Those of us of a certain age recall that the 22nd is Washington’s birthday.

First, I admire Washington because he followed a lifelong plan and pattern of self-definition. He was plagued with temper all of his life, but made a youthful determination to control it. He wanted to look the part of a gentleman and assiduously worked to create the impression of being a gentleman by following a code of manners that he copied by hand.

Almost alone among the founders of the South, he freed his slaves upon his death. That was not an easy task, as Virginia law made it difficult to do so. In An Imperfect God, we can read of his care in going over the will with painstaking care to assure that his wishes would be followed. So many of those who were so loud in demanding American liberty never could see fit to grant liberty to the enslaved.

He knew the value of example and precedent. As the first chief executive for the country, he get that value uppermost in his mind. When a Revolutionary War hero approached him for a position, he replied: “as a friend I would offer up my life for you, but as president, I am unable to offer you a position.” So, he acted with a sense of posterity in view, not only the immediate political situation of the moment. Look at an administration that would have Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton in the same cabinet. When they disagreed, Washington asked them to prepare careful reasoned analyses of the their views before he made a decision.

He was able to relinquish power. That included using religion as a basis for policy decisions. In a letter to a synagogue in Rhode Island “all alike share in liberty of conscience…no longer is toleration spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people…the government gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.” Article 11 of a treaty with Tripoli negotiated under his administration noted that the United States was not founded as a Christian nation. At the same time, he saw religion as bolstering the public spirited morality that a democratic republic requires.

Cincinnatus was a much admired story of someone returning to the plow after having power in Rome. At the time, everyone thought that power, once grasped, was not easily released. Even George III marveled that he left the military to return to Mt. Vernon and that he left office after his second term. In part, that was designed to allay fear of monarchical tendencies in the office, part of his sense of setting precedent. When he died, Admiral Nelson ordered a salute and Napoleon ordered a moment of silence.

In that same letter to the synagogue in Rhode Island he ended with these words: “may the father of mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths.” Washington used common language to promote common ground. He had the humility to realize that he would make mistakes, as would the nation he led. He knew that the light would shine more brightly on this country when we find common ground. He saw what parochial loyalties did to the emergence of a functioning nation spread over so much territory. He himself became a symbol of that very national common ground and common purpose. He deserves to be on the money, deserves to have a monument, deserves the great honor of being called: “father of his country, first in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen.”