(February 22, 1732–December 14, 1799), was the first President of the United States, 1789–97; Chancellor of the College of William and Mary, 1788–99; President of the Constitutional Convention, where the United States Constitution was formulated, May 14, 1787–September 17, 1787; Commander in Chief of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, 1775–83; delegate to First and Second Continental Congress, 1774–75; Justice of Fairfax County, 1768; member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, 1758–74; in 1759 married Martha Dandridge Custis (1731–1802), the widowed daughter of Col. John Dandridge; Colonel in the Virginia Militia, 1752–58; aide-de-camp to General Edward Braddock, 1755; Official Surveyor of Culpepper County, 1748–49; and received his surveyor’s license from William and Mary College, 1749.
In addition to being politically involved, George Washington was also an active Episcopalian. Considered the most popular man in the Colonies, George Washington was described by Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee in his now famous tribute, “First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen.”
The son of Augustine Washington and his second wife, Mary Ball, George Washington was also a descendant of King John of England, and nine of the twenty-five Baron Sureties of the Magna Carta. His great-great grandfather, Rev. Lawrence Washington, was a clergyman in the Church of England. His great-grandfather, John Washington, moved to America in 1657, and helped found a parish in Virginia. In his Last Will and Testament, John Washington left a gift to the church of a tablet with the Ten Commandments, on which he inscribed his testimony:
Being heartily sorry from the bottome of my hart for my sins past, most humbly desiring forgiveness of the same from the Almighty God (my Saviour) and Redeemer, in whom and by the merits of Jesus Christ, I trust and believe assuredly to be saved, and to have full remission and forgiveness of all my sins.705
George Washington’s father, Augustine Washington, who was an active vestryman in Truro Parish, Virginia, recorded the baptism of George in his own handwriting in the old family Bible, April of 1732:
George William, son to Augustine Washington and Mary, his wife, was born the eleventh day of February, 1731–32, about ten in the morning, and was baptized the 3rd April following, Mr. Bromley Whiting, and Captain Christopher Brooks godfathers, and Mrs. Mildred Gregory godmother.706
George’s father, who was a man of large stature, died on April 12, 1743, at the age of forty-nine, when George was only eleven years old. His last words were:
I thank God that in all my life I never struck a man in anger; for had I done so I am sure (so great is my strength) that I would have killed my antagonist. Then his blood, at this awesome moment, would lie heavily on my soul. As it is, I die at peace with all mankind.707
From then, until the age of sixteen, George lived with his elder half-brother, Augustine, in Westmoreland County, just 40 miles outside of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Most of George’s education was through home schooling and tutoring. In 1749, he received his surveyor’s license from the College of William and Mary, and later served as the college’s Chancellor from 1788 till his death.
In 1745, at thirteen years of age, George Washington copied some verses on “Christmas Day”:
Assist me, Muse divine, to sing the Morn,
On Which the Saviour of Mankind was born.708
George Washington also copied 110 Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation, which included:
108) When you speak of God, or His Attributes, let it be Seriously & Reverence, Honor & Obey your Natural Parents altho they be poor.
109) Let your Recreations be Manful not Sinful.
110) Labour to keep alive in your Breast that little Spark of Celestial fire called Conscience.709
In 1747, at the age of fifteen years old, George Washington fulfilled the role of being a godfather to a child in baptism. The next year, 1748, he served as the godfather in baptism to his niece, Frances Lewis. In 1751, George again was the godfather to his nephew, Fielding Lewis, and in 1760, he sponsored his nephew, Charles Lewis.710
In 1751, George Washington accompanied his older brother, Lawrence Washington, who, on the advice of physicians, spent the winter in the West Indies in a desperate attempt to regain his health. The illness nevertheless grew worse, and before he died, Lawrence left his estate at Mount Vernon to George. In his journal of the trip, George entered:
Sunday, November 11th—Dressed in order for Church but got to town too late. Dined at Major Clarke’s with ye SeG. Went to Evening Service and return’d to our lodgings.711
A 24 page prayer book, entitled “Daily Sacrifice,” is credited to have been handwritten by George Washington in 1752.712
SUNDAY MORNING. … Almighty God, and most merciful Father, who didst command the children of Israel to offer a daily sacrifice to Thee, that thereby they might glorify and praise Thee for Thy protection both night and day, receive O Lord, my morning sacrifice which I now offer up to Thee;
I yield Thee humble and hearty thanks, that Thou hast preserved me from the dangers of the night past and brought me to the light of this day, and the comfort thereof, a day which is consecrated to Thine own service and for Thine own honour.
Let my heart therefore Gracious God be so affected with the glory and majesty of it, that I may not do mine own works but wait on Thee, and discharge those weighty duties Thou required of me:
and since Thou art a God of pure eyes, and will be sanctified in all who draw nearer to Thee, who dost not regard the sacrifice of fools, nor hear sinners who tread in Thy courts, pardon I beseech Thee, my sins, remove them from Thy presence, as far as the east is from the west, and accept of me for the merits of Thy son Jesus Christ,
that when I come into Thy temple and compass Thine altar, my prayer may come before Thee as incense, and as I desire Thou wouldst hear me calling upon Thee in my prayers, so give me peace to hear Thee calling on me in Thy Word, that it may be wisdom, righteousness, reconciliation and peace to the saving of my soul in the day of the Lord Jesus.
Grant that I may hear it with reverence, receive it with meekness, mingle it with faith, and that it may accomplish in me gracious God, the good work for which Thou hast sent it.
Bless my family, kindred, friends and country, be our God and guide this day and forever for His sake, who lay down in the grave and arose again for us, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.713
SUNDAY EVENING. … O most Glorious God, in Jesus Christ my merciful and loving Father, I acknowledge and confess my guilt, in the weak and imperfect performance of the duties of this day. I have called on Thee for pardon and forgiveness of sins, but so coldly and carelessly, that my prayers are become my sin and stand in need of pardon. I have heard Thy holy Word, but with such deadness of spirit that I have been an unprofitable and forgetful hearer, so that, O Lord, tho’ I have done Thy work, yet it hat been so negligently that I may rather expect a curse than a blessing from Thee. But, O God, who art rich in mercy and plenteous in redemption, mark not, I beseech thee, what I have done amiss; remember that I am but dust, and remit my transgressions, negligences & ignorances, and cover them all with the absolute obedience of Thy dear Son, that those sacrifices which I have offered may be accepted by Thee, in and for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ offered upon the cross for me; for His sake, ease me of the burden of my sins, and give me grace that by the call of the Gospel I may rise from the slumber of sin into the newness of life. Let me live according to those holy rules which Thou hast this day prescribed in Thy holy Word;
make me to know what is acceptable in Thy sight, and therein to delight, open the eyes of my understanding, and help me thoroughly to examine myself concerning my knowledge, faith and repentance, increase my faith, and direct me to the true object, Jesus Christ the Way, the Truth and the Life, bless, O Lord, all the people of this land, from the highest to the lowest, particularly those whom Thou hast appointed to rule us in church & state.
Continue Thy goodness to me this night. These weak petitions, I humbly implore Thee to hear, accept and answer for the sake of Thy Dear Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.714
MONDAY MORNING. … O eternal and everlasting God, I presume to present myself this morning before Thy Divine Majesty, beseeching Thee to accept of my humble and hearty thanks, that it hath pleased Thy great goodness to keep and preserve me the night past from all the dangers poor mortals are subject to, and has given me sweet and pleasant sleep, whereby I find my body refreshed and comforted for performing the duties of this day, in which I beseech Thee to defend me from all perils of body and soul.
Direct my thoughts, words and work, wash away my sins in the immaculate Blood of the Lamb, and purge my heart by Thy Holy Spirit, from the dross of my natural corruption, that I may with more freedom of mind and liberty of will serve thee, the ever lasting God, in righteousness and holiness this day, and all the days of my life. Increase my faith in the sweet promises of the Gospel; give me repentance from dead works; pardon my wanderings, & direct my thoughts unto Thyself, the God of my salvation; teach me how to live in Thy fear, labor in Thy service, and ever to run in the ways of Thy commandments; make me always watchful over my heart, that neither the terrors of conscience, the loathing of holy duties, the love of sin, nor the unwillingness to depart this life, may cast me into a spiritual slumber, but daily frame me more and more into the likeness of Thy Son, Jesus Christ, that living in Thy fear, and dying in Thy favor, I may in Thy appointed time attain the resurrection of the just unto eternal life.
Bless my family, friends and kindred, and unite us all in praising and glorifying Thee in all our works begun, continued, and ended, when we shall come to make our last account before Thee, Blessed Saviour, who hath taught us thus to pray, Our Father, &c.715
MONDAY EVENING. … Most Gracious Lord God, from whom proceedeth every good and perfect gift, I offer to Thy Divine Majesty my unfeigned praise and thanksgiving for all Thy mercies towards me. Thou mad’st me at first and hast ever since sustained the work of Thy own hand; Thou gav’st Thy Son to die for me; and hast given me assurance of salvation, upon my repentance and sincerely endeavoring to conform my life to His holy precepts and example.
Thou art pleased to lengthen out to me the time of repentance and to move me to it by Thy Spirit and by Thy Word, by Thy mercies, and my own unworthiness, I do appear before Thee at this time; I have sinned and done very wickedly, be merciful to me, O God, and pardon me for Jesus Christ sake; instruct me in the particulars of my duty, and suffer me not to be tempted above what Thou givest me strength to bear. Take care, I pray Thee of my affairs and more and more direct me in Thy truth, defend me from my enemies, especially my spiritual ones.
Suffer me not to be drawn from Thee, by the blandishments of the world, carnal desires, the cunning of the devil, or deceitfulness of sin. Work in me Thy good will and pleasure, and discharge my mind from all things that are displeasing to Thee, of all ill will and discontent, wrath and bitterness, pride & vain conceit of myself, and render me charitable, pure, holy, patient and heavenly minded. Be with me at the hour of death; dispose me for it, and deliver me from the slavish fear of it, and make me willing and fit to die whenever Thou shalt call me hence.
Bless our rulers in church and state. Bless O Lord the whole race of mankind, and let the world be filled with the knowledge of Thee and Thy Son Jesus Christ. Pity the sick, the poor, the weak, the needy, the widows and fatherless, and all that morn or are broken in heart, and be merciful to them according to their several necessities. Bless my friends and grant me grace to forgive my enemies as heartily as I desire forgiveness of Thee my heavenly Father. I beseech Thee to defend me this night from all evil, and do more for me than I can think or ask, for Jesus Christ sake, in whose most holy Name & Words, I continue to pray, Our Father, &c.716
TUESDAY MORNING. … O Lord our God, most mighty and merciful Father, I, thine unworthy creature and servant, do once more approach Thy presence. Though not worthy to appear before Thee, because of my natural corruptions, and the many sins and transgressions which I have committed against Thy Divine Majesty; yet I beseech Thee, for the sake of Him in whom Thou are well pleased, the Lord Jesus Christ, to admit me to render Thee deserved thanks and praises for Thy manifold mercies extended toward me, for the quiet rest & repose of the past night, for food, raiment, health, peace, liberty, and the hopes of a better life through the merits of Thy dear son’s bitter passion. And O kind Father continue Thy mercy and favor to me this day, and ever hereafter; prosper all my lawful undertakings; let me have all my directions from Thy Holy Spirit, and success from Thy bountiful hand. Let the bright beams of Thy light so shine into my heart, and enlighten my mind in understanding Thy blessed Word, that I may be enabled to perform Thy will in all things, and effectually resist all temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil. Preserve and defend our rulers in church & state.
Bless the people of this land, be a Father to the fatherless, a Comforter to the comfortless, a Deliverer to the captives, and a Physician to the sick. Let Thy blessing be upon our friends, kindred and families. Be our Guide this day and forever through Jesus Christ in whose blessed form of prayer I conclude my weak petitions—Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name &c.717
TUESDAY EVENING. … Most gracious God and heavenly Father, we cannot cease, but must cry unto Thee for mercy, because my sins cry against me for justice. How shall I address myself unto Thee, I must with the publican stand and admire at Thy great goodness, tender mercy, and long suffering towards me, in that Thou hast kept me the past day from being consumed and brought to nought. O Lord, what is man, or the son of man, that Thou regardest him; the more days pass over my head, the more sins and iniquities I heap up against Thee. If I should cast up the account of my good deeds done this day, how few and small would they be; but if I should reckon my miscarriages, surely they would be many and great. O, blessed Father, let Thy son’s blood wash me from all impurities, and cleanse me from the stains of sin that are upon me. Give me grace to lay hold upon His merits; that they may be my reconciliations and atonement unto Thee,—That I may know my sins are forgiven by His death and passion. Embrace me in the arms of Thy mercy; vouchsafe to receive me unto the bosom of Thy love, shadow me with Thy wings, that I may safely rest under Thy protection this night;
and so into Thy hands I commend myself, both soul and body, in the Name of Thy son, Jesus Christ, beseeching Thee, when this life shall end, I may take my everlasting rest with Thee in Thy heavenly kingdom. Bless all in authority over us, be merciful to all those afflicted with Thy cross or calamity, bless all my friends, forgive my enemies and accept my thanksgiving this evening for all the mercies and favors afforded me;
hear and graciously answer these my requests, and whatever else Thou see’st needful grant us, for the sake of Jesus Christ in whose blessed Name and Words I continue to pray, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name &c.718
WEDNESDAY MORNING. … Almighty and eternal Lord God, the great Creator of heaven and earth, and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; look down from heaven, in pity and compassion upon me Thy servant, who humbly prostrate myself before Thee, sensible of Thy mercy and my own misery; there is an infinite distance between Thy glorious majesty and me, Thy poor creature, the work of Thy hand, between Thy infinite power, and my weakness, Thy wisdom, and my folly, Thy eternal Being, and my mortal frame, but, O Lord, I have set myself at a greater distance from Thee by my sin and wickedness, and humbly acknowledge the corruption of my nature and the many rebellions of my life.
I have sinned against heaven and before Thee, in thought, word & deed; I have contemned Thy majesty and holy laws. I have likewise sinned by omitting what I ought not. I have rebelled against light, despised Thy mercies and judgements, and broken my vows and promises; I have neglected the means of Grace, and opportunities of becoming better; my iniquities are multiplied, and my sins are very great. I confess them, O Lord, with shame and sorrow, destation and loathing, and desire to be vile in Thine.
I humbly beseech Thee to be merciful to me in the free pardon of my sins, for the sake of Thy dear Son, my only Saviour, Jesus Christ, who came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance; be pleased to renew my nature and write Thy laws upon my heart, and help me to live, righteously, soberly and godly in this evil world; make me humble, meek, patient and contented, and work in me the grace of Thy Holy Spirit.
Prepare me for death and judgement, and let the thoughts thereof awaken me to a greater care and study to approve myself unto Thee in well doing.
Bless our rulers in church & state. Help all in affliction or adversity—give them patience and a sanctified use of their affliction, and in Thy good time, deliverance from them; forgive my enemies, take me unto Thy protection this day, keep me in perfect peace, which I ask in the Name and for the sake of Jesus. Amen.719
WEDNESDAY EVENING. … Holy and eternal Lord God who art the King of heaven, and the watchman of Israel, that never slumberest or sleepest, what shall we render unto Thee for all Thy benefits; because Thou hast inclined Thine ears unto me, therefore will I call on Thee as long as I live, from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same let Thy Name be praised.
Among the infinite riches of Thy mercy towards me, I desire to render thanks & praise for Thy merciful preservation of me this day, as well as all the days of my life; and for the many other blessings & mercies spiritual & temporal which Thou hast bestowed on me, contrary to my deserving.
All these Thy mercies call on me to be thankful and my infirmities & wants call for a continuance of Thy tender mercies; cleanse my soul, O Lord, I beseech Thee, from whatever is offensive to Thee, and hurtful to me, and give me what is convenient for me.
Watch over me this night, and give me comfortable and sweet sleep to fit me for the service of the day following. Let my soul watch for the coming of the Lord Jesus; let my bed put me in mind of my grave, and my rising from there of my last resurrection; O heavenly Father, so frame this heart of mine, that I may ever delight to live according to Thy will and command, in holiness and righteousness before Thee all the days of my life.
Let me remember, O Lord, the time will come when the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall arise and stand before the judgement seat, and give an account of whatever they have done in the body, and let me so prepare my soul, that I may do it with joy and not with grief.
Bless the rulers and people of this and forget not those who are under any affliction or oppression. Let Thy favor be extended to all my relations, friends, and all others who I ought to remember in my prayer; and hear me, I beseech Thee, for the sake of my dear redeemer in whose most holy Words, I farther pray, Our Father, &c.720
THURSDAY MORNING. … Most gracious Lord God, whose dwelling is in the highest heavens, and yet beholdest the lowly and humble upon the earth, I blush and am ashamed to lift up my eyes to Thy dwelling place, because I have sinned against Thee; look down, I beseech Thee upon me Thy unworthy servant who prostrate myself at the footstool of Thy mercy, confessing my own guiltiness, and begging pardon for my sins; what couldst Thou have done Lord more for me, or what could I have done more against Thee? Thou didst send my Thy Son to take our nature. … 721
In November of 1753, at the age of 21, George Washington was commissioned by Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia to bear the official dispatches to the French commander St. Pierre. As he was leaving home to begin what would become a life long service for his country, he recorded the parting words of his mother, Mrs. Mary Washington:
Remember that God only is our sure trust. To Him, I commend you. … My son, neglect not the duty of secret prayer.722
In 1754, Colonel George Washington built Fort Necessity on Great Meadows, after a successful attack on the French in May. While encamped at Great Meadows, he received a letter from his brother Lawrence’s father-in-law, Mr. Fairfax:
I will not doubt your having public prayers in the camp, especially when the Indian families are your guests, that they, seeing your plain manner of worship, may have their curiosity excited to be informed why we do not use the ceremonies of the French, which being well explained to their understandings, will more and more dispose them to receive our baptism, and unite in strict bonds of cordial friendship.723
On June 10, 1754, Colonel George Washington wrote to Governor Dinwiddie:
We have been six days without flour, and there is none upon the road for our relief that we know of, though I have by repeated expresses given him timely notice. We have not provisions of any sort enough in camp to serve us two days. Once before we should have been four days without provisions, if Providence had not sent a trader from Ohio to our relief, for whose flour I was obliged to give twenty-one shillings and eight-pence per pound.724
In April of 1755, General Braddock arrived and promoted Washington to a higher command. His mother, Mary Washington, was concerned about his safety during the French and Indian War, but George reassured her, reminding her of her earlier prayers for him and the care that God has given him in the past:
The God to whom you commended me, madam, when I set out upon a more perilous errand, defended me from all harm, and I trust He will do so now. Do not you?725
The account of George Washington at the Battle at the Monongahela was included in student textbooks in America until 1934. During the French and Indian War, George Washington fought alongside British General Edward Braddock. On July 9, 1755, the British were on the way to Fort Duquesne, when the French surprised them in an ambush attack.
The British, who were not accustomed to fighting unless in an open field, were being annihilated. Washington rode back and forth across the battle delivering General Braddock’s orders. As the battle raged, every other officer on horseback, except Washington, was shot down. General Braddock was mortally wounded, at which point the troops fled in confusion. On Sunday night, July 13, 1754, General Braddock died and Washington, under cover of night, read the funeral service over him by the light of a torch.726
After the battle, on July 18, 1755, Washington wrote from Fort Cumberland to his brother, John A. Washington:
As I have heard, since my arrival at this place, a circumstantial account of my death and dying speech, I take this early opportunity of contradicting the first, and of assuring you, that I have not as yet composed the latter. But by the All-Powerful Dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on every side of me!727
Fifteen years later, Washington and Dr. Craik, a close friend of his from his youth, were traveling through those same woods near the Ohio river and Great Kanawha river. They were met by an old Indian chief, who addressed Washington through an interpreter:
I am a chief and ruler over my tribes. My influence extends to the waters of the great lakes and to the far blue mountains.
I have traveled a long and weary path that I might see the young warrior of the great battle. It was on the day when the white man’s blood mixed with the streams of our forests that I first beheld this Chief.
I called to my young men and said, mark yon tall and daring warrior? He is not of the red-coat tribe—he hath an Indian’s wisdom, and his warriors fight as we do—himself alone exposed.
Quick, let your aim be certain, and he dies. Our rifles were leveled, rifles which, but for you, knew not how to miss—‘twas all in vain, a power mightier far than we, shielded you.
Seeing you were under the special guardianship of the Great Spirit, we immediately ceased to fire at you. I am old and soon shall be gathered to the great council fire of my fathers in the land of shades, but ere I go, there is something bids me speak in the voice of prophecy:
Listen! The Great Spirit protects that man [indicating Washington], and guides his destinies—he will become the chief of nations, and a people yet unborn will hail him as the founder of a mighty empire. I am come to pay homage to the man who is the particular favorite of Heaven, and who can never die in battle.728
An Indian warrior who was in that battle declared:
Washington was never born to be killed by a bullet! I had seventeen fair fires at him with my rifle, and after all could not bring him to the ground!729
On July 8, 1755, Mary Draper Ingels had been kidnapped from her home in Draper Meadows, Virginia by a band of Shawnee Indians. In her biography she recorded her escape in mid-winter and her nearly one thousand mile trek back home. At one point during her captivity, she overheard a meeting that the Shawnee had with some Frenchmen. They described in detail the British defeat in the battle of Monongahela at Duquesne, and how the Indian Chief Red Hawk claimed to have shot Washington eleven times, but did not succeed in killing him.730
On February 2, 1756, in a letter to Governor Dinwiddie, Colonel Washington wrote from Alexandria, Virginia:
I have always, so far as was in my power, endeavored to discourage gambling in camp, and always shall while I have the honor to preside there.731
On April 18, 1756, in a letter to Governor Dinwiddie, Colonel George Washington wrote from Winchester, Virginia:
It gave me infinite concern to find in yours by Governor Innes that any representations should inflame the Assembly against the Virginia regiment, or give cause to suspect the morality and good behaviour of the officers. …
I have, both by threats and persuasive means, endeavored to discountenance gambling, drinking, swearing, and irregularities of every kind; while I have, on the other hand, practised every artifice to inspire a laudable emulation in the officers for the service of their country, and to encourage the soldiers in the unerring exercise of their duty.732
In June of 1756, Colonel George Washington issued the following order while at Fort Cumberland:
Colonel Washington has observed that the men of regiment are very profane and reprobate. He takes this opportunity to inform them of his great displeasure at such practices, and assures them, that, if they do not leave them off, they shall be severely punished. The officers are desired, if they hear any man swear, or make use of an oath or execration, to order the offender twenty-five lashes immediately, without a court-martial. For the second offense, he will be more severely punished.733
In 1756, Colonel George Washington issued the order:
Any soldier found drunk shall receive one hundred lashes without benefit of court-martial.734
About a year after General Braddock’s defeat, Colonel Washington wrote to Governor Dinwiddie from Winchester, Virginia:
With this small company of irregulars, with whom order, regularity, circumspection, and vigilance were matters of derision and contempt, we set out, and by the protection of Providence, reached Augusta Court House in seven days without meeting the enemy; otherwise we must have fallen a sacrifice through the indiscretion of these whooping, hallooing, gentlemen soldiers.735
On September 23, 1756, Colonel Washington wrote to Governor Dinwiddie from Mount Vernon:
The want of a chaplain, I humbly conceive, reflects dishonor on the regiment, as all other officers are allowed. The gentlemen of the corps are sensible of this, and propose to support one at their private expense. But I think it would have a more graceful appearance were he appointed as others are.736
On November 9, 1756, Colonel Washington wrote to Governor Dinwiddie:
As to a chaplain, if the government will grant a subsistence, we can readily get a person of merit to accept the place, without giving the commissary any trouble ont the point.737
On November 24, 1756, Colonel Washington wrote to Governor Dinwiddie:
When I spoke of a chaplain, it was in answer to yours. I had no person in view, though many have offered; and I only said if the country would provide subsistence, we could procure a chaplain, without thinking there was offense in expression.738
On April 17, 1758, after Governor Dinwiddie was recalled, Colonel Washington wrote from Fort Loudoun to the President of the Council:
The last Assembly, in their Supply Bill, provided for a chaplain to our regiment. On this subject I had often without any success applied to Governor Dinwiddie. I now flatter myself, that your honor will be pleased to appoint a sober, serious man for this duty. Common decency, Sir, in a camp calls for the services of a divine, which ought not to be dispensed with, although the world should be so uncharitable as to think us void of religion, and incapable of good instructions.739
On July 20, 1758, in a letter to his fiancee, Martha Dandridge Custis, Colonel George Washington wrote from Fort Cumberland:
We have begun our march for the Ohio. A courier is starting for Williamsburg, and I embrace the opportunity to send a few lines to one whose life is now inseparable from mine. Since that happy hour when we made our pledges to each other, my thoughts have been continually going to you as to another Self. That an All-Powerful Providence may keep us both in safety is the prayer of your ever faithful and ever affectionate Friend.740
On January 6, 1759, George Washington was married to Martha Dandridge Custis by Rev. David Mossom, rector of Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church, New Kent County, Virginia. After having settled at Mount Vernon, George Washington became one of the twelve vestrymen in the Truro Parish, which included the Pohick Church, the Falls Church, and the Alexandria Church. The old vestry book of Pohick Church contained the entry:
At a Vestry held for Truro Parish, October 25, 1762, ordered, that George Washington, Esq. be chosen and appointed one of the Vestry-men of this Parish, in the room of William Peake, Gent. deceased.741
On February 15, 1763, the Fairfax County Court recorded:
George Washington, Esq. took the oath according to Law, repeated and subscribed the Test and subscribed to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England in order to qualify him to act as a Vestryman of Truro Parish.742
In his diary, George Washington recorded his attendance at numerous Church and Vestry meetings:
1768—May 8th—Went to Church from Colonel Bassett’s.
May 22d—Went to Church at Nomini.
May 29th—Church at St. Paul’s.
June 5th—to Church at Alexandria.
June 12th—at Pohick.
July 16th—Went by Muddy Hole and Dog Run to the vestry at Pohick Church—stayed there till after 3 o’clock and only four members coming, returned by Captain McCartys and dined there.
August—Nomini in Westmoreland.
September 9th—proceeded [through Alexandria] to the meeting of our Vestry at the new Church [Payne’s] and lodged at Captain Edward Payne’s.
Nov. 15th—at Pohick.
Nov. 28th—Went to Vestry at Pohick Church.
1769—March 3rd—Went to the Vestry at Pohick Church and returned at 11 o’clock at night.
Sept. 23rd—Captain Posey called here in the morning and we went to a Vestry.
1772—June 5th—Met the Vestry at our new Church [Payne’s] and came home in the afternoon.
1774—Feb. 15th—I went to a Vestry at the new Church [Payne’s] and returned in the afternoon.
Sept. 25th—Went to Quaker meeting in the forenoon, and to St. Peter’s in the afternoon; dined at my lodgings.
Oct. 2d—Went to Church, dined at the new tavern.
Oct. 9th—Went to the Presbyterian meeting in the afternoon; dined at Bevan’s.
Oct. 16th—Went to Christ Church in the morning; after which rode to and dined at the Province Island; supped at Byrn’s.743
On June 19, 1773, George Washington returned from Williamsburg to find his 16–year-old stepdaughter, Martha “Miss Patsey” Custis, dying. She was the daughter of Mrs. Martha Dandridge Custis Washington by her first marriage to Daniel Parke Custis, who had died when the girl was young. George Washington, being the only father Martha “Miss Patsey” Custis knew, knelt by her bed at prayed, only to have her die shortly thereafter. He wrote:
The sweet, innocent girl entered into a more happy and peaceful abode than she had met in the afflicted path she had hitherto trod.744
On June 1, 1774, Wednesday, the same day the British blockade of the Boston Harbor was to begin, the Colonies called for a Day of Fasting and Prayer " … to seek divine direction and aid.”745 George Washington’s diary entry that day was:
Went to church and fasted all day.746
In 1774, as the situation with England became more unbearable, George Washington’s wife, Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (1731–1802), wrote to a kinswoman:
Yes, I foresee consequences—dark days, domestic happiness suspended, social enjoyments abandoned, and eternal separation on earth possible, but my mind is made up, my heart is in the cause. George is right; he is always right. God has promised to protect the righteous, and I will trust Him.747
When informed that the British fired at the men of Lexington on April 19, 1775, George Washington replied:
I grieve for the death of my countrymen; but rejoice that the British are still determined to keep God on our side.748
In June of 1775, the situation in Boston grew more serious, as encounters between British troops and Colonial militia became more frequent. Following an exchange fought on one of the islands in Boston Harbor, Amos Farnsworth, a farmer turned militiaman, entered in his diary:
About fifteen of us squatted down in a ditch in the marsh and stood our ground. And there came a company of regulars on the other side of the river … and we had hot fire, until the regulars retreated.
But notwithstanding the bullets flew very thick, there was not a man of us killed. Surely God has a favor toward us. … Thanks be unto God that so little hurt was done us, when the balls sang like bees round our heads.749
On June 17, 1775, three thousand British troops, under General William Howe’s command, charged from Bunker Hill to attack the colonial soldiers on Breed’s Hill, led by Colonel William Prescott. Amos Farnsworth, a corporal in the Massachusetts Militia, made this entry in his diary immediately after the Battle of Bunker Hill:
We within the entrenchment … having fired away all ammunition and having no reinforcements … were overpowered by numbers and obliged to leave. … I did not leave the entrenchment until the enemy got in. I then retreated ten or fifteen rods.
Then I received a wound in my right arm, the ball going through a little below my elbow, breaking the little shellbone. Another ball struck my back, taking a piece of skin about as big as a penny.
But I got to Cambridge that night. … Oh the goodness of God in preserving my life, although they fell on my right and on my left! O may this act of deliverance of thine, O God, lead me never to distrust thee; but may I ever trust in thee and put confidence in no arm of flesh!750
On June 18, 1775, General George Washington sent a letter from Philadelphia to his wife, Martha, to tell her of his appointment as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army:
My Dearest: … It has been determined in Congress, that the whole army raised for the defence of the American cause shall be put under my care, and that it is necessary for me to proceed immediately to Boston to take up command of it.
You may believe me, my dear Patsy, when I assure you, in the most solemn manner that, so far from seeking this appointment, I have used every endeavor in my power to avoid it. …
But as it has been a kind of Destiny, that has thrown me upon this service, I shall hope that my undertaking it is designed to answer some good purpose. …
I shall rely, therefore, confidently on that Providence which has heretofore preserved and been bountiful to me, not doubting but that I shall return safely to you in the fall.751
On June 23, 1775, following the Battle of Bunker Hill, General George Washington wrote to his wife as he was leaving Philadelphia to take command of the army:
My Dearest: As I am within a few minutes of leaving this city, I could not think of departing from it without dropping you a line, especially as I do not know whether it may be in my power to write you again till I get to the camp at Boston.
I go fully trusting in Providence, which has been more bountiful to me than I deserve and in full confidence of a happy meeting with you sometime in the Fall.
I have no time to add more as I am surrounded with company to take leave of me. I retain an unalterable affection for you which neither time or distance can change.
My best love to Jack and Nelly and regards for the rest of the family; Conclude me with the utmost truth and sincerity, Your entire … 752
On July 4, 1775, in his General Orders as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, General George Washington gave the order from his Headquarters at Cambridge:
It is required and expected that exact discipline be observed, and due Subordination prevail thro’ the whole Army, as a Failure in these most essential points must necessarily produce Hazard, Disorder and Confusion; and end in shameful disappointment and disgrace.
The General most earnestly requires, and expects due observance of those articles of war, established by the Government of the army, which forbid profane cursing, swearing and drunkenness;
And in like manner requires and expects, of all Officers, and Soldiers, not engaged on actual duty, a punctual attendance of Divine Services, to implore the blessings of Heaven upon the means used for our safety and defense.753
William Emerson noticed an immediate compliance with Washington’s new orders regulating profanity, swearing and drunkenness in the army on July 4, 1775:
There is great overturning in the camp, as to order and regularity. New lords, new laws. The Generals Washington and [his adjutant, Charles] Lee are upon the lines every day. New orders from His Excellency are read to the respective regiments every morning after prayers.754
On July 13, 1775, Governor Jonathan Trumbull wrote from Lebanon, Connecticut, to General George Washington, who had recently been placed in command of the Continental Army:
The Honorable Congress have proclaimed a Fast to be observed by the inhabitants of all the English Colonies on this continent, to stand before the Lord in one day, with public humiliation, fasting, and prayer, to deplore our many sins, to offer up our joint supplications to God, for forgiveness, and for his merciful interposition for us in this day of unnatural darkness and distress.
They have, with one united voice, appointed you to the high station you possess. The Supreme Director of all events hath caused a wonderful union of hearts and counsels to subsist among us. Now therefore, be strong and very courageous.
May the God of the armies of Israel shower down the blessings of his Divine Providence on you, give you wisdom and fortitude, cover your head in the day of battle and danger, add success, convince our enemies of their mistaken measures, and that all their attempts to deprive these Colonies of their inestimable constitutional rights and liberties are injurious and vain.755
On July 20, 1775, General Washington issued the order:
The General orders this day to be religiously observed by the Forces under his Command, exactly in manner directed by the Continental Congress. It is therefore strictly enjoined on all Officers and Soldiers to attend Divine Service; And it is expected that all those who go to worship do take their Arms, Ammunition and Accoutrements, and are prepared for immediate action, if called upon.756
The Navy cruisers commissioned by General Washington during the Revolutionary War flew as their ensign a white flag with a green pine tree, and above it the inscription:
An Appeal to Heaven.757
On September 6, 1775, in writing to the inhabitants of the island of Bermuda from his camp at Cambridge, 3 miles from Boston, General Washington expressed:
The Wise Disposer of Events has hitherto smiled upon our virtuous Efforts. …
Be assured, that in this case, the whole power and execution of my influence will be made with the Honble. Continental Congress, that your Island may not only be supplied with provisions, but experience every other mark of affection and friendship.758
On September 8, 1775, from the camp at Cambridge, General Washington sent a circular to the major and brigadier-generals:
The success of such an enterprise depends, I well know, upon the All-Wise Disposer of events, and it is not within the reach of human wisdom to foretell the issue.759
On September 14, 1775, from his headquarters at Cambridge, Massachusetts, General Washington sent the order to Colonel Benedict Arnold prior to his campaign against Quebec:
As the contempt of the religion of a country by ridiculing any of its ceremonies, or affronting its ministers or votaries, has ever been deeply resented, you are to be particularly careful to restrain every officer and soldier from such imprudence and folly, and to punish every instance of it.
On the other hand, as far as lies in your power, you are to protect and support the free exercise of the religion of the country, and the undisturbed enjoyment of the rights of conscience in religious matters, with your utmost influence and authority.760
On the same day, in a personal letter to Colonel Benedict Arnold, September 14, 1775, General George Washington enlarged:
I also give it in charge to you to avoid all disrespect of the religion of the country, and its ceremonies.
Prudence, policy, and a true Christian spirit will lead us to look with compassion upon their errors without insulting them.
While we are contending for our own liberty, we should be very cautious not to violate the rights of conscience of others, ever considering that God alone is the Judge of the hearts of men, and to Him only in this case they are answerable.761
Before Colonel Benedict Arnold left Cambridge for Canada, General Washington prepared a handbill to be distributed to the inhabitants of Canada, in which he stated:
The Colonies, confiding in the Justice of their Cause, and the purity of their intentions, have reluctantly appealed to that Being in whose hands are all Human Events: He has hitherto smiled upon their virtuous Efforts, The Hand of Tyranny has been arrested in its Ravages, and the British Arms, which have shone with so much Splendor in every part of the Globe, are now tarnished with disgrace and disappointment. …
I have detached Colonel Arnold into your Country, with a part of the Army under my command. I have enjoined upon him, and I am certain that he will consider himself, and act as in the Country of his Patrons and best Friends. …
The cause of America and of liberty is the cause of every virtuous American Citizen whatever may be his Religion or his descent.762
On October 2, 1775, General George Washington issued the order:
Any officer, non-commissioned officer, or soldier who shall hereafter be detected playing at toss-up, pitch, and hustle, or any other games of chance, in or near the camp or village bordering on the encampments, shall without delay be confined and punished for disobedience of orders. The General does not mean by the above to discourage sports of exercise or recreation, he only means to discountenance and punish gaming.763
On Sunday, November 26, 1775, General Washington wrote from his headquarters at Cambridge to the superintendent of his plantation at Mount Vernon, Lund Washington:
Let the hospitality of the house, with respect to the poor, be kept up. Let no one go hungry away. If any of this kind of people should be in want of corn, supply their necessities, provided it does not encourage them in idleness, and I have no objection to your giving my money in charity to the amount of forty or fifty pounds a year when you think it well bestowed.
What I mean by having no objection is that it is my desire that it should be done. You are to consider that neither myself nor wife is now in the way to do these good offices. In all other respects I recommend it to you, and have no doubt of your observing the greatest economy and frugality; as I suppose you know that I do not get a farthing for my services here, more than my expenses. It becomes necessary, therefore, for me to be saving at home.764
On December 31, 1775, George and Martha Washington attended Christ Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Colonel William Palfrey offered a prayer of a form different from that commonly used for the King:
O Lord, our Heavenly Father, We beseech Thee to look down with mercy upon his Majesty, George, the Third. Open his eyes and enlighten his understanding that he may pursue the true interest of the people over whom Thou in Thy Providence hast placed him.
Be with Thy servant, the Commander-in-Chief of the American forces. Afford him Thy presence in all undertakings; strengthen him that he may vanquish and overcome all his enemies. … Amen.765
On Sunday, January 14, 1776, General Washington wrote from Cambridge to Joseph Reed:
The reflection on my situation, and that of this army, produce many an unhappy hour when all around me are wrapped in sleep. Few people know the predicament we are in on a thousand accounts; fewer still believe, if any disaster happens to these lines, from what cause it flows.
I have often thought how much happier I should have been, if, instead of accepting the command under such circumstances, I had taken my musket on my shoulder and entered the ranks, or, if I could have justified the measure to posterity and my own conscience, have retired to the back country and lived in a wigwam.
If I shall be able to rise superior to these and many other difficulties which might be enumerated, I shall most religiously believe that the Finger of Providence is in it, to blind the eyes of our enemies; for surely if we get well through this month, it must be for want of their knowing the disadvantages we labor under.766
On February 26, 1776, General Washington issued the orders:
All officers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers are positively forbid playing at cards and other games of chance. At this time of public distress men may find enough to do in the service of their God and their country, without abandoning themselves to vice and immorality.767
On March 6, 1776, from his headquarters at Cambridge, General Washington issued the command for a Day of Fasting, Prayer and Humiliation:
Thursday, the 7th instant, being set apart by the honorable Legislature of this Province as a day of fasting, prayer and humiliation, “to implore the Lord and Giver of all victory to pardon our manifold sins and wickedness, and that it would please Him to bless the Continental army with His divine favor and protection,” all officers and soldiers are strictly enjoined to pay all due reverence and attention on that day to the sacred duties at the Lord of hosts for His mercies already received, and for those blessings which our holiness and uprightness of life can alone encourage us to hope through His mercy obtain.768
By incredible means, fifty cannons were moved from Fort Ticonderoga to a position overlooking Boston. An instance of divine intervention resulted in a victory over the British, who had surrounded Boston for a year and a half, without loss of life either side. On March 17, 1776, General Washington replied to an address from the General Assembly of Massachusetts regarding the recent evacuation of General Howe and the British troops from Boston:
And it being effected without the blood of our soldiers and fellow-citizens must be ascribed to the Interposition of that Providence which has manifestly appeared on our behalf through the whole of this important struggle, as well as the measures pursued for bringing about the happy event.
May that Being who is powerful to save, and in whose hands is the fate of nations, look down with an eye of tender pity; and compassion upon the whole of the United Colonies; may He continue to smile upon their counsels and arms, and crown them with success, whilst employed in the cause of virtue and mankind.
May this distressed colony and its capital, and every part of this wide extended continent, through His Divine favor, be restored to more than their former lustre and once happy state, and have peace, liberty, and safety secured upon a solid, permanent and lasting foundation.769
Following the withdrawal of the British troops from Boston, General Washington requested that a thanksgiving service be held. On April 9, 1776, the Pennsylvania Evening Post, Philadelphia, gave the account:
Thursday [March 28] the Lecture, which was established, and has been observed from the first settlement of Boston, without interruption, until within these few months past, was opened by the Reverend Doctor Eliot. His Excellency General Washington, the other General Officers and their suites, having been previously invited, met in the Council Chamber, from whence, preceded by the Sheriff with his Wand, attended by the members of the Council, who had the smallpox, the Committee of the House of Representatives, the Selectmen, the Clergy, and many other Gentlemen, they repaired to the old Brick Meeting House, where an excellent and well adapted discourse was delivered from those words in the XXXIII chapter of Isaiah, and 20th verse. After divine service was ended his Excellency, attended and accompanied as before, returned to the Council Chamber … 770
On March 31, 1776, General George Washington wrote to his brother, John Augustine Washington, from Cambridge, regarding the evacuation of the British from Boston:
Upon their discovery of the works next morning, great preparations were made for attacking them; but not being ready before the afternoon, and the weather getting very tempestuous, much blood was saved, and a very important blow, to one side or the other, was prevented. That this most remarkable Interposition of Providence is for some wise purpose, I have not a doubt.771
On May 15, 1776, General George Washington issued the order:
The Continental Congress having ordered Friday the 17th instant to be observed as a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer, humbly to supplicate the mercy of Almighty God, that it would please Him to pardon all our manifold sins and transgressions, and to prosper the arms of the United Colonies, and finally establish the peace and freedom of America upon a solid and lasting foundation; the General commands all officers and soldiers to pay strict obedience to the orders of the Continental Congress; that, by their unfeigned and pious observance of their religious duties, they may incline the Lord and Giver of victory to prosper our arms.772
On May 31, 1776, in a letter written from Philadelphia to John Augustine Washington, General Washington stated:
We expect a very bloody Summer of it at New York and Canada, as it is there I expect the grand efforts of the Enemy will be aim’d; and I am sorry to say that we are not, either in Men, or Arms, prepared for it; however, it is to be hoped, that if our cause is just, as I do most religiously believe it to be, the same Providence which has in many instances appear’d for us, will still go on to afford its aid.773
On July 2, 1776, from his Head Quarters in New York, General Washington issued his General Orders:
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 themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness from which no human efforts will 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. We have, therefore to resolve to conquer or die. Our own country’s honor calls upon us for a vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world.
Let us 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.774
On July 9, 1776, upon receiving a copy of the Declaration of Independence from the Continental Congress, General George Washington issued the orders from his headquarters in New York authorizing the Continental Army to appoint and pay chaplains in every regiment 775:
The Hon. Continental Congress having been pleased to allow a Chaplain to each Regiment, with the pay of Thirty-three Dollars and one third pr month—
The Colonels or commanding officers of each regiment are directed to procure Chaplains accordingly; persons of good Characters and exemplary lives—
To see that all inferior officers and soldiers pay them a suitable respect and attend carefully upon religious exercises.
The blessing and protection of Heaven are at all times necessary but especially so in times of public distress and danger—
The General hopes and trusts, that every officer and man, will endeavour so to live, and act, as becomes a Christian Soldier, defending the dearest Rights and Liberties of his country.
The Hon. Continental Congress, impelled by the dictates of duty, policy and necessity, having been pleased to dissolve the Connection which subsisted between this Country, and Great Britain, and to declare the United Colonies of North America, free and independent States:
The several brigades are to be drawn up this evening on their respective Parades at six O’Clock, when the Declaration of Congress, shewing the grounds and reasons of this measure, is to be read with an audible voice.
The General hopes this important event will serve as a fresh incentive to every officer, and soldier, to act with Fidelity and Courage, as knowing that now the peace and safety of his Country depends (under God) solely on the success of our arms.776
On August 3, 1776, General Washington issued the orders:
Parole Uxbridge. Countersign Virginia.
That the Troops may have an opportunity of attending public worship, as well as take some rest after the great fatigue they have come through; The General in future excuses them from fatigue duty on Sundays (except at the Ship Yards, or special occasions until further orders.
The General is sorry to be informed that the foolish, and wicked practice, of profane cursing and swearing (a Vice heretofore little known in an American Army) is growing into fashion; he hopes the officers will, by example, as well as influence, endeavour to check it, and that both they, and the men will reflect, that we can have little hopes of the blessing of Heaven on our Arms, if we insult it by our impiety, and folly; added to this, it is a vice so mean and low, without any temptation, that every man of sense, and character, detests and despises it.777
On August 8, 1776, General Washington communicated to the Officers and Soldiers of the Pennsylvania Association:
If we make Freedom our choice, we must obtain it, by the Blessing of Heaven on our united and vigorous efforts. … I trust that Providence will smile upon our Efforts, and establish us once more, the Inhabitants of a free and happy Country.778
In August of 1776, in response to General Washington’s desperate plea for reinforcements, Governor Jonathan Trumbull called for nine more regiments of volunteers:
In this day of calamity, to trust altogether to the justice of our cause, without our utmost exertion, would be tempting Providence. … March on!—This shall be your warrant: Play the man for God, and for the cities of our God. May the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, be your Captain, your Leader, your Conductor, and Saviour.779
On August 27, 1776, British General Howe had trapped General Washington and his 8,000 troops on Brooklyn Heights, Long Island, intending to advance the next morning to crush them. In a desperate move, Washington gathered every vessel, from fishing boats to row boats, and spent all night ferrying his army across the East River. When the morning came, there was still a large number of his troops dangerously exposed to the British, but in a most unusual change in weather, the fog did not lift from the river. It stayed thick, covering Washington’s retreat until the entire army had evacuated and escaped! Never again did the British have such a rare chance of winning the war.780 Major Ben Tallmadge, who was Washington’s Chief of Intelligence, wrote of that morning:
As the dawn of the next day approached, those of us who remained in the trenches became very anxious for our own safety, and when the dawn appeared there were several regiments still on duty. At this time a very dense fog began to rise [off the river], and it seemed to settle in a peculiar manner over both encampments. I recollect this peculiar providential occurrence perfectly well, and so very dense was the atmosphere that I could scarcely discern a man at six yards distance. … We tarried until the sun had risen, but the fog remained as dense as ever.781
On the night of December 25, 1776, General George Washington crossed the Delaware River and defeated the Hessian troops at Trenton in a surprise attack, forcing them to surrender. This victory convinced France to join the Revolution on the side of the Colonies, and caused the British troops to treat the Continental Army with caution, giving Washington the much needed time to build his ranks.
On February 14, 1777, from Morristown, General Washington wrote to an unidentified correspondent:
Is a neutral character in one of the United States, which has by her Representatives, solemnly engaged to support the Cause, a justifiable one? If it is, may it not be extended to corporate bodies; to the State at large, and to the inevitable destruction of the opposition; which under Providence, depends upon a firm union of the whole, and the spirited exertions of all its Constituent parts?782
On May 26, 1777, in a circular to the brigadier-generals, General Washington wrote:
Let vice and immorality of every kind be discouraged as much as possible in your brigade; and, as a chaplain is allowed to each regiment, see that the men regularly attend divine worship. Gaming of every kind is expressly forbidden, as being the foundation of evil, and the cause on many a brave and gallant officer’s ruin. Games of exercise for amusement may not only be permitted but encouraged.783
On July 4, 1777, from Morristown, New Jersey, General Washington wrote to General Armstrong:
The [British troops’] evacuation of Jersey at this time is a peculiar mark of Providence, as the inhabitants have an opportunity of securing their harvests of hay and grain.784
On October 7, 1777, due the many necessary army maneuvers, General Washington issued the order:
The situation of the army frequently not admitting of the regular performance of divine services on Sundays, the chaplains of the army are forthwith to meet together and agree on some method of performing it at other times, which method they will make known to the Commander-in-Chief.785
On October 18, 1777, in communicating the capitulation of British General Burgoyne’s army at Saratoga, General Washington wrote to his brother John Augustine Washington:
I most devoutly congratulate my country, and every well-wisher to the cause, on this signal stroke of Providence.786
On Sunday, October 19, 1777, in a letter to Major-General Putnam, General Washington wrote:
The defeat of General Burgoyne is a most important event, and such as must afford the highest satisfaction to every well-affected American. Should Providence be pleased to crown our arms in the course of the campaign with one more fortunate stroke, I think we shall have no great cause for anxiety respecting the future designs of Britain. I trust all will be well in His good time. …
I am exceedingly sorry for the death of Mrs Putman, and sympathize with you upon the occasion. Remembering that all must die, and that she had lived to an honorable age, I hope you will bear the misfortune with that fortitude and complacency of mind that become a man and a Christian.787
On October 27, 1777, in a letter to Landon Carter of Sabine Hall, Richmond, Virginia, General Washington wrote:
I have this instant received an account of the prisoners taken by the northern army (including Tories in arms against us) in the course of the campaign. This singular instance of Providence, and of our fortune under it, exhibits a striking proof of the advantages which result from unanimity and a spirited conduct in the militia. …
I flatter myself that a superintending Providence is ordering everything for the best, and that, in due time, all will end well.788
On December 17, 1777, the Continental troops arrived at Valley Forge. In a General Order, Washington informed his troops of the recent decision in Congress:
Tomorrow being the day set apart by the Honorable Congress for public Thanksgiving and Praise: and duty calling us devoutly to express our grateful acknowledgements to God for the manifold blessings he has granted us.
The General directs that the army remain in its present quarters, and that the Chaplains perform divine service with their several Corps and brigades; and earnestly exhorts, all officers and soldiers, whose absence is not indispensably necessary, to attend with reverence the solemnities of the day.789
In the freezing winter of 1777, General George Washington was burdened with the lack of supplies for his troops camped at Valley Forge, and the overwhelming superiority of the British forces. Soldiers died at the rate of twelve per day, with many not even having blankets or shoes. The Commander in Chief himself, records the desperate state in a letter he wrote from Valley Forge to John Banister:
No history, now extant, can furnish an instance of an Army’s suffering such uncommon hardships as ours has done and bearing them with the same patience and fortitude.
To see men without clothes to cover their nakedness, without blankets to lay on, without shoes, by which their marches might be traced by the blood from their feet, and almost as often without provisions as with; marching through frost and snow, and at Christmas taking up their winter quarters within a day’s march of the enemy, without a house or hutt to cover them till they could be built and submitting without a murmur, is a mark of patience and obedience which in my opinion can scarce be paralleled.790
A Committee from Congress reported “feet and legs froze till they became black, and it was often necessary to amputate them.” An incident during this crisis was recorded by Isaac Potts, whom General Washington was temporarily residing with:
In 1777 while the American army lay at Valley Forge, a good old Quaker by the name of Potts had occasion to pass through a thick woods near headquarters. As he traversed the dark brown forest, he heard, at a distance before him, a voice which as he advanced became more fervid and interested.
Approaching with slowness and circumspection, whom should he behold in a dark bower, apparently formed for the purpose, but the Commander-in-Chief of the armies of the United Colonies on his knees in the act of devotion to the Ruler of the Universe!
At the moment when Friend Potts, concealed by the trees, came up, Washington was interceding for his beloved country. With tones of gratitude that labored for adequate expression he adored that exuberant goodness which, from the depth of obscurity, had exalted him to the head of a great nation, and that nation fighting at fearful odds for all the world holds dear. …
Soon as the General had finished his devotions and had retired, Friend Potts returned to his house, and threw himself into a chair by the side of his wife. “Heigh! Isaac!” said she with tenderness, “thee seems agitated; what’s the matter?”
“Indeed, my dear” quoth he, “if I appear agitated ’tis no more than what I am. I have seen this day what I shall never forget. Till now I have thought that a Christian and a soldier were characters incompatible; but if George Washington be not a man of God, I am mistaken, and still more shall I be disappointed if God does not through him perform some great thing for this country.”791
Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, pastor of the Lutheran church near Valley Forge and one of the founders of the Lutheran Church in America, noted concerning General Washington:
I heard a fine example today, namely, that His Excellency General Washington rode around among his army yesterday and admonished each and every one to fear God, to put away the wickedness that has set in and become so general, and to practice the Christian virtues. From all appearances, this gentleman does not belong to the so-called world of society, for he respects God’s Word, believes in the atonement through Christ, and bears himself in humility and gentleness. Therefore, the Lord God has also singularly, yea, marvelously, preserved him from harm in the midst of countless perils, ambuscades, fatigues, etc., and has hitherto graciously held him in His hand as a chosen vessel.792
Henry Melchior Muhlenburg’s son, John Peter Gabriel Muhlenburg, at the age of 30, was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses and a pastor. In 1775, he preached a message on Ecclesiastes 3:1, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven,” and closed his message by saying:
In the language of the Holy Writ, there is a time for all things. There is a time to preach and a time to fight. And now is the time to fight.793
John Peter Muhlenburg then threw off his clerical robes to reveal the uniform of an officer in the Continental Army. That afternoon, at the head of 300 men, he marched off to join General Washington’s troops. He became Colonel of the 8th Virginia Regiment and served until the end of the war, being promoted to the rank of Major-General.
John Peter Muhlenburg became the Vice-President of Pennsylvania, 1785; a member of the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention, 1790; a U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania; and a U.S. Senator, 1801. In 1889, Pennsylvania chose his statue to represent their State in the Statuary Hall at Washington, D.C.
Prussian General Baron Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben (1730–1794) worked with the Continental Army at Valley Forge, drilling them continually until they could, with precision, deliver a volley of gunfire every 15 seconds. An article appeared in the Pennsylvania Packet, a Philadelphia newspaper, during that fateful winter:
Our attention is now drawn to one point: the enemy grows weaker every day, and we are growing stronger. Our work is almost done, and with the blessing of heaven, and the valor of our worthy General, we shall soon drive these plunderers out of our country!794
On Sunday, March 1, 1778, in orders issued from the Head Quarters at Valley Forge, General Washington stated:
Thank Heaven! Our country abounds with provision and prudent management we need not apprehend want for any length of time.795
On March 10, 1778, as recorded in The Writings of George Washington (March 1–May 31, 1778, 11:83–84, published by the U.S. Government Printing Office, 1934), George Washington issued the order:
At a General Court Marshall whereof Colo. Tupper was President (10th March 1778) Lieutt. Enslin of Colo. Malcom’s Regiment tried for attempting to commit sodomy, with John Monhort a soldier; Secondly, For Perjury in swearing to false Accounts, found guilty of the charges exhibited against him, being breaches of 5th. Article 18th. Section of the Articles of War and do sentence him to be dismiss’d the service with Infamy. His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief approves the sentence and with Abhorrence and Detestation of such Infamous Crimes orders Liett. Enslin to be drummed out of Camp tomorrow morning by all the Drummers and Fifers in the Army never to return; The Drummers and Fifers to attend on the Grand parade at Guard mounting for that Purpose.796
On April 12, 1778, from his headquarters at Valley Forge, General Washington issued the order:
The Honorable Congress having thought proper to recommend to the United States of America to set apart Wednesday, the 22nd inst., to be observed as a day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer, that at one time, and with one voice, the righteous dispensations of Providence may be acknowledged, and His goodness and mercy towards our arms supplicated and implored:
The General directs that the day shall be most religiously observed in the Army; that no work shall be done thereon, and that the several chaplains do prepare discourses suitable to the occasion.797
On May 2, 1778, General George Washington issued these orders to his troops at Valley Forge:
The Commander-in-Chief directs that Divine service be performed every Sunday at 11 o’clock, in each Brigade which has a Chaplain. Those Brigades which have none will attend the places of worship nearest to them.
It is expected that officers of all ranks will, by their attendance, set an example for their men.
While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion.
To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest Glory to laud the more distinguished Character of Christian.
The signal instances of Providential goodness which we have experienced and which have now almost crowned our labors with complete success demand from us in a peculiar manner the warmest returns of gratitude and piety to the Supreme Author of all good.798
On May 5, 1778, upon receiving news that France had joined the War on the side of the Colonies, General Washington issued the order from his headquarters at Valley Forge:
It having pleased the Almighty Ruler of the Universe propitiously to defend the cause of the United American States, and finally by raising us up a powerful friend among the Princes of the earth, to establish our Liberty and Independence upon a lasting foundation;
it becomes us to set apart a day for gratefully acknowledging the Divine Goodness, and celebrating the event, which we owe to His benign interposition.
The several brigades are to be assembled at nine o’clock to-morrow morning, when their Chaplains will communicate the intelligence contained in the Postscript of the Gazette of 22nd inst., and offer up a thanksgiving, and deliver a discourse suitable to the occasion.799
On May 30, 1778, from his headquarters at Valley Forge, General Washington wrote to Landon Carter:
My friends, therefore, may believe me sincerely in my professions of attachment to them, whilst Providence has a just claim to my humble and grateful thanks for its protection and direction of me through the many difficult and intricate scenes which this contest has produced; and for its constant interposition in our behalf, when the clouds were heaviest and seemed ready to burst upon us.
To paint the distresses and perilous situation of this army in the course of last winter, for want of clothes, provisions, and almost every other necessary essential to the well-being, I may say existence, of an army, would require more time and an abler pen than mine; nor, since our prospects have so miraculously brightened, shall I attempt it, or even bear it in remembrance, further than as a memento of what is due to the Great Author of all the care and good that have been extended in relieving us in difficulties.800
On July 4, 1778, written from Brunswick, New Jersey, General Washington commented to his brother John Augustine Washington:
General Lee having the command of the Van of the Army, consisting of fully 5000 chosen men, was ordered to begin the attack next morning so soon as the enemy began their march, to be supported by me. But strange to tell! When he came up with the enemy, a retreat commenced; whether by his order, or from other causes, is now the subject of inquiry, and consequently improper to be descanted on, as he is in arrest, and a Court Martial sitting for trial of him.
A retreat however was the fact, be the causes as they may; and the disorder arising from it would have proved fatal to the Army had not that Bountiful Providence which has never failed us in the hour of distress, enabled me to form a regiment or two (of those that were retreating) in the face of the enemy, and under their fire, by which means a stand was made long enough (the place through which the enemy were pursuing being narrow) to form the Troops that were advancing, upon an advantageous piece of ground in the rear; hence our affairs took a favourable turn, and being pursued, we drove the enemy back. …
As the Post waits I shall only add my love to my sister and the family, and strong assurances of being with the sincerest regard and love, your most affectionate brother.801
On August 20, 1778, from White Plains, New York, General George Washington wrote to Brigadier General Thomas Nelson of Virginia:
It is not a little pleasing, nor less wonderful to contemplate, that after two years … undergoing the strangest vicissitudes that perhaps ever attended any one contest since the creation, both armies are brought back to the very point that they set out from and, that which was the offending party in the beginning is now reduced to the use of the spade and pick axe for defense. The Hand of Providence has been so conspicuous in all this (the course of the war) that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more wicked that has not gratitude to acknowledge his obligations; but it will be time enough for me to turn Preacher when my present appointment ceases, and therefore, I shall add no more on the doctrine of providence.802
[Profuse instances of “Providential” intervention are documented in The Light and the Glory by Peter Marshall and David Manuel, (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1977); and in The American Covenant—The Untold Story by Marshall Foster and Mary-Elaine Swanson, (Roseburg, OR: Foundation for Christian Self-Government, 1981; Thousand Oaks, CA: The Mayflower Institute, 1983, 1992.]
On October 20, 1778, while at Fredricksberg, General George Washington wrote:
Purity of Morals being the only sure foundation of publick happiness in any Country and highly conducive to order, subordination and success in an Army, it will be well worthy the Emulation of Officers of every rank and Class to encourage it both by the Influence of Example and the penalties of Authority.
It is painful to see many shameful Instances of Riot and Licentiousness among us. … A regard to decency should conspire, with a Sense of Morality to banish a vice productive of neither Advantage or Pleasure.803
On May 12, 1779, General George Washington was visited at his Middle Brook military encampment by the Chiefs of the Delaware Indian tribe. They had brought three youths to be trained in the American schools. Washington assured them:
Brothers: I am glad you have brought three of the Children of your principal Chiefs to be educated with us. I am sure Congress will open the Arms of love to them, and will look upon them as their own Children, and will have them educated accordingly.
This is a great mark of your confidence and of your desire to preserve the friendship between the Two Nations to the end of time, and to become One people with your Brethren of the United States. …
You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are. Congress will do everything they can to assist you in this wise intention; and to tie the knot of friendship and union so fast, that nothing shall ever be able to loose it. …
And I pray God He may make your Nation wise and strong.804
In June of 1779, near his headquarters on the Hudson River, General George Washington’s private prayer was recorded:
And now, Almighty Father, if it is Thy holy will that we shall obtain a place and name among the nations of the earth, grant that we may be enabled to show our gratitude for Thy goodness by our endeavors to fear and obey Thee.
Bless us with Thy wisdom in our counsels, success in battle, and let all our victories be tempered with humanity. Endow, also, our enemies with enlightened minds, that they become sensible of their injustice, and willing to restore our liberty and peace.
Grant the petition of Thy servant, for the sake of Him whom Thou hast called Thy beloved Son; nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done.805
On April 6, 1780, in his General Orders from the Head Quarters in Morristown, General Washington instructed all troops to observe the Proclamation of a Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer issued by Congress:
The Honorable Congress having been pleased by their Proclamation of the 11th of last month to appoint Wednesday the 22nd instant to be set apart and observed as a day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer for certain purposes therein mentioned, and recommended that there should be no labor or recreations on that day;
The same is to be observed accordingly thro’out the Army and the different Chaplains will prepare discourses suited to the several objects enjoined by the said Proclamation.806
In June of 1780, Hessian General Wilhelm von Knyphausen, with 5,000 troops, crossed over to New Jersey from Staten Island. Encountering unexpected resistance at the little village of Springfield, they were driven back, but not before they shot the wife of Reverend James Caldwell, a mother of nine, and burned their home to the ground.
Two weeks later they repeated their attempt to advance, aided by British General Clinton’s troops, and they again met resistance. The patriots in General Nathaniel Greene’s regiment were courageously firing from behind the church fence when they suddenly ran out of paper wadding, used to hold the gunpowder in place in their muskets.
Chaplain James Caldwell quickly ran past the British fire, entered the Presbyterian church and collected all the copies he could carry of Isaac Watts’ Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, 1707. Distributing them to the thankful troops, he exclaimed, “Now put Watts into’em, boys! Give ’em Watts!” The Americans held their ground, and by the next day the enemy had withdrawn.807
On Monday, September 25, 1780, almost by accident, the plot of Benedict Arnold, Commander of West Point, to betray the Continental Army into the hands of the British was discovered. In response to the miraculous deliverance thereof, General George Washington issued the following circular to his troops:
General Orders—Head Quarters, Orangetown,
September 26, 1780, Tuesday.
Treason of the blackest dye was yesterday discovered! General Arnold who commanded at Westpoint, lost to every sentiment of honor, of public and private obligation, was about to deliver up that important Post into the hands of the enemy. Such an event must have given the American cause a deadly wound if not fatal stab. Happily the treason had been timely discovered to prevent the fatal misfortune. The providential train of circumstances which led to it affords the most convincing proof that the Liberties of America are the object of divine Protection.808
On January 1, 1781, circumstances were desperate for the Continental Army. The Pennsylvania line troops, being paid with worthless paper currency, revolted. Short enlistments threatened the discipline of the ranks. On January 5, 1781, from the Head Quarters at New Windsor, General Washington wrote a circular letter to the New England States:
At what point this defection will stop, or how extensive it may prove God only knows. … How long they will continue so cannot be ascertained, as they labor under some pressing hardships, with the Troops who have revolted. … I give it decidedly as my opinion, that it is vain to think an Army can be kept together much longer, under such a variety of suffering as ours has experienced.809
In a bold move, on January 17, 1781, George Washington’s southern army, led by General George Morgan, defeated the entire detachment of British Colonel Tarleton’s troops at Cowpens. Lord Cornwallis was infuriated and immediately began pursuing the American troops. He decided to wait the night at the Catawba River, which the American troops had crossed just two hours earlier, but to his distress, a storm began during the night, causing the river to be impassable for days.
On February 3, Lord Cornwallis nearly overtook the American troops again at the Yadkin River, arriving just as the American troops were getting out on the far side. But before his troops could cross, a sudden torrential rain caused the river to flood over its banks, preventing the British from crossing.
On February 13, only a few hours ahead of the British, the American troops crossed the Dan River into Virginia. When the British arrived, again, the river had risen, stopping the British pursuit. British Commander in Chief Henry Clinton wrote, explaining the incident:
Here the royal army was again stopped by a sudden rise of the waters, which had only just fallen (almost miraculously) to let the enemy over, who could not else have eluded Lord Cornwallis’ grasp, so close was he upon their rear.810
On March 9, 1781, from Newport, Rhode Island, General Washington wrote to William Gordon:
We have, as you very justly observe, abundant reasons to thank Providence for its many favorable interpositions in our behalf. It has at times been my only dependence, for all other resources seemed to have failed us.811
On March 26, 1781, General Washington wrote to Major-General Armstrong:
Our affairs are brought to a perilous crisis, that the Hand of Providence, I trust, may be more conspicuous in our deliverance. The many remarkable interpositions of the Divine government in the hours of our deepest distress and darkness, have been too luminous to suffer me to doubt the happy issue of the present contest.812
On Friday, October 19, 1781, the British troops under Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown. The following day, General George Washington called for a service to render thanksgiving to God:
In order to diffuse the general Joy through every Breast the General orders that those men belonging to the Army who may now be in confinement shall be pardoned released and join their respective corps.
Divine Service is to be performed tomorrow in the several Brigades or Divisions.
The Commander-in-Chief earnestly recommends that the troops not on duty should universally attend with that seriousness of deportment and gratitude of heart which the recognition of such reiterated and astonishing Interposition of Providence demands of us.813
On November 5, 1781, John Parke Custis, George Washington’s step-son and aide-de-camp during the siege of Yorktown, died of a violent case of campfever at the home of his uncle, Colonel Bassett, in Eltham, Virginia. He had been born to Daniel Parke and Martha Dandridge Custis, shortly before Daniel Parke Custis’ death. George Washington, who never had children of his own, raised John Parke Custis and his sister, Martha “Miss Patsey” Custis, after he married Martha Dandridge Custis in 1759. Martha “Miss Patsey” Custis, had died eight years earlier, at the age of 16–years-old. When John Parke Custis’ young widow remarried, George and Martha Washington adopted the two small children, Eleanor Parke “Nellie” Custis and George Washington Parke Custis, as their own. George Washington Parke Custis (1781–1857), was 19–years-old when George Washington died, and lived to be 77 years old. Growing up at Mount Vernon with the Washingtons, he is considered one of the most reliable authorities on George Washington’s private life, publishing his work, Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington, in 1820. He built a mansion, which stands on the site of the present Arlington National Cemetery, and in 1831, his daughter, Mary Ann Randolph Custis, married a young West Point graduate by the name of Robert E. Lee.814
On November 15, 1781, General George Washington wrote from Mount Vernon to the President of the Continental Congress, Thomas McKean:
Sir, I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your favor of the 31st ultimo, covering the resolution of Congress of the 29th, and a proclamation for a day of public prayer and thanksgiving. …
I take a particular pleasure in acknowledging that the interposing Hand of Heaven, in the various instances of our extensive Preparation for this Operation [Yorktown], has been most conspicuous and remarkable.815
On January 31, 1782, from Philadelphia, General Washington composed a “Circular to the States,” addressed to Meshech Weare, President of New Hampshire:
Although we cannot, by the best concerted plans, absolutely command success; although the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; yet, without presumptuously waiting for miracles to be wrought in our favor, it is our indispensable duty, with the deepest gratitude to Heaven for the past, and humble confidence in its smiles on our future operations, to make use of all the means in our power for our defense and security.816
On May 16, 1782, from his headquarters at Newburgh, New York, General Washington issued the order:
The name of every soldier shall be struck off who addicts himself to drunkenness, or injuries his constitution by intemperance.817
On February 6, 1783, writing from Newburgh to Major General Nathanael
Greene, General Washington expressed:
Historiographers should be hardy enough to fill the page of history with the advantages that have been gained with unequal numbers (on the part of America) in the course of this contest … for it will not be believed that such a force as Great Britain has employed for eight years in this country could be baffled in their plan of subjugating it by numbers infinitely less, composed of men oftentimes half starved; always in rags, without pay, and experiencing, at times, every species of distress which human nature is capable of undergoing.818
On Saturday, February 15, 1783, from his encampment at Newburg, New York, General Washington issued the order:
The New Building being so far finished as to admit the troops to attend public worship therein, after to-morrow it is directed that divine service should be performed there every Sunday by the several chaplains of the New Windsor Cantonment in rotation.819
On March 22, 1783, from Newburg, New York, as recorded in the Orderly Book, General Washington directed:
In justice to the zeal and ability of the Chaplains, as well as to his own feelings, the Commander-in-Chief thinks it a duty to declare that the regularity and decorum with which Divine Service is performed every Sunday, will reflect great credit on the army in general, tend to improve the morals, and the same time increase the happiness of the soldiery, and must afford the most pure, rational entertainments for every serious and well-disposed mind.820
On March 31, 1783, General Washington wrote to Major General Nathanael Greene:
It remains only for the States to be wise, and to establish their independence on that basis of inviolable efficacious union, and firm confederation, which may prevent their being made the sport of European policy; May Heaven give them wisdom to adopt the measures still necessary for this important purpose.821
On Friday, April 18, 1783, General Washington issued the order:
The Commander in Chief orders the Cessation of Hostilities between the United States of America and the King of Great Britain to be publickly proclaimed tomorrow at 12 o’clock at the New building;
and that the proclamation, which will be communicated herewith, be read tomorrow evening at the head of every regiment and corps of the army. After which the Chaplains with the several Brigades will render thanks to Almighty God for all his mercies, particularly for His overruling the wrath of man to His own glory, and causing the rage of war to cease amongst the nations.822
On May 2, 1783, in a very lengthy communication addressed to Alexander Hamilton, General Washington detailed his plans for the organization of America’s military. He listed Chaplains as the first staff officers in the charts drawn up for The Establishment and Disposition of four Regts. of Infantry Men including Officers; and Establishment for one Regiment of Artillery. He recommended each regiment be assigned a Chaplain.823
On June 11, 1783, General Washington replied in a letter to the Reverend John Rodgers, who had proposed that Bibles be given to the soldiers serving in the war:
Your proposition respecting Mr. Aitken’s Bibles would have been particularly noticed by me, had it been suggested in Season; but the late Resolution of Congress for discharging part of the Army … it is now too late to make the Attempt.
It would have pleased me if Congress should have made such an important present to the brave fellows who have done so much for the Security of their Country’s Rights and Establishment.824
On June 14, 1783, at the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, General George Washington sent a farewell dispatch, entitled “Circular Letter Addressed to the Governors of all the States on Disbanding the Army,” from his headquarters in Newburgh, New York, to all thirteen Governors of the newly freed states. In it he stated:
I am now preparing to resign. … But before I carry this resolution into effect, I think it a duty incumbent on me, to make this my last official communication, to congratulate you on the glorious events which Heaven has been pleased to produce in our favor. …
We shall have equal occasion to felicitate ourselves on the lot which Providence has assigned us, whether we view it in a natural, a political or moral point of light. …
The Citizens of America are from this period to be considered as the actors of a most conspicuous theatre, which seems to be particularly designed by Providence for the display of human greatness and felicity.
Here they are not only surrounded with everything, which can contribute to the completion of private and domestic enjoyment, but Heaven has crowned all its other blessing, by giving a fairer opportunity for political happiness, than any other nation has ever been favored with. …
The free cultivation of letters, the unbounded extension of commerce, the progressive refinement of manners, the growing liberality of sentiment, and, above all, the pure and benign light of Revelation, have had a meliorating influence on mankind and increased the blessings of society. …
According to the system of policy the States shall adopt at this moment, they will stand or fall; and by their confirmation or lapse, it is yet to be decided, whether the Revolution must ultimately be considered as a blessing or a curse … not to the present age alone, for with our fate will the destiny of unborn Millions be involved. …
It remains, then, to be my final and only request, that your Excellency will communicate these sentiments to your Legislature at their next meeting, and that they may be considered as the legacy of one who has ardently wished, on all occasions, to be useful to his country, and who, even in the shade of retirement, will not fail to implore the Divine benediction upon it.
I now make it my earnest prayer that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in His holy protection; that He would incline the hearts of the citizens … to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the field; and finally, that He would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation.825
Washington’s Prayer for the United States of America appears on a plaque in St. Paul’s Chapel in New York City and at Pohick Church, Fairfax County, Virginia, where Washington was a vestryman, 1762–84:
Almighty God; We make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy Holy protection; and Thou wilt incline the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government; and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow Citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the Field.
And finally that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the Characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation.
Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.826
On July 8, 1783, from his headquarters at Newburgh, General Washington wrote to the Reverend William Gordon:
To say nothing of the invisible workings of Providence, which has conducted us through difficulties where no human foresight could point the way; it will appear evident to a close examiner, that there has been a concatenation of causes to produce this event; which in all probability at no time, or under any circumstances, will combine again.827
On August 26, 1783, in addressing Congress in session at Princeton, New Jersey, General Washington expressed:
Notwithstanding Congress seems to estimate the value of my life beyond any services I have been able to render the United States, yet I must be permitted to consider the wisdom and unanimity of our national councils, the firmness of our citizens, and the patience and bravery of our troops, who have produced so happy a termination of the war, as the most conspicuous effect of the Divine interposition, and the surest presage of our future happiness. …
Perhaps, sir, no occasion may offer more suitable than the present to express my humble thanks to God, and my grateful acknowledgements to my country, for the great and uniform support I have received in every vicissitude and fortune, and for the many distinguished honors which Congress has been pleased to confer upon me in the course of the war.828
On November 27, 1783, General Washington wrote to the ministers, elders, deacons, and members of the Reformed German Congregation of New York:
Gentlemen. … Disposed, at every suitable opportunity to acknowledge publicly our infinite obligations to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe for rescuing our country from the brink of destruction;
I cannot fail at this time to ascribe all the honor of our late success to the same glorious Being. And if my humble exertions have been made in any degree subservient to the execution of the Divine purposes, a contemplation of the benediction of Heaven on our righteous Cause, the approbation of my virtuous Countrymen, and the testimony of my own Conscience, will be a sufficient rewards and augment my felicity beyond anything which the world can bestow.
The establishment of Civil and Religious Liberty was the Motive which induced me to the Field; the object is attained, and it now remains to be my earnest wish and prayer, that the Citizens of the United States would make a wise and virtuous use of the blessings, placed before them; and that the Reformed German Congregation in New York may not only be conspicuous for their religious character, but exemplary, in support of our inestimable acquisitions, as their reverend Minister has been in the attainment of them.829
Expressing his desire to retire, General George Washington commented near the close of his term in service:
I anticipate with pleasure the day, and that I trust not far off, when I shall quit the busy scenes of a military employment and retire to the more tranquil walks of domestic life.
In that, or whatever other situation Providence may dispose my future days, the remembrance of the many friendships and connections I have had the happiness to contract with the gentlemen of the army, will be one of my most grateful reflections.
Under this contemplation, and impressed with the sentiments of benevolence and regard, I commend you, my dear sir, my other friends, and with them the interest and happiness of our dear country, to the keeping and protection of Almighty God.830
On November 2, 1783, from Rock Hill, near Princeton, General George Washington issued his Farewell Orders to the Armies of the United States:
It only remains for the Comdr in Chief to address himself once more, and that for the time, to the Armies of the U. States … and to bid them an affectionate, a long farewell …
Before the Comdr in Chief takes his final leave of those he holds most dear, he wishes to indulge himself a few moments in calling to mind a slight review of the past. …
The singular interpositions of Providence in our feeble condition were such, as could scarcely escape the attention of the most unobserving; while the unparalleled perseverance of the Armies of the U. States, through almost every possible suffering and discouragement for the space of eight long years, was little short of a standing miracle. …
To conclude these his last public Orders, to take his ultimate leave in a short time of the military character, and to bid a final adieu to the Armies he has so long had the honor to Command, he can only again offer in their behalf his recommendations to their grateful country, and his prayers to the God of Armies.
May ample justice be done then here, and may the choicest of Heaven’s favours, both here and thereafter, attend those who, under Divine auspices, have secured innumerable blessings for others; with these wishes, and his benediction, the Commander in Chief is about to retire from Service … 831
On December 4, 1783, General Washington bade farewell to his troops gathered at Fraunces Tavern, New York City. On December 23, 1783, from the Maryland Capitol at Annapolis, General Washington wrote to Baron Steuben:
This is the last letter I shall write while I continue in the service of my country. The hour of my resignation is fixed at 12 today, after which I shall become a private citizen on the banks of the Potomac.832
On December 23, 1783, in an address to Congress written from the Maryland Capitol at Annapolis, General George Washington stated:
Happy in the confirmation of our independence and sovereignty, and pleased with the opportunity offered the United States of becoming a respectable nation, I resign with satisfaction the appointment I accepted with diffidence, a diffidence in my abilities to accomplish so arduous a task, which however, was superseded by a confidence in the rectitude of our cause, the support of the supreme power of the Union, and the patronage of Heaven.
The successful termination of the war has verified the most sanguine expectations; and my gratitude for the Interposition of Providence, and the assistance I have received from my countrymen, increases with every review of the momentous contest. …
I consider it an indispensable duty to close this last solemn act of my Official life by commending the Interest of our dearest Country to the protection of Almighty God, and those who have the superintendence of them, to his Holy keeping.833
In 1783, Benjamin Franklin, as an ambassador of the United States, was at a dinner of foreign dignitaries in Versailles, France. The minister of Great Britain proposed a toast to King George III, likening him to the sun. The French minister, in like kind, proposed a toast to King Louis XVI, comparing him with the moon. Benjamin Franklin stood up and toasted:
George Washington, Commander of the American armies, who, like Joshua of old, commanded the sun and the moon to stand still, and they obeyed him.834
On February 20, 1784, from Mount Vernon, George Washington wrote to Major General Knox:
I feel now, however, as I conceive a wearied traveler must do who, after treading many a painful step with a heavy burden on his shoulders, is eased of the latter, having reached the haven to which all the former were directed; and from his housetop is looking back, and tracing with an eager eye the meanders by which he escaped the quicksands and mires which lay in his way; into which none but the all-powerful Guide and Dispenser of human events could have prevented his falling.835
On February 8, 1785, George Washington wrote from Mount Vernon to the President of the Continental Congress:
Toward the latter part of the year 1783, I was honored with a letter from the Countess of Huntington, briefly reciting her benevolent intention of spreading Christianity among the Tribes of Indians inhabiting our Western Territory; and expressing a desire of my advice and assistance to carry this charitable design into execution.
I wrote her Ladyship. … that I wou’d give every aid in my power, consistent with the ease and tranquility, to which I meant to devote the remainder of my life, to carry her plan into effect. …
Her Ladyship has spoken so feelingly and sensibly, on the religious and benevolent purposes of the plan, that no language of which I am possessed, can add aught to enforce her observations.836
On June 25, 1785, George Washington was finally able to return the correspondence of Marquis de Lafayette, who had sent several letters to Washington at Mount Vernon in the previous months:
My Dear Marquis, I have to acknowledge and thank you for your several favors of the 9th. of February, the 19th. of March and 16th. of April, with their enclosures; all of which (the last only yesterday) have been received since I had the honor to address you in February.
I stand before you as a culprit: but to repent and be forgiven are the precepts of Heaven: I do the former, do you practice the latter, and it will be participation of a divine attribute. Yet I am not barren of excuses for this seeming inattention; frequent absences from home, a round of company when at it, and the pressure of many matters, might be urged as apologies for my long silence. …
I now congratulate you, and my heart does it more effectually than my pen, on your safe arrival in Paris, from your voyage to this Country … 837
On Sunday, October 2, 1785, George Washington entered in his diary:
Went with Fanny Bassett, Burwell Bassett, Doctor Stuart, G.A. Washington, Mr. Shaw & Nelly Custis to the Pohick Church; to hear a Mr. Thompson preach, who returned home with us to dinner, where I found Reverend Mr. Jones [David Jones, Chester County, Pennsylvania], formerly a chaplain in one of the Pennsylvania Regiments.838
On October 3, 1785, George Washington wrote from Mount Vernon to George Mason:
No man’s sentiments are more opposed to any kind of restraint upon religious principles than mine are.839
On April 12, 1786, George Washington wrote from Mount Vernon to Robert Morris:
I hope it will not be conceived from these observations, that it is my wish to hold the unhappy people, who are the subject of this letter, in slavery. I can only say that there is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it; but there is only one proper and effectual mode by which it can be accomplished, and that is by Legislative authority.840
On May 10, 1786, George Washington wrote from Mount Vernon to Marquis de Lafayette:
Your late purchase of an estate in the colony of Cayenne, with a view of emancipating the slaves on it, is a generous and noble proof of your humanity. Would to God a like spirit would diffuse itself generally into the minds of the people of this country.841
On September 9, 1786, from Mount Vernon, George Washington wrote to John F. Mercer:
I never mean, unless some particular circumstances should compel it, to possess another slave by purchase, it being among my first wishes to see some plan adopted, by which slavery in this country may be abolished by law.842
On Sunday, October 15, 1786, George Washington entered in his diary:
Accompanied by Major Washington, his wife—Mr. Lear and the two children Nelly and Washington Custis—went to Pohick Church and returned to dinner.843
On November 18, 1786, George Washington wrote from Mount Vernon to James Madison:
It gives me the most sensible pleasure to hear that the acts of the present session are marked with wisdom, justice and liberality. … Would to God every State would let these be the leading features of their constituent characters.844
On Saturday, March 3, 1787, George Washington entered in his diary while at Mount Vernon:
The Rev. Mr. Weems and ye Doctor Craik who came here yesterday in the afternoon left about noon for Port Tobacco [Maryland].845
On May 14, 1787, the Constitutional Convention met at the State House (Independence Hall) for the purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation and formulating the Constitution. On May 25, 1787, George Washington, who had been unanimously elected as president of the Convention, rose and admonished the delegates:
If to please the people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterward defend our work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and the honest can repair; the event is in the Hand of God!846
On Saturday, May 26, 1787, George Washington entered in his diary:
Went to the Romish Church to high mass.847
On Sunday, June 17, 1787, George Washington entered in his diary:
Went to [Christ] Church—heard Bishop White preach, and see him ordain two gentlemen Deacons.848
On July 30, 1787, George Washington instructed Joseph Rakestraw of Philadelphia to place a dove of peace on his weathervane at Mount Vernon:
I should like to have a bird (in place of the Vane) with an olive branch in its mouth.849
On August 15, 1787, in a letter from Philadelphia to the Marquis de Lafayette, George Washington wrote:
I am not less ardent in my wish that you may succeed in your plan of toleration in religious matters. Being no bigot myself to any mode of worship, I am disposed to indulge the professors of Christianity in the church with that road to Heaven which to them shall seem the most direct, plainest and easiest, and the least liable to exception.850
On Sunday, October 28, 1787, George Washington entered in his diary:
Went to Pohick Church—Mr. Lear and Washington Custis in the carriage with me.851
On Sunday, April 13, 1788, George Washington entered in his diary:
Went to church at Alexandria, accompanied by Col. Humphrey, Mr. Lear and Washington Custis.852
On May 28, 1788, George Washington wrote from Mount Vernon to Marquis de Lafayette:
A few short weeks will determine the political fate of America. … I will confess to you sincerely, my dear Marquis; it will be so much beyond any thing we had a right to imagine or expect eighteen months ago, that it will demonstrate as visibly the Finger of Providence, as any possible event in the course of human affairs can ever designate it.853
On Sunday, June 15, 1788, while visiting his mother in Fredericksburg, George Washington attended church. The people of the area, anxious to observe him, crowded into the small church until it seemed the floor would give way. George Washington entered in his diary:
On Sunday we went to church—the congregation being alarmed (without cause) and supposing the gallery at the north end was about to fall, were thrown into the utmost confusion; and in the precipitate retreat to the doors many got hurt.854
On June 29, 1788, George Washington sent a letter to General Benjamin Lincoln, his deputy in the War, who had accepted British General Cornwallis’ sword at the surrender at Yorktown:
No Country upon Earth ever had it more in its power to attain these blessings than United America. Wondrously strange then, and much to be regretted indeed would it be, were we to neglect the means and depart from the road which Providence has pointed us to, so plainly; I cannot believe it will ever come to pass.
The Great Governor of the Universe has led us too long and too far on the road to happiness and glory to forsake us in the midst of it. …
We may, now and then, get bewildered; but I hope and trust that there is good sense and virtue enough left to recover the right path.855
On July 20, 1788, George Washington wrote from Mount Vernon to Jonathan Trumbull, the former British Governor of Connecticut who had become loyal to the cause of American Independence:
Your friend Colonel Humphreys informs me, from the wonderful revolution of sentiment in favor of federal measures, and the marvelous change for the better in the elections of the State, that he shall begin to suspect that miracles have not ceased. Indeed, for myself, since so much liberality has been displayed in the construction and adoption of proposed general government, I am almost disposed to be of the same opinion.
Or at least we may, with a kind of pious and grateful exultation, trace the Finger of Providence through those dark and mysterious events which first induced the States to appoint a general Convention, and then led them one after another, by such steps as were best calculated to effect the object into an adoption of the system recommended by that general Convention;
thereby in all human probability laying a lasting foundation for tranquillity and happiness, when we had but too much reason to fear that confusion and misery were coming rapidly upon us.
That the same Good Providence may still continue to protect us, and prevent us from dashing the cup on national felicity, just as it has been lifted to our lips, is the earnest prayer of, my dear sir, your faithful friend, etc., etc.856
On July 31, 1788, from Mount Vernon, George Washington wrote to James McHenry:
I earnestly pray that the Omnipotent Being, who has not deserted the cause of America in the hour of its extremest hazard, may never yield so fair a heritage of freedom a prey to anarchy or despotism.857
On August 28, 1788, George Washington wrote from Mount Vernon to Benjamin Lincoln:
I trust in that Providence, which has saved us in six troubles yea seven, to rescue us again from any imminent, though unseen, dangers. Nothing, however, on our part ought to be left undone. … Heaven is my witness, that an inextinguishable desire [for] the felicity of my country may be promoted is my only motive in making these observations.858
On August 31, 1788, George Washington wrote from Mount Vernon to Thomas Jefferson:
Though the peril is not past entirely; thank God! the prospect is somewhat brightening.859
On September 22, 1788, from Mount Vernon, George Washington wrote to Henry Lee in Congress, who had urged him to accept the presidency:
Nor will you conceive me to be solicitous for reputation. Though I prize as I ought the good opinion of my fellow citizens, yet, if I know myself, I would not seek to retain popularity at the expense of one social duty or moral virtue.
While doing what my conscience informed me was right, as it respected my God, my country, and myself, I could despise all the party clamor and unjust censure which might be expected from some whose personal enmity might be occasioned by their hostility to the government.860
On Sunday, October 26, 1788, George Washington entered in his diary:
Went to Pohick Church and returned home to dinner.861
On October 26, 1788, George Washington wrote from Mount Vernon to Benjamin Lincoln:
I would willing pass over in silence that part of your letter, in which you mention the persons who are Candidates for the two first Offices in the Executive, if I did not fear the omission might seem to betray a want of confidence. …
Every personal consideration conspires to rivet me (if I may use the expression) to retirement. At my time of life, and under my circumstances, nothing in this world can ever draw me from it, unless it be a conviction that the partiality of my Countrymen had made my services absolutely necessary, joined to a fear that my refusal might induce a belief that I preferred the conservation of my own reputation and private ease, to the good of my Country.
After all, if I should conceive myself in a manner constrained to accept, I call Heaven to witness, that this very act would be the greatest sacrifice of my personal feeling and wishes that ever I have been called upon to make.862
At the start of the Revolutionary War, George Washington had moved his mother into the village of Fredericksburg for safety. She remained their for the entire duration of the War. In October of 1781, when informed of British General Cornwallis’ surrender, Mary Washington lifted her hands toward heaven in gratitude and exclaimed:
Thank God! War will now be ended, and peace, independence and happiness bless our country!863
On Tuesday, April 14, 1789, George Washington received notification of his election as President of the United States. His final farewell to his mother was recorded by his adopted son, George Washington Parke Custis:
An affected scene ensued. The son feelingly remarked the ravages which a torturing disease (cancer) had made upon the aged frame of the mother, and addressed her with these words:
“The people, madam, have been pleased, with the most flattering unanimity, to elect me to the Chief magistracy of these United States, but before I can assume the functions of my office, I have come to bid you an affectionate farewell. So soon as the weight of public business, which must necessarily attend the outset of a new government, can be disposed of, I shall hasten to Virginia, and,”(here the matron interrupted him with -)
“And you will see me no more; my great age, and the disease which is fast approaching my vitals, warn me that I shall not be long in this world; I trust in God that I may be somewhat prepared for the better. But go, George, fulfill the high destinies which Heaven appears to have intended for you; go, my son, and may that Heaven’s and a mother’s blessing be with you always.”864
Less than 4 months later, on August 25, 1789, Mrs. Mary Washington died at 82 years of age. President George Washington wrote a letter to his only sister, Mrs. Betty Lewis, in Fredericksburg, Virginia:
Awful and affecting as the death of a parent is, there is consolation in knowing that Heaven has spared ours to an age beyond which few attain, and favored her with the full enjoyment of her mental faculties, and as much bodily strength as usually fall to the lot of fourscore.
Under these considerations, and the hope that she is translated to a happier place, it is the duty of her relatives to yield due submission to the decrees of the Creator. When I was last at Fredericksburg I took a final leave of my mother, never expecting to see her more.865
On April 16, 1789, the mayor of Alexandria, Virginia, spoke at a dinner in Washington’s honor. In reply, George Washington gave a statement of commitment to the mayor, corporation and citizens of Alexandria before leaving for his Inauguration in New York:
Gentlemen: Although I ought not to conceal, yet I cannot describe, the painful emotions which I felt in being called upon to determine whether I would accept or refuse the Presidency of the United States. …
All that remains for me is to commit myself and you to the care of that beneficent Being who, on a former occasion, happily brought us together after a long and distressing separation. Perhaps the same Gracious Providence will again indulge me.
But words fail me. Unutterable sentiments must be left to more expressive silence, while from an aching heart, I bid you my affectionate friends and neighbors farewell.866
On April 20, 1789, in addressing the mayor, recorder, aldermen and Common Council of the City of Philadelphia, George Washington stated:
When I contemplate the interposition of Providence, as it was manifested in guiding us through the Revolution, in preparing us for the reception of a general government, and in conciliating the good will of the people of America towards one another after its adoption, I feel myself oppressed and almost overwhelmed with a sense of the divine munificence. I feel that nothing is due to my personal agency in all these complicated and wonderful events, except what can simply be attributed to the exertions of an honest zeal for the good of my country.
If I have distressing apprehensions, that I shall not be able to justify the too exalted expectations of my countrymen, I am supported under the pressure of such uneasy reflections by a confidence that the most Gracious Being, who has hitherto watched over the interests and averted the perils of the United States, will never suffer so fair an inheritance to become a prey to anarchy, despotism, or any other species of oppression.867
A week prior to Washington’s Inauguration, April 23, 1789, the schedule of events for that special day was published in the newspaper, Daily Advertiser:
On the morning of the day on which our illustrious President will be invested with his office, the bells will ring at nine o’clock, when the people may go up and in a solemn manner commit the new Government, with its important train of consequences, to the holy protection and blessings of the Most High. An early hour is prudently fixed for this peculiar act of devotion, and it is designed wholly for prayer.868
On April 27, 1789, the Senate, and two days later the House, passed a resolution in Congress giving instructions with regard to the Inauguration of George Washington as the first President of the United States:
Resolved, That after the oath shall have been administered to the President, he, attended by the Vice President, and the members of the Senate, and House of Representatives, proceed to St. Paul’s Chapel, to hear divine service, to be performed by the Chaplain of Congress already appointed.869
The Annals of Congress give a record of the events on April 30, 1789, following President George Washington’s Inauguration:
The President, the Vice President, the Senate, and House of Representatives, &c., then proceeded to St. Paul’s Chapel, where divine service was performed by the Chaplains of Congress.870
George Washington took the oath of office, Thursday, April 30, 1789, on the balcony of Federal Hall, in New York City, with his hand upon an open Bible. In addition to the Presidential Oath of Office, as prescribed in the Constitution, Washington added a phrase which, though not mandatory, has been used by every President since:
So help me, God.871
Following the ringing of church bells, explosion of artillery and deafening applause, President George Washington proceeded to Federal Hall, at Wall and Nassau Streets, to deliver his Inaugural Address to both Houses of Congress.872
It would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes; and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success, the functions allotted to his charge.
In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own; nor those of my fellow-citizens at large, less than either. No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States.
Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency; and in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their United government, the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities, from which the event has resulted can not be compared with the means by which most governments have been established, without some return of pious gratitude, along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage.
These reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have forced themselves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed. You will join with me I trust in thinking, that there are none under the influence of which the proceedings of a new and free Government can more auspiciously commence. …
The foundations of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and the preeminence of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens and command the respect of the world.
I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my country can inspire, since there is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists in the economy and course of nature, an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness. …
We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained; and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered as deeply, perhaps finally, staked of the experiment intrusted to the hands of the American people. …
I shall take my present leave; but not without resorting once more to the Benign Parent of the Human Race, in humble supplication that, since He has been pleased to favor the American people with opportunities for deliberating in perfect tranquillity, and dispositions for deciding with unparalleled unanimity on a form of government for the security of their union and the advancement of their happiness, so His divine blessings may be equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations and the wise measures on which the success of this Government must depend.873
The University of Virginia, in its Washington Papers Project, has the manuscript fragments of President George Washington’s discarded First Inaugural Address, dated April of 1789:
If there should be a single citizen of the United States, to whom the tenor of my life is so little known, that he could imagine me capable of being so smitten with the allurements of sensual gratification, the frivolities of ceremony or the baubles of ambition, as to be induced from such motives to accept a public appointment: I shall only lament his imperfect acquaintance with my heart, and leave him until another retirement (should Heaven spare my life for a little space) shall work a conviction of his error. …
It will be recollected, that the Divine Providence hath not seen fit, that my blood should be transmitted or my name perpetuated by the endearing, though sometimes seducing channel of immediate offspring. I have no child for whom I could wish to make provision—no family to build in greatness upon my country’s ruin. …
If we had a secret resource of a nature unknown to our enemy, it was in the unconquerable resolution of our Citizens, the conscious rectitude of our cause, and a confident trust that we should not be forsaken by Heaven. …
Such exertions of your talents will render your situations truly dignified and cannot fail of being acceptable in the sight of the Divinity. …
If the blessings of Heaven showered thick around us should be spilled on the ground or converted to curses, through the fault of those for whom they were intended, it would not be the first instance of folly or perverseness in short-sighted mortals. The Blessed Religion revealed in the Word of God will remain an eternal and awful monument to prove that the best Institutions may be abused by human depravity; and that they may even, in some instances be made subservient to the vilest purposes. …
I feel the consolatory joys of futurity in contemplating the immense deserts, yet untrodden by the foot of man, soon to become fair as the garden of God, soon to be animated by the activity of multitudes & soon to be made vocal with the praises of the Most High. Can it be imagined that so many peculiar advantages, of soil & of climate, for agriculture & for navigation were lavished in vain—or that this Continent was not created and reserved so long undiscovered as a Theatre, for those glorious displays of Divine Munificence, the salutary consequences of which shall flow to another Hemisphere & extend through the interminable series of ages? Should not our Souls exult in the prospect? …
After a consciousness that all is right within and an humble hope of approbation in Heaven—nothing can, assuredly, be so grateful to a virtuous man as the good opinion of his fellow citizens. …
I most earnestly supplicate that Almighty God, to whose holy keeping I commend my dearest country, will never suffer so fair an inheritance to become a prey.874
On May 5, 1789, the U.S. House of Representatives delivered the following address to President George Washington:
The Representatives of the People of the United States present their congratulations on the event by which your fellow-citizens have attested the pre-eminence of your merit. You have long held the first place in their esteem. …
We feel with you the strongest obligations to adore the Invisible Hand which has led the American People through so many difficulties, to cherish a conscious responsibility for the destiny of republican liberty; and to seek the only sure means of preserving and recommending the precious deposite in a system of legislation founded on the principles of an honest policy. …
All that remains is, that we join in our fervent supplications for the blessings of Heaven on our country, and that we add our own for the choicest of these blessings on the most beloved of her citizens.875
On Friday, May 8, 1789, President George Washington replied to the U.S. House of Representatives:
Your very affectionate address produces emotions which I know not how to express. …
For all beyond, I rely on the wisdom and patriotism of those with whom I am to co-operate, and a continuance of the blessings of Heaven on our beloved country.876
On May 7, 1789, the U.S. Senate delivered the following address to President George Washington and Vice-President John Adams:
We, the Senate of the United States, return you our sincere thanks for your excellent speech delivered to both Houses of Congress. …
When we contemplate the coincidence of circumstances and wonderful combination of causes which gradually prepared the people of this country for independence; when we contemplate the rise, progress, and termination of the late war, which gave them a name among the nations of the earth, we are with you unavoidably led to acknowledge and adore the Great Arbiter of the universe, by whom empires rise and fall. A review of the many signal instances of divine interposition in favor of this country, claims our most pious gratitude; and permit us, sir, to observe, that, among the great events which have led to the formation and establishment of a Federal Government, we esteem your acceptance of the office of the President as one of the most propitious and important. …
We feel, sir, the force and acknowledge the justness of the observation that the foundation of our national policy should be laid in private morality. If individuals be not influenced by moral standards, it is vain to look for public virtue. …
We commend you, sir, to the protection of Almighty God, earnestly beseeching him long to preserve a life so valuable and dear to the People of the United States, and that your administration may be prosperous to the nation and glorious to yourself.877
On Monday, May 18, 1789, President George Washington replied to the U.S. Senate:
I thank you for your address, in which the most affectionate sentiments are expressed. …
I now feel myself inexpressibly happy in a belief that Heaven, which has done so much for our infant nation, will not withdraw its Providential influence before our political felicity shall have been completed, and in a conviction that the Senate will at times co-operate in every measure which may tend to promote the welfare of this confederated Republic.
Thus supported by a firm trust in the Great Arbiter of the Universe, aided by the collected wisdom of the Union, and imploring the divine benediction on our joint exertions in the service of our country, I readily engage with you in the arduous but pleasing task of attempting to make a nation happy.878
President Washington, either in writing or in person, addressed nearly all the churches in America: Episcopal, Congregational, Presbyterian, Society of Friends (Quaker), United Baptist, German Lutheran, German Reformed, Dutch Protestant, Dutch Reformed, Methodist, Swedenborgian, United Brethren (Moravian), Roman Catholic, and Hebrew. He attended not only the Episcopal Church, to which he was a member, but also the Presbyterian, Dutch Reformed, Lutheran and German Reformed Churches.879 To a gathering of Episcopalians, Washington declared:
That Government alone can be approved by Heaven, which promotes peace and secures protection to its Citizens in every thing that is dear and interesting to them. … 880
On May 10, 1789, in addressing the General Committee representing the United Baptist Churches of Virginia, President Washington stated:
Gentlemen—I request that you will accept my best acknowledgments for your congratulations on my appointment to the first office in the nation. The kind manner in which you mention my past conduct equally claims the expression of my gratitude.
After we had, by the smiles of Heaven on our exertions, obtained the object for which we contended, I retired at the conclusion of the war, with an idea that my country would have no farther occasion for my services, and with the intention of never entering again into public life. But when the exigence of my country seemed to require me once more to engage in public affairs, an honest conviction of duty superseded my former resolution, and became my apology for deviating from the happy plan which I had adopted.
If I could have entertained the slightest apprehension that the Constitution framed by the Convention, where I had the honor to preside, might possibly endanger the religious rights of any ecclesiastical Society, certainly I would never have placed my signature to it;
if I could now conceive that the general Government might ever be so administered as to render liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution; for you doubtless remember I have often expressed my sentiments, that any man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience.
While I recollect with satisfaction that the religious society of which you are members, have been, throughout America, uniformly, and almost unanimously, the firm friends to civil liberty, and the preserving promoters of our glorious revolution; I cannot hesitate to believe that they will be the faithful supporters of a free, yet efficient general government. Under this pleasing reflection I rejoice to assure them that they may rely on my best wishes and endeavors to advance their prosperity.
Be assured, Gentlemen, that I entertain a proper sense of your fervent supplications to God for my temporal and eternal happiness.881
The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Churches in the United States, on May 26, 1789, wrote to President Washington:
We derive a presage even more flattering from the piety of your character. Public virtue is the most certain means of public felicity, and religion is the surest basis of virtue. We therefore esteem it a peculiar happiness to behold in our Chief Magistrate, a steady, uniform, avowed friend of the Christian religion; who has commenced his administration in rational and exalted sentiments of piety;
and who, in his private conduct, adorns the doctrines of the gospel of Christ; and on the most public and solemn occasions, devoutly acknowledges the government of Divine Providence.882
In May of 1789, President George Washington replied to the General Assembly of Presbyterian Churches in The United States:
Gentlemen: I receive with great sensibility the testimonial given by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, of the lively and unfeigned pleasure experience by them on my appointment to the first office of the nation.
Although it will be my endeavor to avoid being elated by the too favorable opinion which your kindness for me may have induced you to express of the importance of my former conduct and the effect of my future services, yet, conscious of the disinterestedness of my motives, it is not necessary for me to conceal the satisfaction I have felt upon finding that my compliance with the call of my country and my dependence on the assistance of Heaven to support me in my arduous undertakings have, so far as I can learn, met the universal approbation of my countrymen.
While I reiterate the professions of my dependence upon Heaven as the source of all public and private blessings; I will observe that the general prevalence of piety, philanthropy, honesty, industry, and economy seems, in the ordinary course of human affairs, particularly necessary for advancing and conforming the happiness of our country.
While all men within our territories are protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of their consciences; it is rationally to be expected from them in return, that they will be emulous of evincing the sanctity of their professions by the innocence of their lives and the beneficence of their actions;
for no man who is profligate in his morals, or a bad member of the civil community, can possibly be a true Christian, or a credit to his own religious society.
I desire you to accept my acknowledgements for your laudable endeavors to render men sober, honest, and good citizens, and the obedient subjects of a lawful government, as well as for your prayers to Almighty God for His blessings on our common country, and the humble instrument which He has been pleased to make use of in the administration of its government.883
On May 29, 1789, in a letter to the Methodist Episcopal Bishop of New York, President Washington wrote:
I return to you individually, and through you, to your society collectively in the United States, my thanks for the demonstrations of affection and the expressions of joy, offered in their behalf, on my late appointment.
It shall still be my endeavor to manifest by overt acts the purity of my inclinations for promoting the happiness of mankind, as well as the sincerity of my desires to contribute whatever may be in my power towards the preservation of the civil and religious liberties of the American people.
In pursuing this line of conduct, I hope, by the assistance of Divine Providence, not altogether to disappoint the confidence which you have been pleased to repose in me.
It always affords me satisfaction when I find a concurrence in sentiment and practice between all conscientious men in acknowledgements of homage to the great Governor of the Universe, and in professions of support to a just civil government.
After mentioning that I trust the people of every denomination, who demean themselves as good citizens, will have every occasion to be convinced that I shall always strive to prove a faithful and impartial patron of genuine, vital religion, I must assure you in particular, that I take in the kindest part the promise you make of presenting your prayers at the throne of grace for me, and that I likewise implore the divine benediction on yourselves and your religious community.884
Soon after his inauguration, President Washington was seized with an illness which progressively grew worse. Enduring patiently for almost six weeks before the sickness subsided, he spoke with his physician, Dr. Samuel Bard:
Do not flatter me with vain hopes; I am not afraid to die, and therefore can bear the worst. … Whether to-night, or twenty years hence, makes no difference; I know that I am in the Hands of a Good Providence.885
In July of 1789, in writing to the Directors of the Society of the United Brethren for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen, President Washington replied:
Gentlemen: I received with satisfaction the congratulations of your society, and of the Brethren’s congregations in the United States of America. For you may be persuaded that the approbations and good wishes of such a peaceable and virtuous community cannot be indifferent to me.
You will also be pleased to accept my thanks for the treatise you presented, (“An account of the manner in which the Protestant Church of the Unitas Fratrum, or United Brethren, preach the Gospel and carry on their mission among the Heathen,”) and be assured of my patronage in your laudable undertakings.
In proportion as the general government of the United States shall acquire strength by duration, it is probable they may have it in their power to extend a salutary influence to the aborigines in the extremities of their territory. In the meantime it will be a desirable thing, for the protection of the Union, to co-operate, as far as the circumstances may conveniently admit, with the disinterested endeavors of your Society to civilize and Christianize the Savages of the Wilderness.
Under these impressions, I pray Almighty God to have you always in His Holy keeping.886
In response to the August 19, 1789, letter from the General Convention of Bishops, Clergy and Laity of the Protestant Episcopal Church of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, President Washington replied:
Gentlemen: I sincerely thank you for your affectionate congratulations on my election to the chief magistracy of the United States. …
On this occasion it would ill become me to conceal the joy I have felt in perceiving the fraternal affection, which appears to increase every day among friends of genuine religion.
It affords edifying prospects, indeed, to see Christians of different denominations dwell together in more charity, and conduct themselves in respect to each other with a more Christian-like spirit than every they have done in any former age, or in any other nation.
I receive with the greater satisfaction your congratulations on the establishment of the new constitution of government, because I believe its mild yet efficient operations will tend to remove every remaining apprehension of those with whose opinions it may not entirely coincide, as well as to confirm the hopes of its numerous friends; and because the moderation, patriotism, and wisdom of the present federal Legislature seem to promise the restoration of order and our ancient virtues, the extension of genuine religion, and the consequent advancement of our respectability abroad, and of our substantial happiness at home.
I request, most reverend and respected Gentlemen, that you will accept my cordial thanks for your devout supplications to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe in behalf of me. May you, and the people whom you represent, be the happy subjects of the divine benedictions both here and hereafter.887
On October 3, 1789, from the city of New York, President George Washington issued a Proclamation of a National Day of Thanksgiving:
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 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 recommend and assign Thursday, the twenty-sixth day of November next, to be devoted by the People of these United States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be;
That we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks, for His kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation; for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of His Providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which He hath been pleased to confer upon us.
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our national government a blessing to all the People, by constantly being a government of wise, just and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and Us; and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.
Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3rd of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.
Go Washington.888
On Sunday, October 4, 1789, while in New York, President Washington entered in his diary:
Went to St. Paul’s Chapel in forenoon.889
On October 9, 1789, President George Washington wrote to the Synod of the Dutch Reformed Churches in North America, expressing:
While just government protects all in their religious rights, true religion affords to government its surest support.890
On Sunday, October 18, 1789, while in New Haven, Connecticut, President Washington entered in his diary:
Went in the forenoon to the Episcopal Church, and in the afternoon to one of the Congregational Meeting-Houses.891
In October of 1789, President Washington addressed the Quakers at their yearly meeting for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and the western part of Virginia and Maryland, stating:
Government being, among other purposes, instituted to protect the persons and consciences of men from oppression, it certainly is the duty of rulers, not only to abstain from it themselves, but according to their stations, to prevent it in others.
The liberty enjoyed by the People of these States of worshipping Almighty God agreeable to their consciences is not only among the choicest of their blessings, but also of their rights.
While men perform their social duties faithfully, they do all that society or the state can with propriety demand or expect; and remain responsible only to their Maker for the religion, or modes of faith, which they may prefer or profess.
Your principles and conduct are well known to me; and it is doing the people called Quakers no more than justice to say, (except their declining to share with others the burden of the common defense) there is no denomination among us, who are more exemplary and useful citizens.892
On Sunday, October 25, 1789, while in Boston, Massachusetts, President George Washington entered in his diary:
Attended Divine Service at the Episcopal Church, whereof Doctor Samuel Parker is the Incumbent, in the forenoon, and the Congregational Church of Mr. Thatcher [Reverend Peter Thatcher] in the afternoon.893
On October 28, 1789, President Washington wrote to the ministers and elders of the Massachusetts and New Hampshire churches of the First Presbytery of the Eastward, Newburyport:
I am persuaded that the path of true piety is so plain as to require but little political direction. To this consideration we ought to ascribe the absence of any regulation, respecting religion, from the Magna-Carta of our country. To the guidance of the ministers of the gospel this important object is, perhaps, more properly committed.
It will be your care to instruct the ignorant, and to reclaim the devious. And in the progress of morality and science, to which our Government will give every furtherance, we may confidently expect the advancement of true religion, and the completion of our happiness.894
On Sunday, November 1, 1789, while in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, President Washington entered in his diary:
I went in the forenoon to the Episcopal Church, under the incumbency of a Mr. Ogden; in the afternoon to one of the Presbyterian or Congregational Churches, in which a Mr. Buckminister [Reverend Joseph Buckminister] preached.895
On Sunday, November 8, 1789, while in Connecticut, President Washington entered in his diary:
It being contrary to law and disagreeable to the People of this State to travel on the Sabbath Day—and my horses, after passing through such intolerable roads, wanting to rest, I stayed at Perkins’ tavern (which, by the by, is not a good one) all day—and a meeting-house being within a few rods of the door, I attended morning and evening service, and heard very lame discourses from a Mr. Pond [Reverend Enoch Pond].896
On Sunday, November 15, 1789, while in New York, President Washington entered in his diary:
Went to St. Paul’s Chapel in the forenoon.897
On Sunday, November 22, 1789, while in New York, President Washington entered in his diary:
Went to St. Paul’s Chapel in the forenoon—heard a charity sermon for the benefit of the Orphan’s School of this city.898
On Thursday, November 26, 1789, while in New York, President Washington entered in his diary:
Being the day appointed for a thanksgiving, I went to St. Paul’s Chapel, though it was most inclement and stormy—but few people at church.899
On Sunday, November 29, 1789, while in New York, President Washington entered in his diary:
Went to St. Paul’s Chapel in the forenoon.900
On Sunday, December 6, 1789, while in New York, President Washington entered in his diary:
Went to St. Paul’s Chapel in the forenoon.901
On Sunday, December 13, 1789, while in New York, President Washington entered in his diary:
Went to St. Paul’s Chapel in the forenoon.902
On Sunday, December 20, 1789, while in New York, President Washington entered in his diary:
Went to St. Paul’s Chapel in the forenoon.903
On Sunday, December 25, 1789, while in New York, President Washington entered in his diary:
Went to St. Paul’s Chapel in the forenoon.904
On Sunday, January 3, 1790, while in New York, President Washington entered in his diary:
Went to St. Paul’s Chapel.905
On January 8, 1790, in his First Annual Message to Congress, President Washington stated:
In resuming your consultations for the general good, you cannot but derive encouragement from the reflection that the measures of the last Session have been as satisfactory to your Constituents, as the novelty and difficulty of the work allowed you to hope.
Still further to realize their expectations and to secure the blessings which a Gracious Providence has placed with in our reach, will, in the course of the present important Session, call for the cool and deliberate exertion of your patriotism, firmness and wisdom.
Among the many interesting objects which will engage your attention that of providing for the common defense will merit particular regard. To be prepared for War is the most effectual means of preserving peace. …
Knowledge is, in every country, the surest basis of public happiness. … to discriminate the spirit of liberty from that of licentiousness—cherishing the first, avoiding the last.906
On Sunday, January 10, 1790, while in New York, President Washington entered in his diary:
Went to St. Paul’s Chapel in the forenoon.907
On January 11, 1790, the U.S. Senate addressed President Washington:
Every exertion on our part shall be made to realize and secure to our country those blessings which a gracious Providence has placed within her reach. We are persuaded that one of the most effectual means of preserving peace is to be prepared for war.908
On January 12, 1790, the U.S. House of Representatives addressed President Washington:
Nothing can be more gratifying to the Representatives of a free people than the reflection that their labors are rewarded by the approbation of their fellow-citizens. Under this impression we shall make every exertion to realize their expectations, and to secure to them those blessings which Providence has placed within their reach.909
In January of 1790, President George Washington wrote to the Hebrew Congregations of Philadelphia, Newport, Charlestown and Richmond:
The liberal sentiment towards each other which marks every political and religious denomination of men in this country stands unrivalled in the history of nations. …
The power and goodness of the Almighty were strongly manifested in the events of our late glorious revolution and His kind interpositions in our behalf has been no less visible in the establishment on our present equal government.
In war He directed the sword and in peace He has ruled in our councils. My agency in both has been guided by the best intentions, and a sense of the duty which I owe my country. …
May the same temporal and eternal blessings which you implore for me, rest upon your congregations.910
On Sunday, January 24, 1790, while in New York, President Washington entered in his diary:
Went to St. Paul’s Chapel in the forenoon.911
On Sunday, January 31, 1790, while in New York, President Washington entered in his diary:
Went to St. Paul’s Chapel in the forenoon.912
On Sunday, February 7, 1790, while in New York, President Washington entered in his diary:
Went to St. Paul’s Chapel in the forenoon.913
On Sunday, February 21, 1790, while in New York, President Washington entered in his diary:
Went to St. Paul’s Chapel in the forenoon.914
On Sunday, February 28, 1790, while in New York, President Washington entered in his diary:
Went to St. Paul’s Chapel in the forenoon.915
On Sunday, March 14, 1790, while in New York, President Washington entered in his diary:
Went to St. Paul’s Chapel in the forenoon—wrote letters on private business afterwards.916
On March 15, 1790, President George Washington wrote to the Roman Catholics of the nation:
I feel that my conduct, in war and in peace, has met with more general approbation than could reasonably have been expected and I find myself disposed to consider that fortunate circumstance, in a great degree, resulting from the able support and extraordinary candour of my fellow-citizens of all denominations. …
America, under the smiles of a Divine Providence, the protection of a good government, and the cultivation of manners, morals, and piety, cannot fail of attaining an uncommon degree of eminence, in literature, commerce, agriculture, improvements at home and respectability abroad. …
I presume that your fellow-citizens will not forget the patriotic part which you took in the accomplishment of their Revolution, and the establishment of their government; or the important assistance which they received from a nation in which the Roman Catholic faith is professed. …
May the members of your society in America, animated alone by the pure spirit of Christianity, and still conducting themselves as the faithful subjects of our free government, enjoy every temporal and spiritual felicity.917
On Sunday, March 21, 1790, while in New York, President Washington entered in his diary:
Went to St. Paul’s Chapel in the forenoon—wrote private letters in the afternoon. Received Mr. Jefferson, Minister of State, about one o’clock.918
On Sunday, March 28, 1790, while in New York, President Washington entered in his diary:
Went to St. Paul’s Chapel in the forenoon.919
On Wednesday, March 24, 1790, President Washington, accompanied by Mrs. Washington and their two adopted children, attended the consecration of the new Trinity Episcopal Church in New York. The ceremony was officiated by Bishop Samuel Provoost (1742–1815), who was acclaimed for having taken a bold stand for American independence during the Revolution.920 On Sunday, April 11, 1790, President Washington entered in his diary:
Went to Trinity Church in the forenoon, and wrote several private letters in the afternoon.921
On Sunday, April 25, 1790, while in New York, President Washington entered in his diary:
Went to Trinity Church, and wrote letters home after dinner.922
On Sunday, May 2, 1790, while in New York, President Washington entered in his diary:
Went to Trinity Church in the forenoon—written letters on private business in the afternoon.923
On Sunday, June 27, 1790, while in New York, President Washington entered in his diary:
Went to Trinity Church in the forenoon—and employed myself in writing business in the afternoon.924
On Sunday, July 4, 1790, while in New York, President Washington entered in his diary:
Went to Trinity Church in the forenoon. This day being the Anniversary of the Declaration of Independency the celebration of it was put off until to-morrow.925
On Monday, July 5, 1790, while in New York, President Washington entered in his diary:
About one o’clock a sensible oration was delivered in St. Paul’s Chapel by Rev. Brockholst Levingston, on the occasion of the day.926
On August 17, 1790, in an address to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island, President Washington stated:
It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support. …
May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants—while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.
May the Father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy.927
In writing to the Hebrew Congregations of the city of Savannah, Georgia, President George Washington stated:
Happily the people of the United States have in many instances exhibited examples worthy of imitation, the salutary influence of which will doubtless extend much farther if gratefully enjoying those blessings of peace which (under the favor of Heaven) have been attained by fortitude in war, they shall conduct themselves with reverence to the Deity and charity toward their fellow-creatures
May the same wonder-working Deity, who long since delivering the Hebrews from their Egyptian Oppressors planted them in the promised land—whose Providential Agency has lately been conspicuous in establishing these United States as an independent Nation—still continue to water them with the dews of Heaven and to make the inhabitants of every denomination participate in the temporal and spiritual blessings of that people whose God is Jehovah.928
On December 11, 1790, the U.S. House of Representatives addressed President Washington:
The blessings resulting from the smiles of Heaven on our agriculture, the rise of public credit, with the further advantages promised by it, and the fertility of resources which are found so little burdensome to the community, fully authorize our mutual congratulations on the present occasion.929
On December 29, 1790, from Philadelphia, President Washington wrote to the Chiefs and Counselors of the Seneca Nation:
You have said in your Speech “That the game is going away from among you, and that you thought it the design of the Great Spirit that you should till the ground, but before you speak upon this subject, you want to know whether the United States meant to leave you any land to till?”
You now know that all the lands secured to you by the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, excepting such parts as you may since have fairly sold are yours, and that only your own acts can convey them away; speak therefore your wishes on the subject of tilling the ground. The United States will be happy to afford you every assistance in the only business which will add to your numbers and happiness.930
While serving his Presidential term in New York, President Washington sent instructions to one of the overseers of his estate:
I shall not close this letter without exhorting you to refrain from spirituous liquors; they will prove your ruin if you do not. Consider how little a drunken man differs from a beast; the latter is not endowed with reason, the former deprives himself of it; and when that is the case, acts like a brute, annoying and disturbing every one around him; nor is this all, nor, as it respects himself, the worst of it.
By degrees it renders a person feeble, and not only unable to serve others but to help himself; and being an act of his own, he falls from a state of usefulness into contempt, and at length suffers, if not perishes, in penury and want.
Don’t let this be your case. Show yourself more of a man and a Christian than to yield to so intolerable a vice, which cannot, I am certain (to the greatest lover of liquor), give more pleasure to sip in the poison (for it is no better) than the consequence of it in bad behavior at the moment, and the more serious evils produced by it afterwards, must give pain.
I am your Friend, George Washington.931
On July 3, 1791, while in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, President Washington entered in his diary:
There being no Episcopal minister present in this place, I went to hear morning service performed in the Dutch Reformed Church—which, being in that language not a word of which I understood, I was in no danger of becoming a proselyte to its religion by the eloquence of the preacher.932
On July 28, 1791, from Philadelphia, President Washington wrote to Marquis de Lafayette:
I assure you I have often contemplated, with great anxiety, the danger to which you are personally exposed. …
To a philanthropic mind the happiness of 24 millions of people cannot be indifferent; and by an American, whose country in the hour of distress received such liberal aid from the French, the disorders and incertitude of that Nation are to be particularly lamented.
We must, however, place a confidence in that Providence who rules great events, trusting that out of confusion He will produce order, and, notwithstanding the dark clouds which may threaten at present, that right will ultimately be established. …
On the 6 of this month I returned from a tour through the southern States, which had employed me for more than three months. In the course of this journey I have been highly gratified in observing the flourishing state of the Country, and the good dispositions of the people.
Industry and economy have become very fashionable in these parts, which were formerly noted for the opposite qualities, and the labours of man are assisted by the Blessings of Providence.933
On September 8, 1791, President Washington wrote to General and Mrs. Knox on the death of their son, who had been named for him:
He that gave, you know, has the right to take away. His ways are wise—they are inscrutable—and irresistible.934
On September 19, 1791, just prior to the French Revolution, King Louis XVI sent a note to President Washington and the U.S. Congress:
Very Dear Great Friends and Allies:
We make it our duty to inform you that we have accepted the constitution which has been presented to us in the name of the nation, and according to which France will be henceforth governed.
We do not doubt that you take an interest in an event so important to our Kingdom and to us, and it is with real pleasure we take this occasion to renew to you assurances of the sincere friendship we bear you. Whereupon we pray God to have you, very dear great friends and allies, in His just and holy keeping.
Written at Paris the 19th of September, 1791.
Your good friend and ally, LOUIS.
Montmorin.935
On Tuesday, October 25, 1791, in his Third Annual Message to Congress, President George Washington stated:
Numerous as are the Providential blessings which demand our grateful acknowledgements, the abundance with which another year has again rewarded the industry of the husbandman is too important to escape recollection. …
A system corresponding with the mild principles of religion and philanthropy toward an unenlightened race of men, whose happiness materially depends on the conduct of the United States, would be as honorable to the national character as conformable to the dictates of sound policy. …
The establishment of competent magazines and arsenals and the fortifications of such places as are peculiarly important and vulnerable naturally present themselves to consideration. The safety of the United States under divine protection ought to rest on the basis of systematic and solid arrangements, exposed as little as possible to the hazards of fortuitous circumstances.936
On October 27, 1791, the U.S. House of Representatives addressed President Washington:
In receiving your address at the opening of the present session the House of Representatives have taken an ample share in the feelings inspired by the actual prosperity and flattering prospects of our country, and whilst with becoming gratitude to Heaven we ascribe this happiness to the true source from which it flows, we behold with an animating pleasure the degree in which the Constitution and laws of the United States have been instrumental in dispensing it.937
On October 28, 1791, the U.S. Senate addressed President Washington:
The Senate of the United States have received with the highest satisfaction the assurances of public prosperity contained in your speech to both Houses. The multiplied blessings of Providence have not escaped our notice or failed to excite our gratitude.938
On March 11, 1792, from Philadelphia, President Washington wrote to John Armstrong:
I am sure that never was a people who had more reason to acknowledge a Divine interposition in their affairs than those of the United States; and I should be pained to believe that they have forgotten that Agency, which was so often manifested during our Revolution, or that they failed to consider the omnipotence of that God who is alone able to protect them.939
On May 20, 1792, from Mount Vernon, President Washington wrote to James Madison:
I take my leave of them as a public man; and in bidding them adieu (retaining no other concern than such as will arise from fervent wishes for the prosperity of my Country) I take the liberty at my departure from civil, as I formerly did at my military exit, to invoke a continuation of the Blessings of Providence upon it.940
On June 10, 1792, from Philadelphia, President Washington wrote to Marquis de Lafayette:
And to the Care of that Providence, whose interposition and protection we have so often experienced, do I cheerfully commit you and your nation, trusting that He will bring order out of confusion, and finally place things upon the ground on which they ought to stand.941
On Sunday, August 26, 1792, from Mount Vernon, President Washington wrote to Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury:
How unfortunate would it be if a fabric so goodly, erected under so many Providential circumstances, and in its first stages, have acquired such respectability, should from diversity of sentiments … be harrowing our vitals in such a manner as to have brought us to the verge of dissolution.942
On Sunday, August 26, 1792, from Mount Vernon, President Washington replied to Edmund Randolph’s encouragement for him to accept re-election:
But as the All-wise Disposer of events has hitherto watched over our steps, I trust that, in the important one I may soon be called upon to take, He will mark the course so plainly that I cannot mistake the way.943
On October 20, 1792, from Philadelphia, President Washington wrote to Sir Edward Newenham:
Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by a difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be deprecated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy which has marked the present age would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see their religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society.944
On Tuesday, November 6, 1792, in his Fourth Annual Message to Congress, President George Washington stated:
Various temporary laws will expire during the present session. Among these, that which regulates trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes will merit particular notice.
The result of your common deliberations hitherto, will, I trust, be productive of solid and durable advantages to our constituents; such as, by conciliating more and more their ultimate suffrage, will tend to strengthen and confirm their attachment to that Constitution of Government, upon which, under Divine Providence, materially depend their union, their safety, and their happiness.945
On November 12, 1792, in a reply to the U.S. House of Representatives, President George Washington stated:
This is new proof of that enlightened solicitude for the establishment and confirmation of public order which, embracing a zealous regard for the principles of true liberty, has guided the deliberations of the House of Representatives, a perseverance in which can alone secure, under the Divine Blessing, the real and permanent felicity of our common country.946
On January 27, 1793, to the congregation of the New Church in Baltimore, President Washington wrote:
We have abundant reason to rejoice that in this Land the light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry and superstition, and that every person may here worship God according to the dictates of his own heart.
In this enlightened Age and in this land of equal liberty it is our boast that a man’s religious tenets will not forfeit the protection of the laws nor deprive him of the right of attaining and holding the highest offices that are known in the United States.947
On Monday, March 4, 1793, in his Second Inaugural Address, after ending the Presidential oath of office with the phrase he added, “So help me God,” President George Washington stated:
I am again called upon by the voice of my country to execute the functions of its Chief Magistrate. When the occasion proper for it shall arrive, I shall endeavor to express the high sense I entertain of this distinguished honor, and of the confidence which has been reposed in me by the people of the united America.
Previous to the execution of any official act of the President the Constitution requires an oath of office. This oath I am now about to take and in your presence: That if it shall be found during my administration of the Government I have in any instance violated willingly or knowingly the injunctions thereof, I may (besides incurring constitutional punishment) be subject to the upbraidings of all who are now witness of the present solemn ceremony.948
On December 3, 1793, in his Fifth Annual Address to Congress, President George Washington stated:
I humbly implore that Being on whose will the fate of nations depends to crown with success our mutual endeavors for the general happiness.949
On December 6, 1793, the U.S. House of Representatives addressed President Washington:
We join with you in imploring that Being on whose will the fate of nations depends to crown with success our mutual endeavors.950
On December 7, 1793, in a reply to the U.S. House of Representatives, President George Washington stated:
With every reason, then, it may be expected that your deliberations, under Divine Blessing, will be matured to the honor and happiness of the United States.951
On December 31, 1793, President Washington wrote to William White, Bishop of Pennsylvania, following an epidemic of yellow fever:
It has been my intention ever since my return to the city, to contribute my mite towards the relief of the most needy inhabitants of it. … for the use of the fatherless children and widows, made so by the late calamity. … to render the little I can, without ostention or mention of my name.952
On February 24, 1794, President Washington wrote to the Rev. James Muir, pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Alexandria, Virginia, regarding his annual contribution towards the support of the Orphan School:
I have received your letter of the 12th instant, and will direct my manager, Mr. Pearce, to pay my annual donation for the education of orphan children, or the children of indigent parents, who are unable to be at the expense themselves.953
On Sunday, May 25, 1794, from Philadelphia, President Washington wrote to his estate manager, Mr. William Pearce, regarding to news of a drought:
At disappointments and losses which are the effects of Providential acts, I never repine; because I am sure the All-wise Disposer of events knows better than we do what is best for us, or what we deserve.954
On September 25, 1794, in a Proclamation made during the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania, President George Washington stated:
Resolved, in perfect reliance on that gracious Providence which so signally displays its goodness towards this country to reduce the refractory to a due subordination to the law. …
To call to mind that, as the people of the United States have been permitted, under Divine favor, in perfect freedom, after solemn deliberation, and in an enlightened age, to elect their own government, so will their gratitude for this inestimable blessing be best distinguished by firm exertions to maintain the Constitution and the laws.955
On October 5, 1794, while in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in connection with the Whiskey Rebellion, President Washington entered in his diary;
Went to the Presbyterian Meeting and heard Doctor Davidson preach a political sermon, recommendatory of order and good government; and the excellence of that of the United States.956
On November 19, 1794, following the Whiskey Rebellion, President Washington stated in his Sixth Annual Address to Congress:
Fellow Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives;
We call to mind the gracious indulgence of Heaven, by which the American People became a nation; when we survey the general prosperity of our country, and look forward to the riches, power, and happiness, to which is seems destined. …
Let us unite, therefore, in imploring the Supreme Ruler of Nations, to spread His holy protection over these United States, to turn the machinations of the wicked to the confirming of our constitution; to enable us at times to … put invasion to flight; to perpetuate to our country that prosperity, which His goodness has already conferred, and to verify the anticipation of this government being a safe guard to human rights.957
On November 28, 1794, the U.S. House of Representatives addressed President George Washington:
In nothing can we more cordially unite with you than in imploring the Supreme Ruler of Nations to multiply His blessings on these United States.958
On January 1, 1795, President George Washington issued a Proclamation of a National Day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer:
When we review the calamities which afflict so many other nations, the present condition of the United States affords much matter of consolation and satisfaction. Our exemptions hitherto from foreign war, and increasing prospect of the continuance of that exemption, the great degree of internal tranquility we have enjoyed … the happy course of our public affairs in general, the unexampled prosperity of all classes of our citizens, are circumstances which peculiarly mark our situation with indications of the Divine Beneficence towards us.
In such a state of things, it is in an especial manner our duty as a people, with devout reverence and affectionate gratitude, to acknowledge our many and great obligations to Almighty God, and to implore Him to continue and confirm the blessings we experience.
Deeply penetrated with this sentiment, I, George Washington, President of the United States, do recommend to all religious societies and denominations, and to all persons whomsoever within the United States, to set apart and observe Thursday, the 19th day of February next, as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, and on that day to meet together and render sincere and hearty thanks to the great Ruler of nations for the manifold and signal mercies which distinguish our lot as a nation;
particularly for the possession of constitutions of government which unite and, by their union, establish liberty with order; for the preservation of our peace, foreign and domestic; for the reasonable control which has been given to a spirit of disorder. … and generally for the prosperous condition of our affairs, public and private,
and at the same time humbly and fervently beseech the kind Author of these blessings graciously to prolong them to us; to imprint on our hearts a deep and solemn sense of our obligations to Him for them; to teach us rightly to estimate their immense value; to preserve us from the arrogance of prosperity, and from hazarding the advantages we enjoy by delusive pursuits,
to dispose us to merit the continuance of His favors by not abusing them, by our gratitude for them, and by a corresponding conduct as citizens and as men to render this country more and more a safe and propitious asylum for the unfortunate of other countries; to extend among us true and useful knowledge; to diffuse and establish habits of sobriety, order, and morality and piety, and finally to impart all the blessings we possess or ask for ourselves to the whole family of mankind.
In testimony whereof, I have caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed to these presents, and signed the same with my hand.
Done at the city of Philadelphia the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five and of the independence of the United States of America the nineteenth.
(signed) George Washington.959
On Tuesday, December 8, 1795, in his Seventh Annual Message to Congress, President Washington stated:
I trust I do not deceive myself while I indulge the persuasion that I have never met you at any period when, more than at present, the situation of our public affairs has afforded just cause for mutual congratulation, and for inviting you to join with me in profound gratitude to the Author of All Good, for the numerous and extraordinary blessings we enjoy. …
Every part of the Union displays indications of rapid and various improvement; and, with burdens so light as scarcely to be perceived; with resources fully adequate to our present exigencies; with governments founded on the genuine principles of rational liberty; and with mild and wholesome laws; is it too much to say, that our country exhibits a spectacle of national happiness, never surpassed, if ever before equalled?
Placed in a situation every way so auspicious, motives of commanding force impel us, with sincere acknowledgement to Heaven, and pure love to our country, to unite our efforts to preserve, prolong, and improve, our immense advantages.960
On December 11, 1795, the U.S. Senate, led by Vice-President John Adams, addressed President Washington:
Circumstances thus every way auspicious demand our gratitude and sincere acknowledgements to Almighty God.961
On December 12, 1795, in a reply to the U.S. Senate, President George Washington stated:
I derive peculiar satisfaction from your concurrence with me in the expressions of gratitude to Almighty God, which a review of the auspicious circumstances that distinguish our happy country have excited.962
On December 16, 1795, the U.S. House of Representatives addressed President Washington:
As the Representatives of the people of the United States, we can not but participate in the strongest sensibility to every blessing which they enjoy, and cheerfully join with you in profound gratitude to the Author of All Good for the numerous and extraordinary blessings which He has conferred on our favored country.963
On December 17, 1795, in a reply to the U.S. House of Representatives, President George Washington stated:
The sentiments we have mutually expressed of profound gratitude to the source of those numerous blessings, the Author of All Good, are pledges of our obligations to unite our sincere and zealous endeavors, as the instruments of Divine Providence, to preserve and perpetuate them.964
On January 1, 1796, President George Washington answered a letter from P.A. Adet, the minister plenipotentiary of the French Republic:
In delivering to you these sentiments I express not my own feelings only, but those of my fellow-citizens, in relation to the commencement, the progress, and the issue of the French Revolution, and they will cordially join with me in purest wishes to the Supreme Being that the citizens of our sister Republic, our magnanimous allies, may soon enjoy in peace that liberty which they have purchased at so great a price, and all the happiness which liberty can bestow.965
On May 15, 1796, from Philadelphia, President Washington wrote to the Emperor of Germany:
I take the liberty of writing this private letter to your Majesty. … I retain a strong and cordial sense of the services rendered to them by the Marquis De la Fayette; and my friendship for him has been constant and sincere. …
Permit me only to submit to your Majesty’s consideration, whether his long imprisonment, and the confiscation of his estate, and the indigence and dispersion of his family, and the painful anxieties incident to all these circumstances, do not form an assemblage of sufferings, which recommend him to the mediation of Humanity?
Allow me, Sir! on this occasion to be its organ; and to entreat that he may be permitted to come to this country on such conditions and under such restrictions, as your Majesty may think it expedient to prescribe. …
May the Almighty and Merciful Sovereign of the Universe keep your Majesty under His protection and guidance.966
On August 29, 1796, from the city of Philadelphia, President Washington dictated a “Talk” to the Cherokee Nation:
Beloved Cherokees, The wise men of the United States meet together once a year, to consider what will be for the good of all their people. … I have thought that a meeting of your wise men once or twice a year would be alike useful to you. … I now send my best wishes to the Cherokees, and pray the Great Spirit to preserve them.967
On September 19, 1796, in his Farewell Address, President George Washington said:
Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to the grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that Heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained—that its administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue. …
The name of AMERICAN, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same Religion, Manners, Habits, and political Principles. …
Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens.
The mere Politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked where is the security for prosperity, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in the Courts of Justice?
And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
Tis substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule indeed extends with more or less force to every species of Free Government. Who that is a sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric? …
Observe good faith and justice towards all Nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and Morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be that good policy does not equally enjoin it? … Can it be, that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a Nation with its virtue? …
Though, in reviewing the incidents of my Administration, I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend.
I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence; and that after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service, with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the Mansions of rest.968
Of note are other passages from Washington’s Farewell Address, delivered September 19, 1796:
In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it occurs as matter of serious concern, that any ground should have been furnished for characterizing parties. … One of the expedients of Party to acquire influence, within particular districts, is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other Districts. You cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heart burnings which spring from these misrepresentations.
And of fatal tendency … to put, in the place of the delegated will of the Nation, the will of a party;—often a small but artful and enterprising minority. … They are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the Power of the People and to usurp for the themselves the reins of Government; destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion. …
One method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the Constitution, alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown. … It is indeed little else than a name, where the Government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction. …
I have already intimated to you the danger of Parties in the State. … Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of Party, generally.
This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its roots in the strongest passions of the human Mind. It exists under different shapes in all Governments, more of less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form it is seen in its greatest rankness and is truly their worst enemy. …
Domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissention, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.
But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an Individual … [who] turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty. …
Ill founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection.—It opens the doors to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the Government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country, are subjected to the policy and will of another. …
It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free Country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective Constitutional spheres; avoiding in the exercise of the Powers of one department to encroach upon another.
The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates the human heart is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position.
The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power; by dividing and distributing it into different depositories, and constituting each the Guardian of the Public Weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of them in our country and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to instituted them.
If in the opinion of the People, the distribution or modification of the Constitutional powers be in any way particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time yield. …
Avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of Peace to discharge the Debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear. …
In the execution of such a plan nothing is more essential than that permanent … attachments for other [countries] should be excluded. … The Nation, which indulges towards another … an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave. … It makes the … Nation subservient to projects of hostility instigated by pride, ambition and other sinister and pernicious motives.
A passionate attachment of one Nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favourite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest, in cases where no real common interest exist, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and Wars of the latter, without adequate inducement or justification: It leads also to concessions to the favorite Nation of priviledges denied to others, which is apt doubly to injure the Nation making the concessions;
by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal priviledges are withheld:
And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens … facility to betray, or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity: gilding with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption or infatuation.
As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent Patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public Councils! Such attachments of a small or weak, towards a great and powerful Nation, dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter.
Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence, (I conjure you to believe me fellow citizens) the jealously of a free people to be constantly awake; since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of Republican Government.
Real Patriots, who may resist the intriegues of the favorite, are liable to become suspected and odious; while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests.
The Great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign Nations, is in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little political connection as possible. …
Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have none. … Hence therefore it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties. … Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European Ambition, Rivalship, Interest, Humour or Caprice?
’Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent Alliances with any portion of the foreign world. … (I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy). …
Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establishments, on a respectably defensive posture. … ’Tis folly in one Nation to look for disinterested favors from another … it must pay with a portion of its Independence for whatever it may accept. …
There can be no greater error than to expect, or calculate upon real favours from Nation to Nation. ’Tis an illusion which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard. …
In offering to you, my Countrymen these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression, I could wish. … to warn against the mischiefs of foreign Intriegue.969
On November 28, 1796, from Philadelphia, President Washington wrote to his adopted son, George Washington Parke Custis:
The assurances you give me of applying diligently to your studies, and fulfilling those obligations which are enjoined by your Creator and due to His creatures, are highly pleasing and satisfactory to me. I rejoice in it on two accounts; first, as it is the sure means of laying the foundation of your own happiness, and rendering you, if it should please God to spare your life, a useful member of society hereafter; and secondly, that I may, if I live to enjoy the pleasure, reflect that I have been, in some degree, instrumental in affecting these purposes.970
On Wednesday, December 7, 1796, in his Eighth Annual Address to Congress, President Washington stated:
In recurring to the internal situation of our country, since I had last the pleasure to address you, I find ample reason for a renewed expression of that gratitude to the Ruler of the Universe, which a continued series of prosperity has so often and so justly called forth. …
A reinforcement of the existing provisions for discharging our public debt was mentioned in my address at the opening of the last session. Some preliminary steps were taken towards it, the maturing of which will, no doubt, engage your zealous attention during the present. I will only add, that it will afford me a heartfelt satisfaction to concur in such further measures as will ascertain to country the prospect of a speedy extinguishment of the debt. Posterity may have cause to regret, if, from any motive, intervals of tranquillity are left unimproved for accelerating this valuable end. …
The situation in which I now stand, for the last time, in the midst of the Representatives of the People of the United States, naturally recalls the period when the administration of the present form of government commenced; and I cannot omit the occasion, to congratulate you and my country, on the success of the experiment;
nor to repeat my fervent supplications to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, and Sovereign Arbiter of Nations, that his Providential care may still be extended to the United States; that the virtue and happiness of the People, may be preserved; and that the Government, which they have instituted, for the protection of their liberties, may be perpetual.971
On December 10, 1796, the U.S. Senate, led by Vice-President John Adams, addressed President Washington:
We thank you, sir, for your faithful and detailed exposure of the existing situation of our country, and we sincerely join in sentiments of gratitude to an overruling Providence for the distinguished share of public prosperity and private happiness which the people of the United States so peculiarly enjoy.972
On December 15, 1796, the U.S. House Representatives addressed President Washington:
To exalt our minds to a more fervent and grateful sense of piety toward Almighty God for the beneficence of His providence, by which its administration has been hitherto so remarkably distinguished. …
May your own virtues and a nation’s prayers obtain the happiest sunshine for the decline of your days and the choicest of future blessings.973
On December 16, 1796, in a reply to the U.S. House of Representatives, President Washington stated:
The virtue and wisdom of my successors, joined with the patriotism and intelligence of the citizens who compose the other branches of Government, I firmly trust will lead them to the adoption of measures which, by the beneficence of Providence, will give stability to our system of government, add to its success, and secure to ourselves and to posterity that liberty which is to all of us so dear.974
On December 19, 1796, from Philadelphia, President George Washington wrote to his adopted son, George Washington Parke Custis:
But as you are well acquainted with my sentiments on this subject, and you know how anxious all your friends are to see you enter upon the grand theatre of life, with the advantages of a finished education, a highly cultivated mind, and a proper sense of your duties to God and man, I shall only add one sentiment more before I close this letter (which, as I have others to write, will hardly be in time for the mail), and that is, to pay due respect and obedience to your tutors, and affectionate reverence to the president of the college, whose character merits your highest regards.975
On March 2, 1797, in a letter to the rector, church wardens and vestrymen of the United Episcopal Churches of Christ and St. Peter’s of Philadelphia, George Washington wrote:
Believing that Government alone can be approved by Heaven, which promotes peace and secures protection to its Citizens in every thing that is dear and interesting to them, it has been the great object of my administration to insure those invaluable ends.976
On March 3, 1797, from Philadelphia, George Washington wrote to Jonathan Trumbull:
I can never believe that Providence, which has guided us so long, and through such a labyrinth, will withdraw its protection at this Crisis.977
Soon following his retirement from the presidency, Washington received a letter from Episcopal Bishop William White, Rev. Ashabel Green, D.D., and twenty-three other clergymen of Philadelphia, thanking him for the nearly 50 years of public service he rendered to his country. In his response, March 3, 1797, George Washington made the statement:
Believing, as I do, that Religion and Morality are the essential pillars of civil society, I view, with unspeakable pleasure, that harmony and brotherly love which characterizes the Clergy of different denominations, as well in this, as in other parts of the United States; exhibiting to the world a new and interesting spectacle, at once the pride of our country and the surest basis of Universal Harmony.
That your labors for the good of mankind may be crowned with success, that your temporal employments may be commensurate with your merits, and that the future reward of good and faithful servants may be yours, I shall not cease to supplicate the Divine Author of life and felicity.978
On March 27, 1798, George Washington wrote to secretary of War, Henry Knox:
Cruel must these reports be, if unfounded; and if well founded, what punishment can be too great for the Actors in so diabolical a Drama?
The period is big with events, but what will it produce is beyond the reach of human ken. On this, as upon all other occasions, I hope the best.
It has always been my belief that Providence has not led us so far in the path of Independence of one nation, to throw us into the Arms of another.
And that the machinations of those, who are attempting it, will sooner or later recoil upon their own Heads. Heaven grant it may soon happen upon all those whose conduct deserve it.979
On July 13, 1798, when war with France appeared imminent, and the country clamored “Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute,” George Washington accepted President John Adams appointment as Commander in Chief of the Armies of the United States:
Satisfied, therefore, that you have sincerely wished and endeavored to avert war, and exhausted, to the last drop, the cup of reconciliation, we can, with pure hearts, appeal to Heaven for the justice of our cause; and may confidently trust the final result to that kind Providence who has, heretofore, and so often, signally favored the people of these United States.
Thinking in this manner, and feeling how incumbent it is upon every person, of every description, to contribute at all times to his country’s welfare, and especially in a moment like the present, when everything we hold dear and sacred is so seriously threatened, I have finally determined to accept the commission of Commander in Chief of the Armies of the United States.980
In a letter to Rev. G.W. Snyder, 1798, George Washington stated he was not:
Presiding over the English lodges in this country … [having not been in a lodge] more than once or twice within the last thirty years.981
On Sunday, September 30, 1798, George Washington entered in his diary:
Went to Church in Alexandria.982
On May 30, 1799, just a few months before he died, George Washington wrote to Reverend William White of Christ Church, Philadelphia:
Rev. Dear Sir, The Sermon on the duty of civil obedience as required in Scripture, which you had the goodness to send me, came safe a Post or two ago; and for which I pray you to accept my grateful acknowledgements. The hurry in which it found me engaged, in a matter that pressed, has not allowed me time to give it a perusal yet; but I anticipate the pleasure of the edification I shall find when it is in my power to do it. With every respectful wish, in which Mrs. Washington unites, for yourself and the young ladies of your family, I am with great esteem and regard, Dear Sir, your most obedient and humble servant,
George Washington.983
The Reverend Mr. Mason Locke Weems, mentioned in Washington’s diary as a guest in his home, March 3, 1787, was the pastor of Pohick Church, where Washington’s family worshipped.984 In 1796, the Reverend Mr. Weems gave a copy of his book The Immortal Mentor: or Man’s Unerring Guide to a Healthy, Wealthy, and Happy Life, in which Washington wrote:
RECOMMENDATION BY GEORGE WASHINGTON
Mount Vernon, July 3, 1799
Rev. Sir,
For your kind compliment, “The Immortal Mentor,” I beg you to accept my best thanks. I have perused it with singular satisfaction; and hesitate not to say that it is, in my opinion at least, an invaluable compilation. I cannot but hope that a book whose contents do such credit to its title, will meet a very generous patronage. Should that patronage equal my wishes, you will have no reason to regret that you ever printed the Immortal Mentor. With respect I am, Rev. Sir, Your most obedient, humble servant, George Washington.985
On August 17, 1799, in a letter to his nephew Robert Lewis, George Washington wrote:
To sell the overplus I cannot because I am prejudiced against this kind of traffic in the human species; to hire them out is almost as bad, because they cannot be disposed of in families to any advantage, and to divide families I have an aversion.986
George Washington stated:
The aggregate happiness of society, which is best promoted by the practise of a virtuous policy, is, or ought to be, the end of all government.987
The sentiments we have mutually expressed of profound gratitude to the Source of those numerous blessings—the Author of All Good obligations to unite our sincere and zealous endeavours, as the instruments of Divine Providence, to preserve and perpetuate them.988
Providence has heretofore taken us up when all other means and hope seemed to be departing from us, in this I will confide.989
It is impossible to account for the creation of the universe, without the agency of a Supreme Being. It is impossible to govern the universe without the aid of a Supreme Being. It is impossible to reason without arriving at a Supreme Being.
Religion is as necessary to reason, as reason is to religion. The one cannot exist without the other. A reasoning being would lose his reason, in attempting to account for the great phenomena of nature, had he not a Supreme Being to refer to.990
George Washington is attributed as having stated:
It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.991
The blessed Religion revealed in the Word of God will remain an eternal and awful monument to prove that the best Institutions may be abused by human depravity; and that they may even, in some instances, be made subservient to the vilest of purposes.992
On Sunday, September 22, 1799, in a letter to Colonel Burgess Ball, George Washington wrote:
Your letter of the 16th inst. has been received, informing me of the death of my brother [Charles].
The death of relations always produces awful and affecting emotions under whatever circumstances it may happen. That my brother has been long expected; and his latter days, so uncomfortable to himself, must have prepared all around him for the stroke, though painful in effect.
I was the first, and am, now, the last of my father’s children, by the second marriage, who remain.
When I shall be called upon to follow them is known only to the Giver of Life. When the summons comes I shall endeavor to obey it with a good grace.993
In his Last Will and Testament, George Washington stated:
In the Name of God, Amen. …
All my debts, of which there are but few, and none of magnitude, are to be punctually and speedily paid. …
To my dearly beloved wife, Martha Washington, I give and bequeath the use, profit, and benefit of my whole estate, real and personal, for the term of her natural life. …
Upon the decease of my wife it is my will and desire that all slaves whom I hold in my own right shall receive their freedom. …
And to my mulatto man, William, (calling himself William Lee), I give immediate freedom, or, if he should prefer it (on account of the accidents which have befallen him, and which have rendered him incapable of walking, or of any active employment), to remain in the situation he now is, it shall be optional in him to do so: In either case, however, I allow him an annuity of thirty dollars during his natural life, which shall be independent of the victuals and clothes he has been accustomed to receive, if he choose the last alternative; but in full with his freedom if he prefers the first:—and this I give him, as a testimony of my sense of his attachment to me, and for his faithful services during the Revolutionary War.994
On Saturday, December 14, 1799, at about five o’clock in the afternoon, George Washington spoke to Dr. Craik from his bed:
Doctor, I die hard, but I am not afraid to go.995
Followed by his statements:
I am dying, gentlemen, but, thank God, I am not afraid to die.996
I should have been glad, had it pleased God, to die a little easier, but I doubt not it is for my good.997
On Saturday, December 14, 1799, at about ten o’clock in the evening, George Washington spoke from his bed to Tobias Lear, his secretary:
I am just going. Have me decently buried; and do not let my body be put into the vault in less than three days after I am dead. Do you understand me? … Tis well.998
On December 14, 1799, at about eleven o’clock in the evening, George Washington spoke his last words, as recorded by his secretary Tobias Lear:
Father of mercies, take me unto thyself.999
On December 29, 1799, in a memorial service for Washington, the minister of the New South Church in Boston, Reverend John Thorton Kirkland, stated:
The virtues of our departed friend were crowned by piety. He is known to have been habitually devout. To Christian institutions he gave the countenance of his example; and no one could express, more fully, his sense of the Providence of God, and the dependence of man.1000
John Marshall, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who had previously fought with Washington in the Revolutionary War and served with him at Valley Forge, said of Washington:
Without making ostentatious professions of religion, he was a sincere believer in the Christian faith, and a truly devout man.1001
William White gives evidence of Washington’s personal life in his Washington’s Writing:
It seems proper to subjoin to this letter what was told to me by Mr. Robert Lewis, at Fredericksburg, in the year 1827. Being a nephew of Washington, and his private secretary during the first part of his presidency, Mr. Lewis lived with him on terms of intimacy, and had the best opportunity for observing his habits.
Mr. Lewis said that he had accidentally witnessed his private devotions in his library both morning and evening; that on those occasions he had seen him in a kneeling posture with a Bible open before him, and that he believed such to have been his daily practice.1002
Jared Sparks, a historian and professor of history at Harvard, was known for his studies of George Washington. He analyzed Washington’s character and gave this summary:
A Christian in faith and practice, he was habitually devout. His reverence for religion is seen in his example, his public communications and his private writings. He uniformly ascribed his success as to the beneficent agency of the Supreme Being.1003
President James Madison stated:
Washington was constant in the observance of worship, according to the received forms of the Episcopal Church.1004
Washington’s Bible was donated by his adopted son, George Washington Parke Custis, to the Pohick Church, Truro Parish, where Washington served as a vestryman, October 25, 1762 to February 23, 1784. The dedication stated:
Presented to Truro Parish for the use of Pohick Church, July 11, 1802. With the request that should said church cease to be appropriated to Divine worship which God forbid, and for the honor of Christianity, it is hoped will never take place. In such case I desire that the vestry will preserve this Bible as a testimony of regard from the subscriber after a residence of 19 years in the Parish.
George Washington Parke Custis.1005
Being in communion with the Anglican Church, serving for over twenty years as a vestryman (trustee), and on at least three different occasions serving as churchwarden, Washington would have regularly repeated the Apostle’s Creed, which begins:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord.1006
Washington’s tomb is engraved:
I am the Resurrection and the Life; sayeth the Lord. He that believeth in Me, though he were dead yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die.(John 11:25–26)1007
The inscription at Mount Vernon describes Washington as:
The hero, the patriot, the Christian.
The father of nations, the friend of mankind,
Who, when he had won all, renounced all, and sought in the bosom of his family and of nature, retirement, and in hope of religion, immortality.1008
The Washington Monument, in Washington, D.C., stands over 555 feet high. Engraved on the metal cap are the words:
Praise be to God.1009
Along the stairway on the inside of the monument the following verses are carved on the tribute blocks:
SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN TO COME UNTO ME AND FORBID THEM NOT; FOR SUCH IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD. (Luke 18:16)
TRAIN UP A CHILD IN THE WAY HE SHOULD GO AND WHEN HE IS OLD, HE WILL NOT DEPART FROM IT. (Proverbs 22:6)
SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES. (John 5:39; Acts 17:11)
HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD. (Exodus 28:36; 39:30; Zechariah 14:20)
IN GOD WE TRUST
GOD AND OUR NATIVE LAND
MAY HEAVEN TO THIS UNION CONTINUE ITS BENEFICENCE.1010