11   Ibid., vol.3, 6-19-1775. To Burwell Bassett. “Dear Sir: I am now Imbarked on a tempestuous Ocean, from whence perhaps, no friendly harbour is to be found. I have been called upon by the unanimous Voice of the Colonies to the Command of the Continental Army. It is an honour I by no means aspired to. It is an honour I wished to avoid, as well from an unwillingness to quit the peaceful enjoyment of my Family...”

12   WGW, vol. 4, 10-13-1775. To John Augustine Washington. “Dear Brother: ...I am obliged to you for your advice to My Wife, and for your Intention of visiting of her; seeing no great prospect of returning to my Family and Friends this Winter I have sent an Invitation to Mrs. Washington to come to me, altho’ I fear the Season is too far advanced (especially if she should, when my Letters get home, be in New Kent, as I believe the case will be) to admit this with any tolerable degree of convenience. I have laid a state of the difficulties, however which must attend the journey before her and left it to her own choice. My Love to my Sister and the little ones are sincerely tenderd and I am with true regard Yr. Most Affecte. Brother.”
Ibid., vol. 33, 5-4-1794. To William Pearce. “In the Gardeners report is a query, if Apricots will be wanting to preserve. I answer No. for the situation of public business now is, and likely to remain such, that my family will not be able to spend any time at Mount Vernon this Summer, that is, I cannot do it, and Mrs. Washington would not chuse to be there without me. My present intention is, if public business will permit, to make a flying trip there soon after the rising of Congress; but when that will be is more than I [am] able to decide, at present.”
Ibid., vol. 34, 7-12-1795. To William Pearce. “If nothing more than I foresee at present, happens to prevent it, I shall leave this place (with my family) for Mount Vernon on Wednesday next, the 15th. instt., but when I shall arrive at it, is more difficult to decide, as the weather is extremely hot, and my horses very fat. These circumstances must, at any rate, cause my movements to be slow; or I shall hazard too much in my horses.”

13   Ibid., vol. 37, 5-13-1799. To the Secretary of War. “Under any circumstances, I consider this preparatory measure of the President’s, to be eligable; but I am led to believe from his having adopted it, at this time, without any previous intimation thereof (that has come to my knowledge) before he left the Seat of Government, that stronger indications of hostility have been received, than appeared when he went away to have occasioned it; if so, I think it ought to be communicated to me in confidence; for it must not be expected that like a Mercenary, I can quit my family and private concerns at a moments warning. There are many matters necessary for me to settle before I could leave home with any tolerable convenience, and many things, the providing of which would run me to an unnecessary expence, if I am not called to the Field.”

14   Ibid., vol. 7, 2-20-1777. To Col. William Crawford. “I regret exceedingly the loss of your two Brother’s, and thank you for your kind offer of serving me in any business I may have West of the Alleganies; but my time is so constantly taken up and ingrossed by public matters, that I scarce bestow a thought on my private Affairs, beyond my Family at Mount Vernon.”

15   Ibid., vol. 28, 6-30-1786. To George William Fairfax. “‘Till my Country called my services to the field, in which I spent almost nine years, I acted in every respect for you as I should have done for myself. But after bidding adieu to my family and home, to which I never expected to return if the smiles of Heaven should prove unpropitious, a general wreck of my affairs as well as yours, took place.”

16   Ibid., vol. 2, 7-20-1758. To Martha Parke Custis. “We have begun our march for the Ohio. A courier is starting for Williamsburg, and I embrace the opportunity to send a few words 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 another Self. That an all-powerful Providence may keep us both in safety is the prayer of your ever faithful and affectionate friend.”
Ibid., vol. 3, 6-18-1775.to Martha Washington. “My Dearest: I am now set down to write to you on a subject, which fills me with inexpressible concern, and this concern is greatly aggravated and increased, when I reflect upon the uneasiness I know it will give you. 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 upon me the 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, not only from my unwillingness to part with you and the family, but from a consciousness of its being a trust too great for my capacity, and that I should enjoy more real happiness in one month with you at home, than I have the most distant prospect of finding abroad, if my stay were to be seven times seven years. 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. You might, and I suppose did perceive, from the tenor of my letters, that I was apprehensive I could not avoid this appointment, as I did not pretend to intimate when I should return. That was the case. It was utterly out of my power to refuse this appointment, without exposing my character to such censures, as would have reflected dishonor upon myself, and given pain to my friends. This, I am sure, could not, and ought not, to be pleasing to you, and must have lessened me considerably in my own esteem. I shall rely, therefore, confidently on that Providence, which has heretofore preserved and been bountiful to me, not doubting but that I shall return safe to you in the fall. I shall feel no pain from the toil or the danger of the campaign; my unhappiness will flow from the uneasiness I know you will feel from being left alone. I therefore beg, that you will summon your whole fortitude, and pass your time as agreeably as possible. Nothing will give me so much sincere satisfaction as to hear this, and to hear it from your own pen. My earnest and ardent desire is, that you would pursue any plan that is most likely to produce content, and a tolerable degree of tranquillity; as it must add greatly to my uneasy feelings to hear, that you are dissatisfied or complaining at what I really could not avoid.

“As life is always uncertain, and common prudence dictates to every man the necessity of settling his temporal concerns, while it is in his power, and while the mind is calm and undisturbed, I have, since I came to this place (for I had not time to do it before I left home) got Colonel Pendleton to draft a will for me, by the directions I gave him, which will I now enclose. The provision made for you in case of my death will, I hope, be agreeable.

“I shall add nothing more, as I have several letters to write, but to desire that you will remember me to your friends, and to assure you that I am, with the most unfeigned regard, my dear Patsy, your affectionate,...”
Ibid., vol. 3, 6-23-1775. “My Dearest: As I am within a few minutes of leaving this city, I would not think of departing from it with out dropping you a line, especially as I do not know whether it may be in my power to write again till I get to the camp at Boston. I go fully trusting in that providence, which has been more bountiful to me than I deserve and in full confidence of a happy meeting with you some time in the fall. I have no time to add more as I am surrounded with company to take leave of me. I return an unalterable affection for you which neither time or distance can change my best love to Jack and Nelly and regard for the rest of the family; conclude me with the utmost truth and Sincerety, Yr. entire.”

17   Ibid., vol. 3, 6-20-1775, To John Augustine Washington, “ Dear Brother: I am now to bid adieu to you, and to every kind of domestick ease, for a while. I am Imbarked on a wide Ocean, boundless in its prospect, and from whence, perhaps, no safe harbour is to be found. I have been called upon by the unanimous Voice of the Colonies to take Command of the Continental Army. ...I shall hope that my Friends will visit and endeavor to keep up the spirits of my Wife as much as they can, as my departure will, I know, be a cutting stroke upon her; and on this account alone, I have many very disagreeable sensations. I hope you and my sister (although the distance is great) will find as much leisure this Summer, as to spend a little time at Mount Vernon.”

18   Ibid., vol. 7, 1-13-1777. To Robert Morris. “ Dear Sir: If amidst a multiplicity of Important matters, you could suffer a trivial one to Intrude, I should thank you most heartily, for taking a Letter or two of mine, when you do your own, by the Southern Mail, and forwarding of them, as oppertunity offers, to the Camp. I have long since drop’d all private corrispondance with my friends in Virginia, finding it incompatable with my public business. A Letter or two from my Family are regularly sent by the Post, but very irregularly received, which is rather mortifying, as it deprives me of the consolation of hearing from home, on domestick matters.”

19   Ibid., vol. 28, 11-20-1785. To Lund Washington. “However unlucky I may have been in Crops, &c. of late years, I shall always retain a grateful sense of your endeavors to serve me; for as I have repeatedly intimated to you in my Letters from Camp, nothing but that entire confidence which I reposed, could have made me easy under an absence of almost nine years from my family and Estate, or could have enabled me, consequently, to have given not only my time, but my whole attention to the public concerns of this Country for that space.”

20   Washington’s concern for his brothers was always evident. See Ibid., vol. 27, 1-22-1784. To James Nourse. WGW, vol. 27, 6-11-1783. To Lund Washington. WGW, vol. 8, 6-1-1777. To John Augustine Washington. WGW, vol. 37, 9-22-1799. To Burgess Ball. “Dear Sir: Your letter of the 16th. instt. has been received, informing me of the death of my brother. [Charles Washington.]The death of near relations always produces awful and affecting emotions, under whatsoever circumstances it may happen. That of my brother’s has been so long expected, and his latter days so uncomfortable to himself, must have prepared all around him for the stroke; though painful in the effect. I was the first, and am now the last, of my fathers 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 endeavour to obey it with a good grace. Mrs. Washington has been, and still is, very much indisposed, but unites with me in best wishes for you, Mrs. Ball and family.” Ibid., vol. 37, 12-10-1776. To Lund Washington. “Matters to my view, but this I say in confidence to you, as a friend, wears so unfavourable an aspect (not that I apprehend half so much danger from Howes Army, as from the disaffection of the three States of New York, Jersey and Pennsylvania) that I would look forward to unfavorable Events, and prepare Accordingly in such a manner however as to give no alarm or suspicion to any one; as one step towards it, have my Papers in such a Situation as to remove at a short notice in case an Enemy’s Fleet should come up the River. When they are removd let them go immediately to my Brothers in Berkeley.” Ibid., vol. 28, 2-13-1784. To George Mason. “Dr. Sir: My brother John [John Augustine Washington] is much in want of four, five or six hundred pounds which he is desirous of borrowing on Interest. If it is in your power to supply him I will become security for the fulfilment of his agreement. He seems to have little expectation that money in these times, can be had at the common interest; and his own words will best express what he is willing to allow.” He also sought to provide a quality education for other members of his extended family Ibid., vol. 35, 11-16-1796. To Tobias Lear. “Mr. Dandridge (as I presume he has informed you) applied, without encouragement, to the Reverend Mr. Medor of this City (one of the Moravian Clergy) for the Speedy admission of Maria [Anna Maria, daughter of George Augustine Washington] into the S[c]hool for young Ladies, at Bethlehem. Since then, I have written to the Principal of that School, The Revd. Mr. Venvleck, [Reverend Jacob Van Vleck] but have not received his answer. When it comes I will forward it to you. ...Washington Custis has got settled at Princeton College, and I think under favourable auspices, but the change from his former habits is so great and sudden; and his hours for study so much increased beyond what he has been accustomed to, that though he promises to be attentive, it is easy to be perceived he is not at all reconciled to it yet.” Ibid., vol. 35, 4-7-1796. Ibid., vol. 33, 9-21-1794. Ibid., vol. 35, 4-15-1787.

21   Ibid., vol. 29, 5-7-1787. To Lund Washington. “I need not tell you, because a moment’s recurrence to your own accounts will evince the fact, that there is no source from which I derive more than a sufficiency for the daily calls of my family, except what flows from the collection of old debts, and scanty and precarious enough, God knows this is. My estate for the last 11 years has not been able to make both ends meet. I am encumbered now with the deficiency. I mention this for no other purpose than to shew that however willing, I am not able to pay debts unless I could sell land, which I have publicly advertised without finding bidders.”
Ibid., vol. 29, 10-29-1787. To Mathew Carey. “Sir: The last post brought me your letter of the 22d. your application to me for the loan of £100 is an evidence of your unacquaintedness with my inability to lend money. To be candid, my expenditures are never behind my income, and this year (occasioned by the severest drouth that ever was known in this neighborhood) instead of selling grain which heretofore has been my principal source of revenue it is not £500 that will purchase enough for the support of my family. after this disclosure of my situation you will be readily persuaded that inclination to serve without the means of accomplishing it, is of little avail. This however is the fact so far as it respects the point in question.”
Ibid., vol. 36, 10-2-1797. To Thomas Law. “My expences are so great and my resources so small, that it is but little in my power to promote such plans as you advocate. To clear me out of Philadelphia, and to lay in a few necessaries for my family, I sold two valuable tracts of land in the State of Pennsylvania a short time before I left the City. for 22,000 dollars; and since my arrival have sold other lands in Virginia the proceeds of all which (so far at least as hath been received) are nearly expended. To encourage however a Hotel at the Capitol, I authorise you if the plan is likely to succeed, on the terms you have suggested to put my name down to five Shares.”
Ibid., vol. 37, 1210-1799. To James Anderson. “And It is hoped, and will be expected, that more effectual measures will be pursued to make butter another year; for it is almost beyond belief, that from 101 Cows actually reported on a late enumeration of the Cattle, that I am obliged to buy butter for the use of my family.”

22   Ibid., vol. 29, 2-15-1787. To Mary Washington. “Hond. Madam: In consequence of your communication to George[Augustine] Washington, of your want of money, I take the (first safe) conveyance by Mr. John Dandridge to send you 15 Guineas, which believe me is all I have, and which indeed ought to have been paid many days ago to another, agreeable to my own assurances. I have now demands upon me for more than 500 £, three hundred and forty odd of which is due for the tax of 1786; and I know not where or when, I shall receive one shilling with which to pay it. In the last two years I made no crops. In the first I was obliged to buy corn and this year have none to sell, and my wheat is so bad, I cannot either eat it myself nor sell it to others, and Tobacco I make none. Those who owe me money cannot or will not pay it without suits, and to sue is to do nothing; whilst my expences, not from any extravagance, or an inclination on my part to live splendidly, but for the absolute support of my family and the visitors who are constantly here, are exceedingly high; higher indeed than I can support without selling part of my estate, which I am disposed to do, rather than run in debt, or continue to be so; but this I cannot do, without taking much less than the lands I have offered for sale are worth. This is really and truely my situation. I do not however offer it as any excuse for not paying you what may really be due; for let this be little or much, I am willing, however unable, to pay to the utmost farthing; but it is really hard upon me when you have taken every thing you wanted from the Plantation by which money could be raised, when I have not received one farthing, directly nor indirectly from the place for more than twelve years, if ever, and when, in that time I have paid, as appears by Mr. Lund Washington’s accounts against me (during my absence) Two hundred and sixty odd pounds, and by my own account Fifty odd pounds out of my own Pocket to you, besides (if I am rightly informed) every thing that has been raised by the Crops on the Plantation. Who to blame, or whether any body is to blame for these things I know not, but these are facts; and as the purposes for which I took the Estate are not answered, nor likely to be so, but dissatisfaction on all sides have taken place, I do not mean to have any thing more to say to your Plantation or negros since the first of January, except the fellow who is here, and who will not, as he has formed connections in this neighborhood, leave it. As experience has proved him, I will hire. Of this my intention, I informed my brother John sometime ago, whose death I sincerely lament on many accounts, and on this painful event condole with you most sincerely. I do not mean by this declaration to withhold any aid or support I can give from you; for whilst I have a shilling left, you shall have part, if it is wanted, whatever my own distresses may be. What I shall then give, I shall have credit for; now I have not, for tho’ I have received nothing from your Quarter, and am told that every farthing goes to you, and have moreover paid between 3 and 4 hundred pounds besides out of my own pocket, I am viewed as a delinquent, and considered perhaps by the world as [an] unjust and undutiful son. My advice to you, therefore, is to do one of two things with the Plantation. Either let your grandson Bushrod Washington, to whom the land is given by his Father, have the whole interest there, that is, lands and negros, at a reasonable rent; or, next year (for I presume it is too late this, as the overseer may be engaged) to let him have the land at a certain yearly rent during your life; and hire out the negros. This would ease you of all care and trouble, make your income certain, and your support ample. Further, my sincere and pressing advice to you is, to break up housekeeping, hire out all the rest of your servants except a man and a maid, and live with one of your children. This would relieve you entirely from the cares of this world, and leave your mind at ease to reflect undisturbedly on that which ought to come. On this subject I have been full with my Brother John, and it was determined he should endeavor to get you to live with him. He alas is no more, and three, only of us remain. My house is at your service, and [I] would press you most sincerely and most devoutly to accept it, but I am sure, and candor requires me to say, it will never answer your purposes in any shape whatsoever. For in truth it may be compared to a well resorted tavern, as scarcely any strangers who are going from north to south, or from south to north, do not spend a day or two at it. This would, were you to be an inhabitant of it, oblige you to do one of 3 things: 1st, to be always dressing to appear in company; 2d, to come into [the room] in a dishabille, or 3d, to be as it were a prisoner in your own chamber. The first you’ld not like; indeed, for a person at your time of life it would be too fatiguing. The 2d, I should not like, because those who resort here are, as I observed before, strangers and people of the first distinction. And the 3d, more than probably, would not be pleasing to either of us. Nor indeed could you be retired in any room in my house; for what with the sitting up of company, the noise and bustle of servants, and many other things, you would not be able to enjoy that calmness and serenity of mind, which in my opinion you ought now to prefer to every other consideration in life. If you incline to follow this advice, the House and lots on which you now live you may rent, and enjoy the benefit of the money arising therefrom as long as you live. This with the rent of the land at the little falls [of the Rappahannock] and the hire of your negros, would bring you in an income which would be much more than sufficient to answer all your wants and make ample amends to the child you live with; for myself I should desire nothing; if it did not, I would most cheerfully contribute more. A man, a maid, the phaeton and two horses, are all you would want. To lay in a sufficiency for the support of these would not require? of your income, the rest would purchase every necessary you could possibly want, and place it in your power to be serviceable to those with whom you may live, which no doubt would be agreeable to all parties.

“There are such powerful reasons in my mind for giving this advice that I cannot help urging it with a degree of earnestness which is uncommon for me to do. It is, I am convinced, the only means by which you can be happy. The cares of a family, without any body to assist you; the charge of an estate the profits of which depend upon wind, weather, a good overseer, and honest man, and a thousand other circumstances, cannot be right or proper at your advanced age, and for me, who am absolutely prevented from attending to my own plantations, which are almost within call of me, to attempt the care of yours, would be folly in the extreme; but [by] the mode I have pointed out, you may reduce your income to a certainty, be eased of all trouble, and if you are so disposed, may be perfectly happy; for happiness depends more upon the internal frame of a person’s own mind, than on the externals in the world. Of the last, if you will pursue the plan here recommended, I am sure you can want nothing that is essential. The other depends wholly upon yourself, for the riches of the Indies cannot purchase it.

Mrs. Washington, George and Fanny join me in every good wish for you, and I am, honored madame, your most dutiful and aff. son.”

23   Ibid., vol. 37. AND NOW

“First To my Nephew Bushrod Washington and his heirs (partly in consideration of an intimation to his deceased father while we were Bachelors, and he had kindly undertaken to superintend my Estate during my Military Services in the former War between Great Britain and France, that if I should fall therein, Mount Vernon (then less extensive in domain than at present) should become his property) ...

Third And whereas it has always been my intention, since my expectation of having Issue has ceased, to consider the Grand children of my wife in the same light as I do my own relations, and to act a friendly part by them; more especially by the two whom we have reared from their earliest infancy, namely: Eleanor Parke Custis, and George Washington Parke Custis. ...

“Fourth Actuated by the principal already mentioned, I give and bequeath to George Washington Parke Custis, the Grandson of my wife, and my Ward, and to his heirs, the tract I hold on four mile run in the vicinity of Alexandria, containing one thousd. two hundred acres, more or less, and my entire Square, number twenty one, in the City of Washington. Lastly I constitute and appoint my dearly beloved wife Martha Washington, My Nephews William Augustine Washington, Bushrod Washington, George Steptoe Washington, Samuel Washington, and Lawrence Lewis, and my ward George Washington Parke Custis (when he shall have arrived at the age of twenty years) Executrix and Executors of this Will and testament, In the construction of which it will readily be perceived that no professional character has been consulted, or has had any Agency in the draught; and that, although it has occupied many of my leisure hours to digest, and to through it into its present form, it may, notwithstanding, appear crude and incorrect. But having endeavoured to be plain, and explicit in all the Devises, even at the expence of prolixity, perhaps of tautology, I hope, and trust, that no disputes will arise concerning them; but if, contrary to expectation, the case should be otherwise from the want of legal expression, or the usual technical terms, or because too much or too little has been said on any of the Devises to be consonant with law, My Will and direction expressly is, that all disputes (if unhappily any should arise) shall be decided by three impartial and intelligent men, known for their probity and good understanding; two to be chosen by the disputants, each having the choice of one, and the third by those two. Which three men thus chosen, shall, unfettered by Law, or legal constructions, declare their Sense of the Testators intention; and such decision is, to all intents and purposes to be as binding on the Parties as if it had been given in the Supreme Court of the United States.”

24   Joseph Fields, Worthy Partner: The Papers of Martha Washington (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1994). p.224 footnote, “About the middle of June, 1789, the President developed a fever, followed by tenderness over the left thigh. Swelling and inflammation soon followed. Dr. Bard and two other consultants were unable to make a diagnosis. Consideration was given to the fact that the President might have contracted anthrax. As the swelling progressed, so did the discomfort until as last he was in excruciating pain. Cherry Street, in front of his home, was roped off to prevent the noisy wagons and carts from disturbing his rest. By the 20th the swelling “pointed” into an abscess or carbuncle. It was lanced and drained, whereupon the fever began to subside. For about three weeks it was difficult for him to move about or sit without discomfort. His condition gradually improved, but still continued to drain during September.”
To Mercy Otis Warren New York, June the 12th 1790

...During the President sickness, the kindness which everybody manifested, and the interest which was universally taken in his fate, were really very affecting to me. He seemed less concerned himself as to the event, than peraps almost any other almost any other person in ye united states.
...But for the ties of affection which attract me so strongly to my near connections and worthy friends, I should feel myself indeed much weaned from all enjoyments of this transitory life. ...
In passing down the vale of time, and in journeying through such a mutable world as that in which we are placed, we must expect to meet with a great and continual mixture of afflictions and blessings. This a mingled cup which an overruling providence undoubtedly dispenses to us for the wises and best purposes. – and as you justly observe, shall we shortsighted mortals dare to arraign the decrees of eternal wisdom – that you and your may always be under the kind of protection and guardianship of the providence is the sincere wish of Footnote
On May 10, 1790, The President complained of “a bad cold.” The cold increased in severity within the next two days. He then developed symptoms of pneumonia and for the next several days his physical condition rapidly deteriorated. Four physicians were called into attendance. They despaired of his life, and it became widely known throughout the city that he was dangerously ill, that he might not survive. On the morning of May 15th his breathing became labored. Those nearest him felt the end was near. Suddenly about 4:00 P.M. his fever suddenly dropped and he developed profuse perspiration. His condition improved rapidly and by the 20th of May he was considered out of danger. His convalescence continued for a period of six weeks.
To Janet Livingston Montgomery
Phila. January the 29th
...I am thank god now recovering.
The decision to be inoculated for the smallpox was often hard to make. WGW, vol. 3, 4-20-1771. WGW, vol. 4, 4-3291776. The yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia was also a great concern since it was the seat of the government. WGW, vol. 33, 10-14-1793. To the Postmaster General. Sir: The numerous and various reports which I have lately received from people who were not possessed of any accurate information with respect to the State of the malignant fever with which Philadelphia is so unfortunately afflicted, and my intention being to return thither, or to its neighbourhood, about the first of next month, have induced me to ask this information from you, and I beg you will advise me as well of the State of the fever in Philadelphia, as whether it has extended itself in its vicinity, German town &c., to which last I have heard it has reached.

Taking it for granted, that the fever will not have entirely disappeared in the City of Philadelphia, and the Place become quite purified, so as to admit the members of Congress to meet there, with safety by the first of December, what accomodations could be had for them in Germantown, if it should be free from infection? If however, this place should be thought unsafe or improper, what other has been in contemplation, for the next Session of Congress? Full information of these matters, and of the prevailing sense of those who have had an opportunity of Judging and are best acquainted with the true Situation of things, in and about Philadelphia, is what I very much want, as the accounts we receive here are so opposite and unsatisfactory that we know not on which to rely.

By report, we learn, that Mr. Willing (president of the Bank) Mr. John Ross, Mr. Jonathan Sergeant, Mr. Howell, Colo. Franks and many others of our acquaintance have fallen victims to the fatal fever. that near 4,000 have died and that the disorder is more violent than ever. Is this a faithful representation? I hope your family are out of the way of this dreadful contagion, and that you and Mrs. Pickering are well. with esteem and regard I am etc.

P.S. What sort of a place is Reading, and how would it answer for the accommodation of Congress the ensuing Session.
WGW, vol. 3, 2-15, 1773. To Burwell Bassett. “Mrs. Washington, Patsy Custis and Jack, who is now here, are much as usual, and the family not sicklier than common. Hoping this will find you perfectly restored, and the rest of the good folks of Eltham in better health than when you wrote last, I am with best wishes to Mrs. Bassett, yourself and the children, in which all here join.” p.168.
From John Parke Custis
Mount Airy June 9th. 1776
“My dear Mamma,
The receipt of your kind letter... gave Me the sincerest pleasure to hear You are in so fair a Way of getting favorably through the Smalpox: - the small Danger attending that Disorder by Inoculation when the patients follow the Directions of their Phycian,... I do with the truest affection congratulate you on and thank God for your recovery” p.180.
To Bartholomew Dandridge, November the 2d 1778, “...I am very sorry to head that my Mamma has been so unwell and thank god that she has recovered again –from MW”

25   WGW, vol. 29, 5-5-1787. To Robert Morris, “Dear Sir; When your favor of the 23d. Ulto. was sent here from the Post Office, I was at Fredericksburg (to which place I had been called, suddenly, by Express) to bid, as I was prepared to expect, the last adieu to an honoured parent, and an affectionate Sister whose watchful attention to my Mother during her illness had brought to death’s door. The latter I hope is now out of danger, but the former cannot long Survive the disorder which has reduced her to a Skeleton, tho’ she is somewhat amended.” Martha Washington wrote of her grandson (George Washington Parke Custis) to Fanny Bassett Washington from Mount Vernon on February 25th 1788, “I cannot say but it makes me miserable if ever he complains let the cause be ever so trifeling- I hope the almighty will spare him to me.” In Joseph E. Fields, “Worthy Partner”: The Papers of Martha Washington (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1994), p. 205. WGW, vol. 28, 4-25-1785. To William Grayson. “...into that part of the country I am hurried by an express which is just arrived with the accot. of the deaths of the mother and Brother of Mrs. Washington, in the last of whose hands (Mr. B. Dandridge) the embarrassed affairs of Mr. Custis had been placed, and call for immediate attention.”

26   Ibid., vol. 1, 5-29-1754. To Robert Dinwiddie. “I have a Constitution hardy enough to encounter and undergo the most severe tryals, and, I flatter myself, resolution to Face what any Man durst, as shall be prov’d when it comes to the Test, which I believe we are upon the Borders off.”

27   Ibid., vol. 2, 3-4, 1758. To Col. John Stanwix. “I have never been able to return to my command, since I wrote to you last, my disorder at times returning obstinately upon me, in spite of the efforts of all the sons of Æsculapius, whom I have hitherto consulted. At certain periods I have been reduced to great extremity, and have now too much reason to apprehend an approaching decay, being visited with several symptoms of such a disease. I am now under a strict regimen, and shall set out to-morrow for Williamsburg to receive the advice of the best physicians there. My constitution is certainly greatly impaired, and as nothing can retrieve it, but the greatest care and the most circumspect conduct....”

28   Ibid., vol. 31, 6-15-1790. To David Stuart. “These public meetings and a dinner once a week to as many as my table will hold, with the references to and from the different Departments of State, and other Communications with all parts of the Union is as much, if not more, than I am able to undergo; for I have already had within less than a year, two severe attacks; the last worse than the first; a third more than probable, will put me to sleep with my fathers; at what distance this may be I know not. Within the last twelve months I have undergone more, and severer sickness than thirty preceding years afflicted me with, put it all together. I have abundant reason however to be thankful that I am so well recovered; though I still feel the remains of the violent affection of my lungs. The cough, pain in my breast, and shortness in breathing not having entirely left me. I propose in the recess of Congress to visit Mount Vernon; but when this recess will happen is beyond my ken, or the ken I believe of any of its members.”

29   Ibid., vol. 5, 5-31-1776. To John Augustine Washington. Mrs. Washington is now under Innoculation in this City; and will, I expect, have the Small pox favourably, this is the 13th day, and she has very few Pustules; she would have wrote to my Sister but thought it prudent not to do so, notwithstanding there could be but little danger in conveying the Infection in this manner. She joins me in love to you, her, and all the little ones. I am, with every Sentiment of regard.”
Ibid., vol. 11, 3-11-1778 “Lord Fairfax (as I have been told) after having bowed down to the grave, and in a manner shaken hands with death, is perfectly restored, and enjoys his usual good health, and as much vigour as falls to the lot of Ninety.”
Ibid., vol. 37, 5-3-1781. To Dr. William Shippen. “ Dear Sir: As Mrs. Washington never receiv’d the Jallop and Calomel you promised her. As the Small Pox, by my last advices from home, has got into my Family, and I suppose not less than three hundred Persons to take the disorder, I must beg you to furnish the bearer with so much of the above Articles for my use as you shall judge necessary;”
Ibid., vol. 27, 7-10-1783. To George William Fairfax, “Mrs. Washington enjoys an incompetent share of health; Billious Fevers and Cholic’s attack her very often, and reduce her low; at this moment she is but barely recovering from one of them; at the same time that she thanks Mrs. Fairfax and you for your kind suggestion of Doctr. James’s Annaliptic Pills, she begs you both to accept her most Affectionate regards; she would have conveyed these in a letter of her own, with grateful acknowledgments of Mrs. Fairfax’s kind remembrance by Mr. Lee, if her health would have allowed it.”
Ibid., vol. 27, 11-3-1784. To Reverend William Gordon, “In my absence I had a very sickly family, but no deaths. Mrs. Washington has been very unwell, Miss Custis very ill, and your friend Tub [George Washington Parke Custis] a good deal reduced by a diarrhea, he has got perfectly well, and is as fat and saucy as ever. Mrs. Washington is pretty well recovered, but Miss Custis remains in a puny state. the family unite in best wishes for you,”
Ibid., vol. 28, 12-8-1784. To Marquis de Lafayette. “Nothing of importance has occurred since I parted with you; I found my family well, and am now immersed in company....”
Ibid., vol. 28, 2-7-1785. To David Humphreys, “Mrs. Washington enjoys but indifferent health. My nephew Geo. A. Washington has been buffetting the seas from clime to clime, in pursuit of health, but, poor fellow! I believe in vain. At present, if alive, I expect he is at Charleston. All the rest of my family are perfectly well, and join me in best wishes for you....”
Ibid., vol. 28, 7-25-1785. To Marquis de Lafayette. “Mrs. Washington has but indifferent health; and the late loss of her mother, and only brother Mr. Barthw. Dandridge (one of the Judges of our Supreme Court) has rather added to her indisposition. My mother and friends enjoy good health. George has returned after his peregrination thro’ the West Indies, to Bermuda, the Bahama Islands, and Charlestown; at the last place he spent the winter. He is in better health than when he set out, but not quite recovered: He is now on a journey to the Sweet Springs, to procure a stock sufficient to fit him for a matrimonial voyage in the Frigate F. Bassett, on board which he means to embark at his return in October: how far his case is desperate, I leave you to judge, if it is so, the remedy however pleasing at first, will certainly be violent.”
Ibid., vol. 28, 10-1-1785. To Jonathan Trumbull. “My principal pursuits are of a rural nature, in which I have great delight, especially as I am blessed with the enjoyment of good health. Mrs. Washington on the contrary is hardly ever well, but thankful for your kind remembrance of her, and joins me in every good wish for you, Mrs. Trumbull and your family.”

30   Ibid., vol. 37, 3-26-1762. To Gov. Horatio Sharpe. “Sir: Be so good as to pardon the liberty I presume to take in recommending to your Excellency’s notice the Revd. Mr. West; a young Gentn. lately entered into Holy Orders, of a good Family, and unexceptionable Morals; this with truth I can venture to certifie as he is a neighbour of mine, and one of those few of whom every body speaks well. At present he is engagd to officiate as Curate to the Revd. Doctr. Swift of Port Tobo.; who it seems is in the last Stage of a Consumption, and attempting by a Voyage to England, the recovery of his health, but, shoud he fail in this (as most probably he will) and the Parish become vacant by his death. Mr. West woud think himself very happy in the honour of your presentment of him to the Cure, and I am fully persuaded that his endeavours woud merit the favour.”
Ibid., vol. 3, 8-28, 1774. To Mrs. Sarah Bomford. “Mrs. Washington also thanks you for your polite notice of her and begs your acceptance of her Compliments and that you will take the trouble of presenting them to Mrs. Savage at the same time to whom please also to make a tender of my best respects and inform her (as I have also done in a former Letter wch. I suppose to be miscarried) that the black Wax on my Letter was occasion’d by the death of Miss Custis whom we were unhappily deprivd of in June....”
Ibid., vol. 3, 6-18-1775. To Mrs. Martha Washington. “My Dearest: I am now set down to write to you on a subject, which fills me with inexpressible concern, and this concern is greatly aggravated and increased, when I reflect upon the uneasiness I know it will give you. ...As life is always uncertain, and common prudence dictates to every man the necessity of settling his temporal concerns, while it is in his power, and while the mind is calm and undisturbed, I have, since I came to this place (for I had not time to do it before I left home) got Colonel Pendleton to draft a will for me, by the directions I gave him, which will I now enclose. The provision made for you in case of my death will, I hope, be agreeable.” WGW, vol. 37, 9-22-1799. To Burges Ball. “Dear Sir: Your letter of the 16th. instt. has been received, informing me of the death of my brother [Charles Washington]. The death of near relations always produces awful and affecting emotions, under whatsoever circumstances it may happen. That of my brother’s has been so long expected, and his latter days so uncomfortable to himself, must have prepared all around him for the stroke; though painful in the effect. I was the first, and am now the last, of my fathers 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 endeavour to obey it with a good grace.”
Ibid., vol. 37, 11-6-1781 To Jonathan Trumbull Jr. “My dear Sir: I came here in time to see Mr. Custis breathe his last. About Eight o’clock yesterday Evening he expired. The deep and solemn distress of the Mother, and affliction of the Wife of this amiable young Man, requires every comfort in my power to afford them; the last rights of the deceased I must also see performed; these will take me three or four days; when I shall proceed with Mrs. Washington and Mrs. Custis to Mount Vernon. As the dirty tavern you are now at cannot be very comfortable; and in spite of Mr. Sterne’s observation the House of Mourning not very agreeable; it is my wish, that all of the Gentn of my family, except yourself, who I beg may come here and remain with me; may proceed on at their leizure to Mount Vernon, and wait for me there. Colo. Cobb will join you on the road at the Tavern we breakfasted at (this side Ruffens). My best wishes attend the Gentn. and with much sincerity and affectn. I remain,”
Ibid., vol. 23, 11-18-1781. To Robert Hanson Harrison. “I thank you for your kind Congratulations on the Capitulation of Cornwallis....Mr. Custis’ death has given much distress in this family.”
Ibid., vol. 29, 1-10-1787. To Bushrod Washington. “My Dear Bushrod: I condole most sincerely with you, my Sister and family, on the death of my Brother [John Augustine Washington]. I feel most sensibly for this event; but resignation being our duty, to attempt an expression of my sorrow on this occasion would be as feebly described, as it would be unavailing when related.”
Ibid., vol. 29, 2-15-1787. To Mary Washington. “I informed my brother John sometime ago, whose death I sincerely lament on many accounts, and on this painful event condole with you most sincerely.”
Ibid., vol. 29, 3-25-1787. “My Dear Marquis: I have lately lost a Brother (Colo. John Augt. Washington which I mention to account for the black Seal of this letter) the rest of my friends, and every individual in the Family are tolerably well and join most cordially in every vow that can contribute to the health and happiness of Madam La Fayette yourself and family. Esqr Tub will soon be able to offer you his own homage as he begins to write very prettily. I have no expression that can convey to you the warmth of my friendship and affectionate attachment. Adieu.”
Ibid., vol. 33, 10-27-1793. To William Pearce. “The season has been remarkably sickly, generally, but my family, except a few slight touches of the intermittant fever, chiefly among the blacks, have shared less of it, than I find from report, has been felt in most other places.”
Ibid., vol. 34, 5-10-1795. To William Pearce. “I am sorry to find by your last reports that there has been two deaths in the family since I left Mount Vernon; and one of them a young fellow. I hope every necessary care and attention was afforded him. I expect little of this from McKoy, or indeed from most of his class; for they seem to consider a Negro much in the same light as they do the brute beasts, on the farms; and often times treat them as inhumanly.”
Ibid., vol. 37, 9-22-1799. To Samuel Washington. “Dear Sir: Your letter, announcing the death of my Brother, came to hand last night. One from Colo. Ball, informing me of that event, arrived the evening before. I very sincerely condole with your mother and the family on this occasion. But as death, in this case, regular in its approaches; and evident, long before it happened; she, and all of you, must have been prepared for the stroke. Of course, though painful, it must have fallen much lighter on that account.”

31   Ibid., vol. 3, 8-28, 1774. To Mrs. Sarah Bomford. “...it would be a wrong to suffer the small pittance she reservd to herself the time of her unhappy Marriage to fall into the hands of a v — n [villain]who has not only endeavourd to wrong of it but would I suppose deprive her of the very means of Existance if he could do it.”
Ibid., vol. 29, 11-15-1786. To Mrs. Anne Ennis. Ibid., vol. 33, 9-6-1794. To Peter Trenor. Ibid., vol. 29, 4-28-1788. To Comte de Rochambeau. “My dear Count: I have just received the letter which you did me the honor to write to me on the 18th of January; and am sorry to learn that the Count de Grasse, our gallant coadjutor in the capture of Cornwallis, is no more. Yet his death is not, perhaps, so much to be deplored as his latter days were to be pitied. It seemed as if an unfortunate and unrelenting destiny pursued him, to destroy the enjoyment of all earthly comfort. For the disastrous battle of the 12th of April, the loss of the favor of his king, and the subsequent connection in marriage with an unworthy woman, were sufficient to have made him weary of the burden of life.”

32   Ibid., vol. 33, 9-14, 1794. To Elizabeth Parke Custis. “My dear Betcy: Shall I, in answer to your letter of the 7th. instant say, when you are as near the Pinnacle of happiness as your sister Patcy conceives herself to be; or when your candour shines more conspicuously than it does in that letter, that I will then, comply with the request you have made, for my Picture?

No: I will grant it without either: for if the latter was to be a preliminary, it would be sometime I apprehend before that Picture would be found pendant at your breast; it not being within the bounds of probability that the contemplation of an inanimate thing, whatever might be the reflections arising from the possession of it, can be the only wish of your heart.
Respect may place it among the desirable objects of it, but there are emotions of a softer kind, to wch. the heart of a girl turned of eighteen, is susceptible, that must have generated much warmer ideas, although the fruition of them may, apparently, be more distant than those of your Sister’s.
Having (by way of a hint) delivered a sentiment to Patty, [Martha Parke Custis, who became Mrs. Thomas Peter] which may be useful to her (if it be remembered after the change that is contemplated, is consummated) I will suggest another, more applicable to yourself.
Do not then in your contemplation of the marriage state, look for perfect felicity before you consent to wed. Nor conceive, from the fine tales the Poets and lovers of old have told us, of the transports of mutual love, that heaven has taken its abode on earth: Nor do not deceive yourself in supposing, that the only mean by which these are to be obtained, is to drink deep of the cup, and revel in an ocean of love. Love is a mighty pretty thing; but like all other delicious things, it is cloying; and when the first transports of the passion begins to subside, which it assuredly will do, and yield, oftentimes too late, to more sober reflections, it serves to evince, that love is too dainty a food to live upon alone, and ought not to be considered farther than as a necessary ingredient for that matrimonial happiness which results from a combination of causes; none of which are of greater importance, than that the object on whom it is placed, should possess good sense, good dispositions, and the means of supporting you in the way you have been brought up. Such qualifications cannot fail to attract (after marriage) your esteem and regard, into wch. or into disgust, sooner or later, love naturally resolves itself; and who at the sametime, has a claim to the respect, and esteem of the circle he moves in. Without these, whatever may be your first impressions of the man, they will end in disappointment; for be assured, and experience will convince you, that there is no truth more certain, than that all our enjoyments fall short of our expectations; and to none does it apply with more force, than to the gratification of the passions. You may believe me to be always, and sincerely Your Affectionate.”

33   Ibid., vol. 3, 4-3-1773. “Dear Sir: I am now set down to write to you on a Subject of Importance, and of no small embarrassment to me. My Son in Law and Ward, Mr. Custis, has, as I have been informed, paid his Addresses to your Second Daughter, and having made some progress in her Affections has required her in Marriage. How far a union of this Sort may be agreeable to you, you best can tell, but I should think myself wanting in Candor was I not to acknowledge, that, Miss Nellie’s amiable qualifications stands confess’d at all hands; and that, an alliance with your Family, will be pleasing to his. [Note: Eleanor Calvert. She married John Parke Custis Feb. 3, 1774, and, after his death, Dr. David Stuart. By her first husband she had Eleanor Parke (Nellie) Custis, two other daughters, and George Washington Parke Custis.]
“This acknowledgment being made you must permit me to add Sir, that at this, or in any short time, his youth, inexperience, and unripened Education, is, and will be insuperable obstacles in my eye, to the completion of the Marriage. As his Guardian, I conceive it to be my indispensable duty (to endeavor) to carry him through a regular course of Education, many branches of which, sorry I am to add, he is totally deficient of; and to guard his youth to a more advanced age before an Event, on which his own Peace and the happiness of another is to depend, takes place; not that I have any doubt of the warmth of his Affections, nor, I hope I may add, any fears of a change in them; but at present, I do not conceive that he is capable of bestowing that due attention to the Important consequences of a marriage State, which is necessary to be done by those, who are Inclin’d to enter into it; and of course, am unwilling he should do it till he is. If the Affection which they have avowd for each other is fixd upon a Solid Basis, it will receive no diminution in the course of two or three years, in which time he may prosecute his Studies, and thereby render himself more deserving of the Lady, and useful to Society; If unfortunately, (as they are both young) there should be an abatement of Affection on either side, or both, it had better precede, than follow after, Marriage.

“Delivering my Sentiments thus, will not, I hope, lead you into a belief that I am desirous of breaking off the Match; to postpone it, is all I have in view; for I shall recommend it to the young Gentleman with the warmth that becomes a man of honour, (notwithstanding he did not vouchsafe to consult either his Mother or me, on the occasion) to consider himself as much engaged to your Daughter as if the indissoluble Knot was tied; and, as the surest means of effecting this, to stick close to his Studies, (in which I flatter myself you will join me) by which he will, in a great measure, avoid those little Flirtations with other Girls which may, by dividing the Attention, contribute not a little to divide the Affection.

“It may be expected of me perhaps to say something of Fortune, But, to discend to particulars, at this time, may seem rather premature. In general therefore I shall inform you that Mr. Custis’s Estate consists of about 15,000 Acres of Land, good part of it adjoining to the City of Williamsburg, and none 40 Miles from it; several Lotts in the said City; between two and three hundred Negroes; and about Eight or ten thousand Pounds upon Bond, and in the hands of his Merchants. This Estate he now holds Independent of his Mother’s Dower, which will be an acquisition to it at her Death, and upon the whole such an one as you will readily acknowledge ought to entitle him to a handsome Portion in a Wife; But, as I should never require a Child of my own to make a Sacrifice of himself to Interest, so, neither do I think it incumbent on me to recommend it as a Guardian; but as I know you are full able, I should hope, and expect, if we were now upon the point of Settling these Preliminaries, that you would also be willing to do something genteel by your Daughter.

“At all times when you, Mrs. Calvert, or the young Ladies can make it convenient to favor us with a visit we should be happy in seeing you at this place. Mrs. Washington and Miss Custis join me in respectful Compliments and I am, dear Sir, etc.” Ibid., vol. 3, 4-25, 1773. To Burwell Bassett, “Mrs. Washington, in her letter to Mrs. Bassett, informs her of Jack Custis’s engagement with Nelly Calvert, second daughter of Benedict Calvert, Esq., of Maryland. I shall say nothing further therefore on the subject than that I could have wished b e had postponed entering into that engagement till his studies were finished. Not that I have any objection to the match, as she is a girl of exceeding good character; but because I fear, as he has discovered much fickleness already, that he may either change, and therefore injure the young lady; or that it may precipitate him into a marriage before, I am certain, he has ever bestowed a serious thought of the consequences; by which means his education is interrupted and he perhaps wishing to be at liberty again before he is fairly embarked on those important duties.”

34   Ibid., vol. 3, 2-15, 1773. To Burwell Bassett. “Our celebrated fortune, Miss French, whom half the world was in pursuit of, bestowed her hand on Wednesday last, being her birthday (you perceive I think myself under a necessity of accounting for the choice) upon Mr. Ben Dulany, who is to take her to Maryland in a month from this time. Mentioning of one wedding puts me in mind of another, tho’ of less dignity; this is the marriage of Mr. Henderson (of Colchester) to a Miss More (of the same place) remarkable for a very frizzled head, and good singing, the latter of which I shall presume it was that captivated our merchant.”

35   Ibid., vol. 11, 3-11-1778. WGW, vol. 9, 8-18-1777. To Capt. Thomas Nelson, Jr. Ibid., vol. 23, 2-8-1782. To William Fitzhugh. Ibid., vol. 27, 10-2-1783. To Lt. Col. Tench Tilghman. Ibid., vol. 28, 9-1-1785. To Marquis de Lafayette. Ibid., vol. 28, 8-10-1786. To Charles Armand-Tuffin. Ibid., vol. 37, 12-27-1780. To Lt. Col. Alexander Hamilton. Ibid., vol. 3, 2-15-1773. To Burwell Bassett. Ibid., vol. 3, 12-15-1773. To Reverend Myles Cooper. Ibid., vol. 2, 9-30-1757.

36   Ibid., vol. 5-23-1785. To Burwell Bassett. Cf. Ibid., vol. 27, 9-20-1783.

37   Fitzpatrick, Diaries of George Washington, Nov. 17, 1751. vol. 1, p. 25.

38   Fields, Worthy Partner, p. 152-153.

39   Fields, Worthy Partner, p. 153-154 footnote. “Mrs. Washington is alleged to have written a sentimental letter to Eleanor Calvert Custis. The text of the letter first appeared in Lossing, Mary and Martha, the Mother and the Wife of George Washington, p. 126, New York 1886. The text as given by Lossing is as follows: “My dear Nelly: God took from my Daughter when June Roses were blooming. He has now given me another daughter about her age when winter winds are blowing, to warm my heart again. I am as happy as one so afflicted and blest can be. Pray receive my benediction and a wish that you may long live the loving, wife of my happy son and a loving daughter of your affectionate mother, M Washington.” Martha Washington did not attend the marriage ceremony, since she was in mourning and did not wish to detract from the gaiety of the occasion. Lossing states George Washington was instructed to present the letter to the bride immediately after the ceremony....”

40   Cf. Willard Sterne Randall, George Washington A Life (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1997) p. 256.

41   See John Corbin, The Unknown Washington: Biographic Origins of the Republic (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1930), pp. 51-75. Corbin writes, “In 1877, two love letters written by Washington to Mrs. George William Fairfax were published for the first time and caused a sensation which, though masked for decades by biographers, has steadily increased. They had been found among Mrs. Fairfax’s papers upon her death in England in 1811, and her kinsfolk in America had treasured them through two generations in the awed silence of Victorian propriety. The Fairfaxes were Washington’s nearest friends until shortly before the Revolution, their house, Belvoir, being five miles down the Potomac from Mount Vernon and in full view of it. Though George Fairfax was eight years older, the two men had been intimate, surveying electioneering and fox-hunting together, from the time Washington, aged sixteen, came to live with his brother Lawrence. There is abundant evidence, notably in Washington’s diaries, that Mrs. Fairfax and Mrs. Washington were neighborly always, dining and visiting with each other, and were the first to offer sympathy in illness and bereavement. The letters were written in 1758, when Washington, aged twenty-six, was engaged to Martha Custis. Though they are reticently worded and indeed seem intentionally vague and obscure, they are now generally accepted as showing that he was passionately in love with Mrs. Fairfax. One of them speaks of the ‘the recollection of a thousand tender passages that I could wish to obliterate, till I am bid to revive them’—and what follows, as we shall see, is proof enough that these passages were not with Martha. In two later letters, one of them written only nineteen months before he died, he declared that the moments he had spent in her company were ‘the happiest in my life.’ We have here, obviously, something very different from the legend of idyllic love which the Victorians wove about the lives of George and Martha Washington. Whether it is in the way of scandal depends upon the nature of the ‘thousand tender passages.’ That question has obsessed recent biographers.” Pp. 51-52. Corbin then adds, “Every record of Washington’s married life bespeaks affection and happiness, a loyal and unflagging co-operation in the high art of living—but also bespeaks, though in the highest sense of the word, a marriage of convenience. Knowing what we do of his instinctive wisdom and integrity, we may well believe that, so far as he as in honor bound, he did not conceal or embellish the state of his heart. It was literal truth that their lives were ‘inseparable’; nor can we doubt that he cherished her always as ‘another self.’ In a very different view are his two letters of the following September to Sally, letters which she treasured to her death. Paul Leicester Ford’s objection that the evidence of their authenticity ‘has not been produced’ is scarcely worthy of consideration. In writing the first daft of his little biography, Captain Cary, a devoted antiquary and genealogist, had access to Sally’s papers and copied them. The final draft was prepared as an answer to Ford, but was still in manuscript when Captain Cary died...In such matters family tradition is of great weight, and in this case it is of the clearest and most substantial. It is sustained, moreover, by evidence both external and internal, which is beyond the power of the cleverest impostor to invent. The letters as also that written in 1757 on Washington’s return from the front to Mount Vernon fall in perfectly with all the evidence as to his mood and movements, most of which is now for the first time assembled; and they bear the stamp of his character and habit down to the unrevised sentence-structure and elaborate punctuation. The autograph originals could scarcely be more convincing.” P. 64.

42   Howard F. Bremer, George Washington 1732-1799: Chronology—Documents—Bibliographical Aids (Dobbs Ferry, N. Y.: Oceana Publications, 1967), p. 1. Bremer writes, “December 17, 1748, “George William Fairfax married Sarah (“Sally”) Cary. George Washington, two years her junior, fell in love with her and probably remained so all his life.”

43   Hughes, George Washington: The Human Being vol. 1.

“The Reverend Doctor Moncure D. Conway makes a statement that is impressive in view of the emphasis unjustifiably laid on the imaginary doctrine that Washington was brought up in an atmosphere of intense religion: “In his many letters to his adopted nephew and young relatives, he admonishes them about their morals, but in no case have I been able to discover any suggestion that they should read the Bible, keep the Sabbath, go to church, or any warning against Infidelity.”

44   An important consideration that we must consider is why Washington did not do what his mother and various others of his progenitors had done, namely, placed a testimony of trust in Christ in their last will and testament. Washington did not do this. From this, some would infer that he was not a Christian, and that it thus stands as a proof of a belief in Deism. And as to his death without the presence of a clergyman, and thus the reception of the Eucharist, we find that this question was raised by Washington’s grandson, George Washington Parke Custis. GWP Custis in Recollections asks the question, “It may be asked, Why was the ministry of religion wanting to shed its peaceful and benign luster upon the last hours of Washington? Why was he, to whom the observances of sacred things were ever primary duties throughout life, without their consolations in his last moments? We answer, circumstances did not permit. It was but for a little while that the disease assumed so threatening a character as to forbid the encouragement of hope; yet, to stay that summons which none may refuse, to give still farther length of days to him whose ‘time-honored life’ was so dear to mankind, prayer was not wanting to the throne of Grace. Close to the couch of the sufferer, resting her head upon that ancient book, with which she had been wont to hold pious communion a portion of every day, for more than a half a century, was the venerable consort, absorbed in silent prayer, and from which she only arose when the mourning group prepared to lead her from the chamber of the dead. Such were the last hours of Washington.” p. 477.

45   Humphreys, Life of George Washington, p.6-8
“By a domestic tutor (which was then generally & is now frequently the mode of education practiced in that part of the Continent) he was betimes instructed in the principles of grammar, the theory of reasoning, on speaking, the science of numbers, the elements of geometry, & the highest branches of mathematics, the art of mensuration, composing together with the rudiments of geography, history & the studies which are not improperly termed “the humanities.” In the graceful accomplishments of dancing, fencing, riding & performing the military exercises he likewise made an early & conspicuous proficiency. In short, he was carefully initiated into whatever might be most useful to him, in making his way to preferment in the British army or navy, for which he was designed.

“Though he was rather unsure & reserved in his appearance; he was frequently animated & fluent in conversation & always descreed in conduct. & In the performance of any business committed to him, he was active, indefatigable, persevering. [He was noted for] His tall stature, for he was clear six feet high without his shoes; his gentiel deportment, for he had something uncommonly noble in his manners; his modest behaviour, which, without being the result of ill-becoming diffidence.

“[He was] remarkably robust & athletic. I several times heard him say, he never met any man who could throw a stone to so great a distance as himself; and, that when standing in the valley beneath the natural bridge in Virginia, he was thrown one up to that stupendous arch.

“[H]unting & Surveying – the first gave him activity & boldness – the second the means of improving the Coup d’oeil in judging of military positions & measuring by the eye the distance between different places. – Patience & perseverance in reconnoitering – how often he spent whole days on horseback, braving the ravages of the most violent heat & cold that ever was experienced in our climate.

“As it was the design of his Father that he should be bred for an Officer in the British navy, his mental acquisitions & exterior accomplishments were calculated to give him distinction in that profession. <GW note: it was rather the wish of my eldest brother (on whom the several concerns of the family devolved) that this should take place & the matter was contemplated by him – My father died with I was only 10 years old.> At 15 years old, he was entered a midshipman on board of the [blank] & his baggage prepared for embarkation: but the plan was abandoned in consequence of the earnest solicitations of his Mother.

46   Custis, Recollections p. 131.

47   Willard Sterne Randall, George Washington A Life (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1997) p. 256. Sterne writes: “Washington was not a deeply religious man. Once he left his Bible-thumping mother’s household he may never have taken Anglican communion again.” We believe Sterne is wrong on all counts in this unsubstantiated, but characteristically dogmatic remark.

48   Sawyer, Washington, pp. 166-168.

49   WGW, vol. 1, 5-6-1755. To Mary Washington.

50   http://memory.loc.gov/mss/mgw/mgw2/014/0190013.jpg

51   Ibid., vol. 29, 8-15-1787.

52   Sawyer, Washington, Vol 2 p. 157.

53   WGW, vol. 2, 9-30-1757.

54   Ibid., vol. 29, 2-15-1787.

55   Washington was much concerned for the financial welfare of his mother, and made it clear in this letter to Benjamin Harrison that her children would ensure that she was taken care of, even to their own personal detriment: “ ...confident I am that she has not a child that would not divide the last sixpence to relive her from real distress. This she has been repeatedly assured of by me; and all of us I am certain would feel much hurt, at having our mother a pensioner, while we had the means of supporting her; but in fact she has an ample income of her own. I lament accordingly that your letter, which conveyed the first hint of this matter, did not come to my hands sooner; but I request, in pointed terms, if the matter is now in agitation in your Assembly, that all proceedings on it may be stopped, or in case of a decision in her favor, that it may be done away and repealed at my request.” (to Benjamin Harrison, New Windsor, March 21, 1781) Ibid., vol. 21, 3-21-1781. One of the traditions of Mary Washington’s impact on George’s adult life from childhood training is the anecdote entitled, “Let The Pen-Knife take the place of the Hatchet.” This is again unable to be substantiated, but it has been preserved as part of the legends of Washington’s childhood. Reverend Littell writes,

Unquestionably, a truth-loving disposition was imparted this child “virtuously brought to lead a godly and a Christian life,” though we discard the story of the hatchet and the cherry tree. But there is a story of a pen-knife which illustrates at one and the same time his filial affection, his military spirit, and his good Christian hope in the final success of his country’s just cause.

“When Washington was about fifteen year old, his brother obtained for him a midshipman’s warrant in the British navy. The boy’s kit had been carried aboard, and he himself was on the point of following it, when a messenger from his mother overtook him and brought her final word that he was not to go. He went back home- back to school and mathematics which he did not like. In reward for his obedience, his mother presented him with a good pen-knife says, ‘always obey your superiors,’ All his life he carried that gift and from time to time he was accustomed to tell the story to some of his friends. One day at Valley Forge, when the half-naked men had eaten no meat for many days, and when once more Congress had failed to provide or even suggest a way for getting food and clothes, Washington wrote out his resignation as Commander-in-Chief of the Army. Among the generals present was Henry Knox, who spoke out reminding him of the pen-knife. ‘What has that to do with it?’ asked Washington. ‘You were always to obey your superiors,’ answered Knox; ‘You were commanded to lead this army. No one has commanded you to cease leading it.’ Washington paused and then answered: ‘There is something in that. I will think it over.’ Half an hour later, he tore his resignation to pieces.” Reverend John Stockton Littell, D.D. George Washington: Christian Stories of Cross and Flag No 1 (Keene, N. H.: The Hampshire Art Press, 1913).

56   WGW, vol. 21, 3-21-1781. To Benjamin Harrison, “My Dr. Sir: Upon my return to this place last night, I met your private and friendly letter of the 25th. of February. I do not delay a moment to thank you for the interesting matter contained in it, and to express my surprize at that part which respects a pension for my mother. True it is, I am but little acquainted with her present situation, or distresses, if she is under any. As true it is, a year or two before I left Virginia (to make her latter days comfortable, and free from care) I did, at her request but at my own expence, purchase a commodious house, garden and Lotts (of her own choosing) in Fredericksburg, that she might be near my Sister Lewis, her only daughter; and did moreover agree to take her Land and negroes at a certain yearly rent, to be fixed by Colo. Lewis and others (of her own nomination) which has been an annual expence to me ever since, as the Estate never raised one half of the rent I was to pay. Before I left Virginia, I answered all her calls for money; and since that period, have directed my Steward to do the same. Whence her distresses can arise therefore, I know not, never having received any complaint of his inattention or neglect on that head; tho’ his inability to pay my own taxes, is such I know, as to oblige me to sell negroes for this purpose; the taxes being the most unequal (I am told) in the world, some persons paying for things of equal value, four times, nay ten times, the rate that others do. But putting these things aside, which I could not avoid mentioning, in exculpation of a presumptive want of duty on my part; confident I am that she has not a child that would not divide the last sixpence to relieve her from real distress. This she has been repeatedly assured of by me: and all of us, I am certain, would feel much hurt, at having our mother a pensioner, while we had the means of supporting her; but in fact she has an ample income of her own. I lament accordingly that your letter, which conveyed the first hint of this matter, did not come to my hands sooner; but I request, in pointed terms if the matter is now in agitation in your assembly, that all proceedings on it may be stopped, or in case of a decision in her favor, that it may be done away, and repealed at my request.”

57   Ibid., vol. 29, February 15, 1787.

58   Lossing, Mary and Martha, pp. 64 - 65. When Lafayette praised the illustrious character of her son affirming the plaudits that he would receive from future generations, she characteristically responded with “I am not surprised at what George has done, for he was always a good boy.”; Sawyer, Washington vol. 2 p. 155. Ibid., vol. 28, 5-10-1786. To Marchionesse de Lafayette. “My Mother will receive the compliments you honor her with, as a flattering mark of your attention; and I shall have great pleasure in delivering them myself.”

59   Ibid., vol. 29, 6-17-1788. My dear Sir: I received your letter of the 25th. of May, just when I was on the eve of a departure for Fredericksburgh to pay a visit to my mother from whence I returned only last evening.” Ibid., vol. 29, 6-19-1788. To Richard Henderson. “Sir: Your favour of the 5th. instant was lodged at my house, while I was absent on a visit to my Mother.”

60   Fitzpatrick, Diaries of George Washington vol. 1, January 1760, “Abt. Noon it began snowing, the Wind at So. West, but not Cold; was disappointed of seeing my Sister Lewis and getting a few things which I wanted our of the Stores. Returnd in the Evening to Mother’s – all alone with herp. 115. Ibid., vol. 27, 2-18-1784. To Annis Boudinot Stockton. “Dr. Madam: The intemperate weather, and the very great care which the post riders take of themselves, prevented your Letter of the 4th. of last month from reaching my hands ‘till the 10th. of this: I was then in the very act of setting off on a visit to my aged mother, from whence I am just returned. These reasons I beg leave to offer, as an apology for my silence ‘till now.” Ibid., vol. 27, 1-22-1784. To Charles Thomson. “We have been so fast locked in Snow and Ice since Christmas, that all kinds of intercourse have been suspended; and a duty which I owed my Mother, and intended ‘ere this to have performed, has been forced to yield to the intemperance of the Weather: but, as this again must submit to the approaching Sun, I shall soon be enabled, I expect, to discharge that duty on which Nature and inclination have a call; and shall be ready afterwards to welcome my friends to the shadow of this Vine and Fig tree.”

61   Returning from Williamsburg, he stopped at his mother’s home. See also vol. 2, April 11, 1773.

62   See Lossing, Mary and Martha, p. 67. WGW, vol. 29, 5-5-1787. To Robert Morris, “Dear Sir; When your favor of the 23d. Ulto. was sent here from the Post Office, I was at Fredericksburg (to which place I had been called, suddenly, by Express) to bid, as I was prepared to expect, the last adieu to an honoured parent, and an affectionate Sister whose watchful attention to my Mother during her illness had brought to death’s door. The latter I hope is now out of danger, but the former cannot long Survive the disorder which has reduced her to a Skeleton, tho’ she is somewhat amended.” WGW, vol. 30, 3-6-1789. To Richard Conway. “I would have done it this day but being to set off tomorrow for Fredericksburg in order probably to discharge the last Act of personal duty, I may, (from her age) ever have it in my power to pay my Mother, it would be very inconvenient for me.”

63   Ibid., vol. 30, 9-13-1789.

64   Ibid., vol. 29, 2-15-1787. “Further, my sincere and pressing advice to you is, to break up housekeeping, hire out all the rest of your servants except a man and a maid, and live with one of your children. This would relieve you entirely from the cares of this world, and leave your mind at ease to reflect undisturbedly on that which ought to come. On this subject I have been full with my Brother John, and it was determined he should endeavor to get you to live with him. He alas is no more, and three, only of us remain. ...Mrs. Washington, George and Fanny join me in every good wish for you, and I am, honored madame, your most dutiful and aff. son.”

65   Ibid., vol. 29, 2-15-1787.

66   Fitzpatrick, Diaries of George Washington, under June 10, 1788, vol. III, p. 366.

67   Humphreys, Life of George Washington p. 24-25.

The success of this campaign having restored tranquility on the frontiers of the Middle States and the health of Washington having become extremely debilitated by an inveterate pulmonary complaint, in 1759 he resigned his military appointment. The tender regret of the Virginia Line & the affectionate regard of their Commander might be illustrated by authentic documents.

His health was gradually restored; he married Mrs. Custis, a handsome & amiable young widow, possessed of an ample jointure; and settled himself as a planter & farmer on the estate where he now resides in Fairfax County. After some years, he gave up planting tobacco & went altogether into the farming business. Before the war he raised [blank] bushels of wheat, in one year. <GW note: I believe about 7,000 Bushels of Wheat and 10,000 bushels of Indian corn which was more the staple on the farm> Although he has confined his own cultivation to this domestic tract of about 10,000 acres, yet he possesses excellent lands, in large quantities, in several other Counties. His judgment in the quality of soils, his command of money to avail himself of purchases, and his occasional employment in early life as a Surveyor, gave him opportunities of making advantageous locations, many of which are much improved.

In the interval that took place, from the War between Great Britain & the House of Bourbon which ended in 1763, to the civil war between Great Britain & her Colonies which commenced in 1775, he cultivated the arts of peace. He was constantly a Member of the Assembly, a Magistrate of his County, & a Judge of the Court. He was elected Delegate to the first Continental Congress in 1774, as well as to that assembled in the year following.

68   Littell, Washington: Christian “Washington was married by the Reverend David Mossom, who, though born in London, is called on his epitaph the first American ever ordained to the priesthood. Bishop Meade and Washington Irving say that the marriage took place at “White House” the residence of the bride’s family, but Bishop Tucker in 1896 said that the evidence points to St. Peter’s Church, New Kent. In 1903 were published the views of Mrs. Pryor and Woodrow Wilson, both favorable to the Church at New Kent. Dr. Wilson said: “He was married to Martha Custis on the 6th of January, 1759. The sun shone very bright that day, and there was the fine glitter of gold, the brave show of resplendent uniforms, in the little church where the marriage was solemnized. Officers of his Majesty’s service crowded there, in their gold lace and scarlet coats to see their comrade wedded; the new Governor, Francis Fauquier, himself came, clad as befitted his rank; and the bridegroom took the sun not less gallantly than the rest, as he rode, in blue and silver and scarlet beside the coach and six that bore his bride homeward amidst the thronging friends of the country side. The young soldier’s love of a gallant array and a becoming ceremony were satisfied to the full, and he must have rejoiced to be so brave a horseman on such a day.”

69   WGW, vol. 2, 5-1-1759. “Gentln. The Inclos’d is the Ministers Certificate of my Marriage with Mrs. Martha Custis, properly as I am told, Authenticated, You will therefore for the future please to address all your Letters which relate to the Affairs of the late Danl. Parke Custis Esqr. to me, as by Marriage I am entitled to a third part of that Estate, and Invested likewise with the care of the other two thirds by a Decree of our Genl. Court which I obtain’d in order to strengthen the Power I before had in consequence of my Wiles Administration.”

70   Ibid., vol. 2, 9-20-1765.

71   See John Corbin, The Unknown Washington: Biographic Origins of the Republic (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1930), pp. 51-75. Corbin says, “Every record of Washington’s married life bespeaks affection and happiness, a loyal and unflagging co-operation in the high art of living—but also bespeaks, though in the highest sense of the word, a marriage of convenience.”

72   Ibid., A few examples: vol. 2, 8-18-1769. Ibid., vol. 3, 2-20-1771. Ibid.,, vol. 32, 10-7-1792. Ibid,., vol. 35, 11-28-1796.

73   Ibid., vol. 29, 10-25-1786. p. 170
From John Parke Custis, Mount Airy August 21st 1776
“My dearest Mamma
... She is now thank God as well as can be expected and the pleasure of her Daughter give Her compensates for the Pain She suffered. ...that the General may obtain a compleat Victory over his Enemys, which I sincerely pray God may be the Case.
... I wrote to the General the last two Posts. I shall write you again next Post, and ask Him to stand with yourself for my little Lady. ...
In the summer of 1775 a belief persisted that he (Governor Dunmore) intended to sail up the Potomac and capture Mrs. Washington, but nothing came of it.”
21. p.183
To Burwell Bassett, Mount Vernon July the 18th 1780
“...we were sorry that we did not see you at the Camp – there was not much pleasure thar the distress of the army and other difficultys th’o I did not know the cause, the pore General was so unhappy that it distressed me exceedingly. MW”
32. p.223-224
To Mercy Otis Warren, New York December the 26th 1789
“...for you know me well enough to do me the justice to beleive that I am only fond of what comes from the heart....
.... it is owing to this kindness of our numerous friends in all quarters that my new and unwished for situation is not indeed a burden to me. When I was much younger I should, probably, have enjoyed the inoscent gayeties of life as much as most my age; - but I had long since placed all the prospects of my future worldly happyness in the still enjoyments of the fireside at Mount Vernon-

I little thought when the war was finished, that any circumstances could possible have happened which would call the General into public life again. I had anticipated, that from this moment we should have been left to grow old in solitude and tranquility togather: that was, my Dear madam, the first and dearest wish of my heart; - but in that I have been disapointed; I will not, however, contemplate with too much regret disapointments that were enevitable, though the generals feelings and my own were perfectly in unison with respect to our predilections for privet life, yet I cannot blame him for having acted according to his ideas of duty in obaying the voice of his country. The consciousness of having attempted to do all the good in his power, and the pleasure of finding his fellow citizens so well satisfied with the disinterestedness of his conduct, will, doubtless, be some compensation for the great sacrifices which I know he has made; indeed in his journeys from Mount Vernon – to this place; in his late Tour through the eastern states, by every public and by every privet information which has come to him, I am persuaded that he has experienced nothing to make him repent his having acted from what he concieved to be alone a sense of indespensable duty: on the contrary, all his sensibility has been awakened in receiving such repeated and unequivocal proofs of sincear regards from all his country men. With respect to myself, I sometimes think the arrangement is not quite as it ought to have been, that I, who had much rather be at home should occupy a place with which a great many younger and gayer women would be prodigiously pleased. – As my grand children and domestic connections made a great portion of felicity which I looked indemnify me for the Loss of a part of such endearing society. I do not say this because I feel dissatisfied with my present station – no, God forbid: - for everybody and everything conspire to make me as contented as possable in it; yet I have too much of the vanity of human affairs to expect felicity from the splendid scenes of public life. – I am still determined to be cheerful and to be happy in whatever situation I may be, for I have also learnt from experianence that the greater part of our happiness or misary depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances; we carry the seeds of the one, or the other about with us, in our minds, wherever we go.

I have two of my grand children with me who enjoy advantages in point of education, and who, I trust by the goodness of providence, will continue to be a great blessing to me, my other two grand children are with thair mother in Virginia. –
...I wish the best of Heavens blessings...MW”
45. p.371
To Janet Livingston Montgomery, Mount Vernon, April 5th
“... your affliction I have often marked and as often have keenly felt for you but my own experience has taught me that griefs like these can not be removed by the condolence of friends however sincere—If the mingling tears of numerus friends – if the sympathy of a Nation and every testimoney of respect of veneration paid to the memory of the partners of our hearts could afford consolation you and myself would experience it in the highest degree but we know that there is but one source from whence comfort can be derived under afflictions life ours To this we must look with pious resignation and with that pure confidence which our holy releigion inspires. ...but as you justly observe it is certainly a consolation and flattering to poor mortality to believe that we shall meet here after in a better place.”
87. WGW, vol. 33, 9-25-1793. “My dear Sir: I have not written to you since we parted, but had just set down to do it when your letter of the 13th. instt. was brought to me from the Post Office in Alexandria.

“It gave Mrs. Washington, myself and all who knew him, sincere pleasure to hear that our little favourite had arrived safe, and was in good health at Portsmouth. We sincerely wish him a long continuance of the latter, that he may always be as charming and promising as he now is, and that he may live to be a comfort and blessing to you and an ornament to his Country; as a testimony of my affection for him, I send him a Ticket in the lottery which is now drawing in the Federal City; and if it should be his fortune to draw the Hotel it will add to the pleasure I have in giving it. Note: Lincoln Lear.

“We remained in Philadelphia until the 10th. instr. It was my wish to have continued there longer; but as Mrs. Washington was unwilling to leave me surrounded by the malignant fever wch. prevailed, I could not think of hazarding her and the Children any longer by my continuance in the City the house in which we lived being, in a manner blocaded, by the disorder and was becoming every day more and more fatal; I therefore came off with them on the above day and arrived at this place the 14th. without encountering the least accident on the Road.

“You will learn from Mr. Greenleaf, that he has dipped deeply, in the concerns of the Federal City. I think he has done so on very advantageous terms for himself, and I am pleased with it notwithstanding on public ground; as it may give facility to the operations at that place, at the same time that it is embarking him and his friends in a measure which although it could not well fail under any circumstances that are likely to happen; may be considerably promoted by men of Spirit with large Capitols. He can, so much better than I, detail his engagements and the situation of things in and about the city that I shall not attempt to do it at this time.

“Mrs. Washington having decided to let Nelly Custis have her watch and chain, is disposed to receive substitutes in lieu thereof at about 25 guineas price; and leaves the choice of them to you. The plainness of the watch &ca. she will not object to. 120 dollars in Bank notes are inclose[d] for the purchase of them.”
88. WGW, vol. 15, 5-28-1779. To Lt. Col. Nicholas Rogers. Dear Sir: A few days ago I was hond. with your polite and obliging favor of the 6th. Instt. accompanied by a Miniature picture of Mrs. Washington. I wish it was in my power to express as forcably as I feel, the lively sense I have of the repeated instances of your polite attention to her and myself. Such tribute as unfeigned thanks afford, is presented to you with much sincerity; and, if I knew how to make a more acceptable offering it should not be wanting.
Note: The miniature was of a size to fit a ring and, according to Roger’s letter of Apr. 6, 1779, in the Washington Papers, showed Mrs. Washington in an Elizabethan ruff and hood.

“Difficult as it is to strike a likeness on so small a scale, it is the opinion of many that you have not failed in the present attempt. The dress is not less pleasing for being a copy of antiquity, it would be happy for us, if in these days of depravity the imitation of our ancesters were extensively adopted; their virtues wd. not hurt us. Mrs. Washington joins me in a tender of best wishes for you and with much esteem etc. 91. WGW, vol. 3, 2-3-1771. To Reverend Jonathan Boucher. Rev’d. Sir: Colo. Robert Fairfax, with whom I have often talk’d, and who much approves, of Jacks intended Tour for Improvement, purposes to leave this on his return to England sometime in March; before his doing of which he is desirous of seeing Jacky and has instructed me to say, that he shou’d be very glad of seeing you with him. The warmth with which he has made a tender of his Services, and the pressing Invitation to make use of Leeds Castle as a home, in vacation time, are too obliging to be neglected; I shou’d be glad therefore if it cou’d suit you both to be over sometime before the last of this Month, or as soon, after the loth. of March as may be, as I expect to be in Frederick, indeed am obli’g to be so, from the first of the Month to that time and, I do not know but Mrs. Washington may accompany me to my Brothers. His Horses shall attend you at any appointed time.

“Company, and the suddeness of the oppertunity, prevents my enlarging, or taking notice of the contents of your last Letter further than to say, that it never was my Intention that Jacky shou’d be restrained from proper Company; to prevent as much as possible his connecting with Store boys, and that kind of low loose Company who wou’d not be displeas’d at the debauchery of his Manners, but perhaps endeavour to avail themselves of some advantages from it, is all I had in view.

“Mrs. Washington requests the favour of you to get her 2 oz. of the Spirit of Ether, if such a thing is to be had in Annapolis, for Miss Custis, and send it by Price Posey. Our Love and best Wishes attend yourself and Jacky and I am Dr. Sir, etc.”

74   See WGW, vol. 12, 9-23-1778. To John Augustine Washington. WGW, vol. 3, 7-27-1775; vol. 6, 9-22-1776. ; vol. 7, 7-4-1778. vol. 37, 4-2-1799. To Samuel Washington. WGW, vol. 36, 8-12-1798. To Thomas Peter.

75   Fields, Worthy Partner. p. 163 To Mr. Devenport Eltham, November 5th 1775 “I desire you will lett Mrs Bayly, that lives at west point have corn or wheat as she may want it, while her husband is ill and unable to provide for her, you may let her have a barrel of corn and half a barrel of wheat as sends for it and give her a fat hog.”
p. 165 Washington paid ?39 –9d to Dr. John Witherspoon, president of The College of New Jersey, for the school of young Ramsay. See supra January 14, 1774, n. 4; Ledger B folio 47, The Papers of George Washington, DLC:GW
p.236 From Anonymous
I hope Madam that pity will direct your heart to grant the Boon I have ask’d & I shall, as in deity bound ever pray. Washington also cared for extended family members who were orphaned such as Sally Haney. WGW, vol. 31, 12-27-1790. To Elizabeth Haynie. WGW, vol. 34, 2-22-1795. To Robert Lewis. WGW, vol. 35, 6-26-1796. To Robert Lewis. A young neighboring student, Lawrence Posey. WGW, vol. 28, 6-16-1785. But if the family connection could not be established, the challenge for long term charity was decisively rejected. WGW, vol. 27, 9-25-1783. To Mrs. Ruthy Jones.

76   Custis, Recollections, p. 528, “He wore around his neck the miniature-portrait of his wife. This he had worn through all the vicissitudes of his eventful career, from the period of his marriage to the last days at Mount Vernon. Lossing’s note adds, “This miniature could not have been painted earlier than the visit of C. W. Peale to Mount Vernon, in 1772, by whom it was probably executed. We have no account of any painter in miniature in the colonies previous to that time, except Taylor who painted small heads in water-colors, in Philadelphia, in 1760.”

77   WGW, vol. 2, Diary 1760. January. Tuesday. 1. Visited my Plantations ...And found Mrs. Washington upon my arrival broke out with the Meazles. Wednesday, 2d. Mrs. Barnes who came to visit Mrs. Washington yesterday returnd home in my Chariot, the weather being too bad to travel in an open Carriage, which, together with Mrs. Washington’s Indisposition, confind me to the House and gave me an opportunity of Posting my Books and putting them in good order. Thursday, 3d. The Weather continuing Bad & ye same causes subsisting I confind myself to the House. Morris who went to work yesterday caught cold, and was laid up bad again, and several of the Family were taken with the Measles, but no bad Symptoms seemd to attend any of them. Hauled the Sein and got some fish, but was near being disappointd. of my Boat by means of an Oyster Man who had lain at my Landing and plagud me a good deal by his disorderly behaviour. Sunday, 6th. The Chariot not returng. time enough from Colo. Fairfax’s we were prevented from Church. Mrs. Washington was a good deal better to day but the Oyster Man still continuing his Disorderly behavior at my Landing, I was obligd in the most preemptory manner to order him and his compy. away which he did not incline to obey till next morning.

78   Fields, Worthy Partner. Daniel McCarty and his wife, Sarah Ball McCarty. The residence, “Mount Air,” was in the Pohick Creek area of Prince William County. They were close friends of the Washingtons and frequently visited and dined together. Both men were vestrymen of Truro Parish. They were also fox-hunting comrades. Washington was distantly related to both Daniel McCarty and his wife through
the Ball family.
Ibid. p. 184
Anne Randolph Fitzhugh, wife of William Fitzhugh of “Chatham.” Their daughter, Mary Lee Fitzhugh, was to marry Mrs. Washington’s only grandson, George Washington Park Custis.
Ibid., p.228
To Colonel Clement Biddle
...the list of the things when he has collected them altogether she beggs to know if he has remembered the gin and liquers the General desires to have them sent and they may be the best kind-
Ibid., p.229
To Abigail Adams
... to Let Miss Smith come to dance with Nelly & Washington
WGW, vol. 28, 6-26-1785. To Reverend Stephen bloomer Balch. “Sir: My nephews are desirous of going to the Dancing School in Georgetown kept by Mr. Tarterson (I think his name is), and as it is my wish that they should be introduced into life with those qualifications which are deemed necessary, I consent to it. Sometime ago I expressed my approbation of their learning French, and a wish that when you had got your House in order to receive them, they might again board with you: Altho’ I have no occasion [ sic ] the care, attention and kindness of Mr. Bailey to them, I conceive they can board at no place so eligably as at their Preceptors; for it is my wish that their morals as well as education may be attended to; and tho’ I do not desire they should be deprived of necessary and proper amusements, yet it is my earnest request that they may be kept close to their studies.”

79   January 16, 1768. At home all day at Cards—it snowing. “The entries for gains and losses at cards and other play are as carefully entered in Washington’s accounts as all other income and expenditure. (1765, Jan. ‘By Cash set aside for Card money L5.’) Grouped through the years from 1772 to January 1, 1775, for cash won and lost at home, Fredericksburg, Williamsburg, Annapolis, and other places, the entries show a total loss of L78.5.9 and a corresponding gain of L72.2.6; a loss at play of L6.3.3 in four years.” Diaries, I.246.) Washington had to worry of being addicted to gambling. Yet Washington was deeply concerned about Gambling in the military because of the many abuses it lead to.

80   Washington memorized the entire play of Cato—See Zall, Washington on Washington, p.8.

81   WGW, vol. 22, 7-19-1781. To Chevalier de Chastellux. “Dear Sir: You have taken a most effectual method of obliging me to accept your Cask of Claret, as I find, by your ingenious manner of stating the case, that I shall, by a refusal, bring my patriotism into question, and incur a suspicion of want of attachment to the French Nation, and of regard to you, [which. of all things I wish to avoid] I will not enter into a discussion of the point of divinity, as I [perceive] you are a Master at that Weapon. In short, my dear sir, my only scruple arises from a fear of depriving you of an Article that you cannot conveniently replace in this Country. You can only relieve me by promising to partake very often of that hilarity which a Glass of good Claret seldom fails to produce.” He owned and operated his own Distillery. He knew the Indian love of Rum (to Queen Alquippa). His military strategy included arguing for Rum rather than Wine for his soldiers due to the matter of issues of weight and transportation. He exchanged Slaves for Rum in his early years. History by Reverend Morse, written by Humphreys—mentions that he drank beer, wine at dinner. A story in GWP Custis about toast and American Officer’s misunderstanding. Whiskey Rebellion (Pres. W’s trip—it is whiskey country—no need to bring wine). Standard practice to give rations of rum to soldiers. Story of Franklin and men for prayers to chaplain—more would come if when chapel was immediately before rum was given. Celebration with extra gil of rum for army. Yet GW’s letters against drunkenness. Articles of war on drunkenness. There were examples of losses in battle at Brandywine due to sleeping drunken guard.

82   Between Jan 26th and Feb. 2nd the mutilated diary record says, “A Great Main of . . . . cks [Cock-fight] fought in Yorktown . . bween Glouster and York for 5 Pistoles each battle and 100 ye odd I left it with Colo. Lewis before it was decided and had part of his chariot to his house. . . .Fitzpatrick, Diaries, I. 36. There appears to be no other record of Washington indulging in this bloody sport after this one entry in his Diary from his earliest years.

83   Fields, “Worthy Partner, p. 177

84   Ibid., p.201

85   WGW, vol. 16, 10-17-1779. “As I do not at this time know where my Winter Quarters will be, or when I shall get into them. As I have little prospect of seeing my own home this Winter and Mrs. Washington desirous of coming to me before the Roads get bad and weather severe, I shall be obliged to you for enquiring and informing me, if she can hire lodgings in some genteel (but not a common boarding) house in Phila. till I know where I shall be fixed for the Winter.”

86   See Mount Vernon website under Martha Washington.

87   WGW, vol. 2, 9-20-1759.

88   Ibid., vol. 3, 6-18-1775 To Martha Washington.

89   Ibid., vol. 28, 5-23-1785.

90   Ibid., vol. 29, 10-25-1786. To George Augustine Washington. “...if Mrs. Washington should survive me there is a moral certainty of my dying without issue, and should I be the longest liver, the matter in my opinion is almost as certain; for whilst I retain the reasoning faculties I shall never marry a girl; and it is not probable that I should have children by a woman of an age suitable to my own, should I be disposed to enter into a second marriage.”

91   Fields, Worthy Partner, To John Dandridge from Mount Vernon April the 20th 1789. “My Dear John: I am truly sorry to tell that the General is gone to New York, —- Mr Charles Thompson came express to him, on the 14th —- when, or wheather he will ever come hom again god only knows, —- I think it was much too late for him to go into publick life again, but it was not to be avoided, our family will be deranged as I must follow him.”

92   Ibid., p. 219. To Fanny Bassett Washington from New York October the 23d 1789. “...I beg you will give me the worked muslin apron you have like my gown that I made just before I left home or worked muslin as I wish to make a petticoat of the two aprons —- for my gown —- Mrs Sims will give you a better account of the fashions that I can—- I live a very dull life hear and know nothing that passes in the town —- I never goe to the publick place —- indeed I think I am more like a state prisoner than anything else, there is certain bounds set for me which I must not depart from —- and as I can not doe as I like I am obstinate and stay at home a great deal -... my dear children has had very bad colds but thank god they are getting better....”

93   Ibid., pp.223-224. To Mercy Otis Warren from New York December the 26th 1789. “...for you know me well enough to do me the justice to beleive that I am only fond of what comes from the heart.... it is owing to this kindness of our numerous friends in all quarters that my new and unwished for situation is not indeed a burden to me. When I was much younger I should, probably, have enjoyed the inoscent gayeties of life as much as most my age; - but I had long since placed all the prospects of my future worldly happyness in the still enjoyments of the fireside at Mount Vernon-

I little thought when the war was finished, that any circumstances could possible have happened which would call the General into public life again. I had anticipated, that from this moment we should have been left to grow old in solitude and tranquility togather: that was, my Dear madam, the first and dearest wish of my heart; - but in that I have been disapointed; I will not, however, contemplate with too much regret disapointments that were enevitable, though the generals feelings and my own were perfectly in unison with respect to our predilections for privet life, yet I cannot blame him for having acted according to his ideas of duty in obaying the voice of his country. The consciousness of having attempted to do all the good in his power, and the pleasure of finding his fellow citizens so well satisfied with the disinterestedness of his conduct, will, doubtless, be some compensation for the great sacrifices which I know he has made; indeed in his journeys from Mount Vernon – to this place; in his late Tour through the eastern states, by every public and by every privet information which has come to him, I am persuaded that he has experienced nothing to make him repent his having acted from what he concieved to be alone a sense of indespensable duty: on the contrary, all his sensibility has been awakened in receiving such repeated and unequivocal proofs of sincear regards from all his country men. With respect to myself, I sometimes think the arrangement is not quite as it ought to have been, that I, who had much rather be at home should occupy a place with which a great many younger and gayer women would be prodigiously pleased. – As my grand children and domestic connections made a great portion of felicity which I looked indemnify me for the Loss of a part of such endearing society. I do not say this because I feel dissatisfied with my present station – no, God forbid: - for everybody and everything conspire to make me as contented as possable in it; yet I have too much of the vanity of human affairs to expect felicity from the splendid scenes of public life. – I am still determined to be cheerful and to be happy in whatever situation I may be, for I have also learnt from experianence that the greater part of our happiness or misary depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances; we carry the seeds of the one, or the other about with us, in our minds, wherever we go.

“I have two of my grand children with me who enjoy advantages in point of education, and who, I trust by the goodness of providence, will continue to be a great blessing to me, my other two grand children are with thair mother in Virginia. –...I wish the best of Heavens blessings....”.

94   WGW, vol. 36, 2-11-1798. To Sally Ball Hayne. “Miss Salley: I have received your letter of the 28th. of last month, and without enquiry at this time why you left Mr. Lewis’s family or how you employ your time, I have requested him to furnish you with ten pounds to supply you with such necessaries as you may be in immediate want.

“But as you have no fortune to support you, Industry, oeconomy, and a virtuous conduct are your surest resort, and best dependance. In every station of life, these are commendable. In the one in which it has pleased Providence to place you, it is indispensably necessary that they should mark all your footsteps. It is no disparagement to the first lady in the Land to be constantly employed, at some work or another; to you, it would prove, in addition to a chaste and unsullied reputation the surest means of attracting the notice of some man with whom your future fortune will be united in a Matrimonial bond and without which it would be in vain to expect a person of worth. I wish you well and am Your friend.”

95   Fields, Worthy Partner, p. 3. From Robert Carter Nicholas to Martha Custis, 7th August, 1757, “...how great Christian patience and resignation you submitted to your late misfortune;...”,

96   Ibid., To Burwell Bassett Mount Vernon December 22d 1777, “... she has I hope a happy exchange – and only gone a little before us the time draws near when I hope we shall meet never more to part- if to meet our departed Friends and know them was certain we could have very little reason to desire to stay in this world where if we are at ease one hour we are in affliction days....”

“... my dear sister in her life time often mentioned my taking my dear Fanny if should be taken away before she grew up- If you will lett her come to live with me, I will with the greatest pleasure take her and be a parent and mother to her as long as I live – and will come down for her as soon as I come from the northward, ...”

97   Ibid., p. 152. to Martha Washington from John Parke Custis from Kings-College July 5, 1773, p. 152. “I generally get up about Six or a little after, dress myself & go to chappel, by the time that Prayers are over Joe has me a little Breakfast to which I sit down very contended after eating heartyly. I thank God, and go to my Studys, with which I am employed till twelve then I take a walk and return about one dine with the professors, & after dinner study till Six at which time the Bell always rings for Prayers they being over college is broak up, and then we take what Amusement we please. Things My dear Mother were going on in this agreeable Manner, till last Thursday, the day I receiv’d Pappa’s melancholy Letter, giveing an account of my dear & only Sister’s Death. I myself met the Post, & brought the sad Epistle to Doctor Cooper who I beg’d to open his Letter immediately, the Direction I did not know, but the Seal I knew too well to be deceived. My confusion & uneasiness on this occasion is better conceiv’d that expresst. Her case is more to be envied than pitied, for if we mortals can distinguish between those who are deserveing of grace & who are not, I am confident she enjoys that Bliss prepar’d only for the good & virtuous, let these consideration, My dear Mother have their due weight with you and comfort yourself with reflecting that she now enjoys in substance what we in this world enjoy in imagination & that there is no real Happiness on this side of the grave. I must allow that to sustain a shock of this kind requires more Philosophy than we in general are (possest) off, my Nature could not bear the shock. (illegible) sunk under the load of oppression, and hindered me from administering any consolation to my dear and nearest relation, this Letter is the first thing I’ve done since I received the melancholy News, & could I think my Presence wou’d be condusive to the Restoration of your Tranquility neither the distance nor the Fatigue of traveling could detain me a moment here. I put myself & Joe into deep Mourning & shall do (all) Honour in my power to the Memory of a deceas’d & well belov’d Sister, I will no longer detain you on a subject which is painful to us both but conclude with beging you to remember you are a Christian and that we ought to submit with Patience to the divine Will and that to render you happy shall be the constant care of your effectionate and dutiful son. John Parke Custis”

98   WGW, vol. 2, 6-18-1769.

99   Custis, Recollections, p. 21.

100 WGW, vol. 3, 6-20-1773. “Dear Sir: It is an easier matter to conceive, than to describe the distress of this Family; especially that of the unhappy Parent of our Dear Patsy Custis, when I inform you that yesterday removed [ sic ] the Sweet Innocent Girl Entered into a more happy and peaceful abode than any she has met with in the afflicted Path she hitherto has trod. She rose from Dinner about four o’clock in better health and spirits than she appeared to have been in for some time; soon after which she was seized with one of her usual Fits, and expired in it, in less than two minutes without uttering a word, a groan, or scarce a sigh. This sudden, and unexpected blow, I scarce need add has almost reduced my poor Wife to the lowest ebb of Misery; which is encreas’d by the absence of her son, (whom I have just fixed at the College in New York from whence I returned the 8th Inst) and want of the balmy consolation of her Relations; which leads me more than ever to wish she could see them, and that I was Master of Arguments powerful enough to prevail upon Mrs. Dandridge to make this place her entire and absolute home. I should think as she lives a lonesome life (Betsey being married) it might suit her well, and be agreeable, both to herself and my Wife, to me most assuredly it would. It do not purpose to add more at present, the end of my writing being only to inform you of this unhappy change.”

101 Fields, Worthy Partner, p. 170. John Parke Custis wrote to Martha on August 21 1776, “My dearest Mamma, ... that the General may obtain a compleat Victory over his Enemys, which I sincerely pray God may be the Case.... I wrote to the General the last two Posts. I shall write you again next Post, and ask Him to stand with yourself for my little Lady.

102 Custis, Recollections, p. 255.

103 Fields, Worthy Partner, p. 221. To Abigail Smith Adams, November 4, 1789 “...I intended yesterday after the sermon to bring the children out with me on a visit to you, but the weather prevented me.”

104 Ibid., p. 217 n. 1. Worthy Partner, “Mrs. Washington was a strict disciplinarian with regard to “practice time,” and insisted on four or five hours of practice each day. Nelly rebelled and cried bitterly, but to no avail.”

105 WGW, vol. 28, 11-20-1785. To Lund Washington. “Before their marriage he and Fanny were both told that it would be very agreeable to Mrs. W. and myself, that they should make this House their home ‘till the squalling and trouble of children might become disagreeable.”

106 Moncure D. Conway, quoted in Rupert Hughes, George Washington: The Human Being vol. 1, p. 555.

107 The Prayer Book and Bible were important tools of education. Fields, Worthy Partner, p.217. To Fanny Bassett Washington July 1789 “...I wish you to take a prayer book yourself and give one to Hariot the other two to be given to Betty & Patty Custis- ...” WGW, vol. 2, 10-12-1761. An order for the needs of the Washington family included the following: “A Small Bible neatly bound in Turkey, and John Parke Custis wrote in gilt Letters on the Inside of the cover. A Neat small Prayer Book bd. as above, with &ca. A Neat Small Bible b’d in Turkey and Martha Parke Custis wrote on the Inside in gilt Letters. A Small Prayer Book neat and in the same manner.”

108 WGW, vol. 37, 12-30-1798. To David Stuart. “When the applications for Military appointments came to be examined at Philadelphia, it was pleasing to find among them, so many Gentlemen of family, fortune and high expectations, soliciting commissions; and not in the high grades.

“This, and a thorough conviction that it was a vain attempt to keep Washington Custis to any literary pursuits, either in a public Siminary, or at home under the direction of any one, gave me the first idea of bringing him forward as a Cornet of Horse. To this measure too I was induced by a conviction paramount in my breast, that if real danger threatened the Country, no young man ought to be an idle Spectator of its defence; and that, if a state of preparation would avert the evil of an Invasion, he would be entitled to the merit of proffered service, without encountering the dangers of War: and besides, that it might divert his attention from a matrimonial pursuit (for a while at least) to which his constitution seems to be too prone.

“But, though actuated by these ideas, I intended to proceed no farther in the business than to provide a vacancy in one of the Troops of light Dragoons, and to consult Mrs. Stuart and his Grandmother, as to their inclinations respecting his filling it, before any intimation of it should be given to him: But, Mr. Lear hearing the matter talked of, and not knowing that this was the ground on which I meant to place the appointment (if the arrangement met the President’s approbation) wrote to Washington on the subject, in order to know if it would be agreeable to him, or not, to receive it.

“Under these circumstances (and his appearing highly delighted) concealment, I mean an attempt at it, would have proved nugatory. He stands arranged therefore a Cornet in the Troop to be Commanded by Lawrence Lewis (who I intended as his Mentor), Lawrence Washington junr. (of Chotanck) is the Lieutenant of the Troop. But all this it will be remembered is to be approved, first by the President, and consented to by the Senate to make it a valid act; and therefore, the less it is publicly talked of the better.

“Mrs. Washington does not seem to have the least objection to his acceptance of the Commission; but it rests with Mrs. Stuart to express her Sentiments thereon, and soon; as I requested the Secretary of War to forward the Commissions for this Troop of Light Dragoons, under cover to me.

“The only hesitation I had, to induce the caution before mentioned, arose from his being an only Son; indeed the only male of his Great great Grandfathers family; but the same Providence that wd watch over and protect him in domestic walks, can extend the same protection to him in a Camp, or the field of battle, if he should ever be in one.”

109 WGW, vol. 28, 11-10-1785. To George William Fairfax. “As I am in the habit of giving you trouble, I will add a little more to what my last, I fear, may have occasioned. The two youngest children of Mr. Custis: the oldest a girl of six years, the other a boy a little turned of four live with me. They are both promising children; but the latter is a remarkable fine one and my intention is to give him a liberal education; the rudiments of which shall, if I live, be in my own family. Having premised this, let me next, my good Sir, ask if it is in your power conveniently, to engage a proper preceptor for him? at present, and for a year or two to come, much confinement would be improper for him; but this being the period in which I should derive more aid from a man of Letters and an accomptant than at any other, to assist me in my numerous correspondences, and to extricate the latter from the disordered state into which they have been thrown by the war, I could usefully employ him in this manner until his attention should be more immediately required for his pupil.

“Fifty or Sixty pounds Sterling pr. ann. with board, lodging, washing and mending, in the family, is the most my numerous expenditures will allow me to give; but how far it may command the services of a person well qualified to answer the purposes I have mentioned, is not for me to decide. To answer my purposes, the Gentleman must be a Master of composition, and a good Accomptant: to answer his pupil’s, he must be a classical scholar, and capable of teaching the French language grammatically: the more universal his knowledge is, the better.

“It sometimes happens that very worthy men of the Cloth come under this description; men who are advanced in years, and not very comfortable in their circumstances: such an one, if unencumbered with a family, would be more agreeable to me than a young man just from college; but I except none of good moral character, answering my description, if he can be well recommended.

“To you my Dr. Sir, I have offered this my first address; but if you should think my purposes cannot be subserved in your circle, upon the terms here mentioned; I beg, in that case, that you will be so obliging as to forward the enclosed letter as it is directed. This gentleman has written to me upon another subject, and favored me with his lucubrations upon Education, wch mark him a man of abilities, at the same time that he is highly spoken of as a teacher, and a person of good character. In Scotland we all know that education is cheap, and wages not so high as in England: but I would prefer, on acct. of the dialect, an Englishman to a Scotchman, for all the purposes I want.” WGW, vol. 29, 3-10-1787. To Pres. Joseph Willard. WGW, vol. 31, 10-3-1790

“I request after you get to Philadelphia, and previous to our arrival there, that you wd. use your best endeavors to ascertain the characters, or reputation of such Schools as it may be proper to place [George Washington Parke] Washington at, as soon as we shall be fixed in our New habitation; particularly if there be any fit School in the College for him, under good and able Tutors, and well attended. His trip to Mount Vernon will be of no Service to him, but will render restraint more necessary than ever. If the College is under good regulations, and have proper Tutors there for boys of his standing to prepare them for the higher branches of education quere whether it would not be better to place him in it at once? the presumption being, that a system prevails, by which the gradations are better connected than they are in Schools which have no correspondence with each other. Mr. S[mith]is a man of acknowledged abilities, but it may not be well perhaps to say more in a letter, especially as his re-instatement may have given rise to a reform of that conduct wch. did not escape censure formerly.”

110 WGW, vol. 3, 6-5-1771. To Reverend Jonathan Boucher.

111 Ibid., vol. 30, 3-23-1789. To George Steptoe Washington. WGW, vol. 31, 12-5-1790.

112 Ibid., vol. 30, 9-22-1788. To Henry Lee.

113 Ibid., vol. 36, 1-22-1798. To David Stuart Ibid., vol. 28, 11-10-1785. To George William Fairfax. WGW, vol. 34, 2-18-1795. To William Augustine Washington. Ibid., vol. 27, 8-29-1784. To Reverend David Griffith.

114 Bishop William Meade, vol. I, p. 175, “At the end of the century the College of William and Mary was regarded as the hotbed of the infidelity and the wild politics of France. Strong as the Virginia feeling was in favour of the Alma Mater of their parents, the Northern Colleges were filled with the sons of Virginia’s best men. No wonder that God for so long a time withdrew the light of his countenance from it.... They complain, also, that those have been frequently sent to them ‘who were extremely unfit for the employments assigned them; ‘ and on that account, the education of the youth has been very defective; ‘ a natural consequence of which have been riots, contentions, and a dissipation of manners as unbecoming their characters as vitally destructive of the ends of their appointments.’”
These concerns seem to be hinted at by Washington. WGW, vol. 37, 1-7-1773. To Reverend Jonathan Boucher, “Dear Sir: From the best enquiries I could make whilst I was in, and about Williamsburg I cannot think William and Mary College a desirable place to send Jack Custis to; the Inattention of the Masters, added to the number of Hollidays, is the Subject of general complaint; and affords no pleasing prospect to a youth who has a good deal to attain, and but a short while to do it in. These considerations, added to a desire of withdrawing the mind of my Ward as much as possible from the objects which seem at present to have engrossd too much of his Attention; and moreover, to give him every advantage which is to be derivd from the best Publick Schools we have here (as there no longer seems to be any thoughts of his crossing the Atlantic) I have I think, determind to send him to the Philadelphia College; which, from the best Information I have been able to get, from those who have been educated themselves there, or have Children at it, stands equally fair with any other, and being nearer, is more agreeable to his Mother. About the middle of March (so that I may return in time for the April Court) is the time I have thought of to carry him there; previous to which I should be very glad to consult Mr. Smith the President (with whom I have some small acquaintance) on the terms it is proper for him to enter College; and were you, my good Sir, to do him and me the favour of having this matter adjusted by communicating your opinion by Letter, either to Mr. Smith directly, or indirectly through me, of his proficiency in the Classics and other branches of knowledge, it would be an acceptable Service, at the sametime that it might be proper to know, whether it would be best for him to take Chambers in the College, or board in the City, for as I am extreamly anxious to have his Education advanced, I could wish to have him so placed as to promote it. Mrs. Washington and Miss Custis joins me in wishing you, Mrs. and Miss Boucher the Compliments of the Season, and the Return of many happy new Years.”

115 WGW, vol. 36, 1-7-1798. To George Washington Parke Custis. (Emphasis added.) “ System in all things should be aimed at; for in execution, it renders every thing more easy.

If now and then, of a morning before breakfast, you are inclined, by way of change, to go out with a Gun, I shall not object to it; provided you return by the hour we usually set down to that meal.

From breakfast, until about an hour before Dinner (allowed for dressing, and preparing for it, that you may appear decent) I shall expect you will confine yourself to your studies; and diligently attend to them; endeavouring to make yourself master of whatever is recommended to, or required of you.

While the afternoons are short, and but little interval between rising from dinner and assembling for Tea, you may employ that time in walking, or any other recreation. After Tea, if the studies you are engaged in require it, you will, no doubt perceive the propriety and advantage of returning to them, until the hour of rest.

Rise early, that by habit it may become familiar, agreeable, healthy, and profitable. It may for a while, be irksome to do this, but that will wear off; and the practise will produce a rich harvest forever thereafter; whether in public, or private walks of Life.

Make it an invariable rule to be in place (unless extraordinary circumstances prevent it) at the usual breakfasting, dining, and tea hours. It is not only disagreeable, but it is also very inconvenient, for servants to be running here, and there, and they know not where, to summon you to them, when their duties, and attendance, on the company who are seated, render it improper.

Saturday may be appropriated to riding; to your Gun, and other proper amusements.

Time disposed of in this manner, makes ample provision for exercise and every useful, or necessary recreation; at the same time that the hours allotted for study, if really applied to it instead of running up and down stairs, and wasted in conversation with any one who will talk with you, will enable you to make considerable progress in whatever line is marked out for you, and that you may do it, is my sincere wish.”

116 Compare here Smith’s sermon, “A Discourse on the Nature and Reasonableness of Fasting, And on The existing Causes that call us to that Duty. Delivered at PRINCETON, on Tuesday the 6th January 1795 Being the Day appointed By the Synod of New-York and New-Jersey, To be observed as a General Fast, By all the Churches of their Communion in those States; and now published in compliance with the request of the Students of Theology and Law in Princeton By SAMUEL STANHOPE SMITH, D.D. Vice-President and Professor of Moral Philosophy and Divinity, in the College of New-Jersey. Philadelphia: Printed by William Young, Bookseller, No. 52, Second Street, Corner of Chesnut-Street. Washington actually had in his library. Smith wrote, “Blessed Jesus! Thy gracious and heavenly mission has been rejected by blinded mortals who have no guide to certainty and truth but thee! Thy divine nature, and thy supreme dominion have been insulted by worms of the dust who have dared to rise in rebellion against thee!—Thy sole and meritorious atonement has been denied by miserable sinners who have no hope in eternity but thee!—My brethren! Shall not God punish by his righteous judgments, if he cannot bring to repentance, a guilty age which has impiously endeavored to drag the Son of righteousness from his sphere—which has insulted his glory, and blasphemed the astonishing stoops of his mercy? Every sincere believer in Jesus Christ must be deeply penetrated with these dishonors done to his Redeemer’s name. And he will find, in these daring impieties, in the general voice that surrounds him, and in his own heart, the subjects of profound repentance and contrition before God. Arrest, Lord! The growing profanity of the age! When will the iniquities of men come to an end, and the reign of truth and righteousness be extended from the rising to the setting sun!
What, then my brethren is our duty on this day? Is it not to humble our souls before God under his corrections? Is it not to make confession of our sins, and to turn from them with all our heart to the living and true God? Let us fervently address our prayers to the throne of his grace, that he would protect and bless our country—that he would endue with that wisdom which is from above, our legislators, our magistrates, and our judges—that he would promote the means of general knowledge, and extend the influence of true religion as the surest basis of the public weal—that he would teach us with sobriety, temperance, and thankfulness of heart, to enjoy the blessings of his providence, assured that, if we do not glorify him in the use of his mercies, he will glorify himself in the execution of his judgments. Let us, finally, implore from his mercy that he would spare the blood of our brethren shed by cruel and ferocious hands—that he would allay the convulsions that agitate the Christian world—and that he, who has all events, and the hearts of all men in his hands, would bring from the bosom of that chaos, a new creation of liberty and peace, and true religion over the whole earth—AMEN.”

117 WGW, vol. 35, 7-23-1797. To George Washington Parke Custis. “Dear Washington: Your letter of the 14th instant has been duly received, and gives us pleasure to hear that you enjoy good health, and are progressing well in your studies.

Far be it from me to discourage your correspondence with Dr. Stuart, Mr. Law, or Mr. Lewis, or indeed with any others, as well-disposed and capable as I believe they are to give you speciments of correct writing, proper subjects, and if it were necessary, good advice.

With respect to your epistolary amusements generally, I had nothing further in view than not to let them interfere with your studies, which were of more interesting concern; and with regard to Mr. Z. Lewis, I only meant that no suggestions of his, if he had proceeded to give them, were to be interposed to the course pointed out by Dr. Smith, or suffered to weaken your confidence therein. Mr. Lewis was educated at Yale college, and as is natural, may be prejudiced in favor of the mode pursued at that seminary; but no college has turned out better scholars, or more estimable characters, than Nassau. Nor is there any one whose president is thought more capable to direct a proper system of education than Dr. Smith; for which reason, Mr. Lewis, or any other, was to prescribe a different course from the one you are engaged in by the direction of Dr. Smith, it would give me concern. Upon the plan you propose to conduct your correspondence, none of the evils I was fearful of can happen, while advantages may result; for composition, like other things, is made more perfect by practice and attention, and just criticism thereon.

“I do not hear you mention anything of geography or mathematics as parts of your study; both these are necessary branches of useful knowledge. Nor ought you to let your knowledge of the Latin language and grammatical rules escape you. And the French language is now so universal, and so necessary with foreigners, or in a foreign country, that I think you would be injudicious not to make yourself master of it.”

118 WGW, vol. 35, 11-28-1796. To 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 effecting these purposes.

“You are now extending into that stage of life when good or bad habits are formed. When the mind will be turned to things useful and praiseworthy, or to dissipation and vice. Fix on whichever it may, it will stick by you; for you know it has been said, and truly, “ that as the twig is bent so it will grow.” This, in a strong point of view, shows the propriety of letting your inexperience be directed by maturer advice, and in placing guard upon the avenues which lead to idleness and vice. The latter will approach like a thief, working upon your passions; encouraged, perhaps, by bad examples; the propensity to which will increase in proportion to the practice of it and your yielding. This admonition proceeds from the purest affection for you; but I do not mean by it, that you are to become a stoic, or to deprive yourself in the intervals of study of any recreations or manly exercise which reason approves.

‘T is well to be on good terms with all your fellow-students, and I am pleased to hear you are so, but while a courteous behavior is due to all, select the most deserving only for your friendships, and before this becomes intimate, weigh their dispositions and character well. True friendship is a plant of slow growth; to be sincere, there must be a congeniality of temper and pursuits. Virtue and vice can not be allied; nor can idleness and industry; of course, if you resolve to adhere to the two former of these extremes, an intimacy with those who incline to the latter of them, would be extremely embarrassing to you; it would be a stumbling block in your way; and act like a millstone hung to your neck, for it is the nature of idleness and vice to obtain as many votaries as they can.

“I would guard you, too, against imbibing hasty and unfavorable impressions of any one. Let your judgment always balance well before you decide; and even then, where there is no occasion for expressing an opinion, it is best to be silent, for there is nothing more certain than that it is at all times more easy to make enemies than friends. And besides, to speak evil of any one, unless there is unequivocal proofs of their deserving it, is an injury for which there is no adequate reparation. For, as Shakespeare says “He that robs me of my good name enriches not himself, but renders me poor indeed,” or words to that effect. Keep in mind that scarcely any change would be agreeable to you at first from the sudden transition, and from never having been accustomed to shift or rough it. And, moreover, that if you meet with collegiate fare, it will be unmanly to complain. My paper reminds me it is time to conclude. Affectionately, &c. “

119 WGW, vol. 36, 6-13-1798.

120 Custis, Recollections, pp. 173-174.

121 Ibid., p. 508.

122 WGW, vol. 34, 1-16-1795. To Eleanor Parke Custis. [Dear Nelly:] Your letter, the receipt of which I am now acknowledging, is written correctly and in fair characters, which is an evidence that you command, when you please, a fair hand. Possessed of these advantages, it will be your own fault if you do not avail yourself of them, and attention being paid to the choice of your subjects, you can have nothing to fear from the malignancy of criticism, as your ideas are lively, and your descriptions agreeable. Let me touch a little now on your Georgetown ball, and happy, thrice happy, for the fair who were assembled on the occasion, that there was a man to spare; for had there been 79 ladies and only 78 gentlemen, there might, in the course of the evening, have been some disorder among.the caps; notwithstanding the apathy which one of the company entertains for the “ youth “ of the present day, and her determination “never to give herself a moment’s uneasiness on account of any of them.” A hint here; men and women feel the same inclinations to each other now that they always have done, and which they will continue to do until there is a new order of things, and you, as others have done, may find, perhaps, that the passions of your sex arc easier raised than allayed. Do not therefore boast too soon or too strongly of your insensibility to, or resistance of, its powers. In the composition of the human frame there is a good deal of inflammable matter, however dormant it may lie for a time, and like an intimate acquaintance of yours, when the torch is put to it, that which is within you may burst into a blaze; for which reason and especially too, as I have entered upon the chapter of advices, I will read you a lecture drawn from this text.

“Love is said to be an involuntary passion, and it is, therefore, contended that it cannot be resisted. This is true in part only, for like all things else, when nourishes and supplied plentifully with ailment, it is rapid in its progress; but let these be withdrawn and it may be stifled in its birth or much stinted in its growth. For example, a woman (the same may be said of the other sex) all beautiful and accomplished, will, while her hand and heart are undisposed of, turn the heads and set the circle in which she moves on fire. Let her marry, and what is the consequence? The madness ceases and all is quiet again. Why? not because there is any diminution in the charms of the lady, but because there is an end of hope. Hence it follows, that love may and therefore ought to be under the guidance of reason, for although we cannot avoid first impressions, we may assuredly place them under guard; and my motives for treating on this subject are to show you, while you remain Eleanor Parke Custis, spinster, and retain the resolution to love with moderation, the propriety of adhering to the latter resolution, at least until you have secured your game, and the way by which it may be accomplished.

“When the fire is beginning to kindle, and your heart growing warm, propound these questions to it. Who is this invader? Have I a competent knowledge of him? Is he a man of good character; a man of sense? For, be assured, a sensible woman can never be happy with a fool? What has been his walk in life? Is he a gambler, a spendthrift, or drunkard? Is his fortune sufficient to maintain me in the manner I have been accustomed to live, and my sisters do live, and is he one to whom my friends can have no reasonable objection? If these interrogatories can be satisfactorily answered, there will remain but one more to be asked, that, however, is an important one. Have I sufficient ground to conclude that his affections are engaged by me? Without this the heart of sensibility will struggle against a passion that is not reciprocated; delicacy, custom, or call it by what epithet you will, having precluded all advances on your part. The declaration, without the most indirect invitation of yours, must proceed from the man, to render it permanent and valuable, and nothing short of good sense and an easy unaffected conduct can draw the line between prudery and coquetry. It would be no great departure from truth to say, that it rarely happens otherwise than that a thorough-paced coquette dies in celibacy, as a punishment for her attempts to mislead others, by encouraging looks, words, or actions, given for no other purpose than to draw men on to make overtures that they may be rejected.

“This day, according to our information, gives a husband to your elder sister, and consummates, it is to be presumed, her fondest desires. The dawn with us is bright, and propitious, I hope, of her future happiness, for a full measure of which she and Mr. Law have my earnest wishes. Compliments and congratulations on this occasion, and best regards are presented to your mamma, Dr. Stuart and family; and every blessing, among which a good husband when you want and deserve one, is bestowed on you by yours, affectionately.”

123 WGW, vol. 34, 2-10-1796. To Elizabeth Parke Custis. “My dear Betsey: I have obeyed your injunction in not acknowledging the receipt of your letter of the first instant until I should hear from Mr. Law. This happened yesterday; I therefore proceed to assure you, if Mr. Law is the man of your choice, of wch. there can be no doubt, as he has merits to engage your affections, and you have declared that he has not only done so, but that you find, after a careful examination of your heart, you cannot be happy without him; that your alliance with him meets my approbation. Yes, Betsey, and this approbation is accompanied with my fervent wishes that you may be as happy in this important event as your most Sanguine imagination has ever presented to your view. Along with these wishes, I bestow on you my choicest blessings.

“Nothing contained in your letter, in Mr. Laws, or in any other from our friends intimate when you are to taste the sweets of Matrimony; I therefore call upon you, who have more honesty than disguise, to give me the details. Nay more, that you will relate all your feelings to me on this occasion: or as a Quaker would say “all the workings of the spirit within.”

“This, I have a right to expect in return for my blessing, so promptly bestowed, after you had concealed the matter from me so long. Being entitled therefore to this confidence, and to a compliance with my requests, I shall look forward to the fulfilment of it.

“If after marriage Mr. Laws business should call him to this the same room which Mr. Peter and your sister occupied will accomodate you two; and it will be equally at your service.

“You know how much I love you, how much I have been gratified by your attentions to those things which you had reason to believe were grateful to my feelings. And having no doubt of your continuing the same conduct, as the effect will be pleasing to me, and unattended with any disadvantage to yourself, I shall remain with the sincerest friendship, and the most Affectionate regard, etc.”

124 WGW, vol. 34, 2-10-1796. To Thomas Law. Sir: Yesterday’s Mail brought me your letter of the 4th Instant; and that of Saturday announced from Miss Custis herself, the Union which is pending between you. No intimation of this event, from any quarter, having been communicated to us before, it may well be supposed that it was a matter of Surprize.

“This being premised, I have only to add, that as the parties most interested are agreed, my approbation, in which Mrs. Washington unites, is cordially given; accompanied with best wishes that both of you may be supremely happy in the alliance. I must however, tho’ it is no immediate concern of mine, be permitted to hope, as the young lady is in her non-age, that preliminary measures has been, or will be arranged with her Mother and Guardian, before the Nuptials are Solemnized.

“We shall hope that your fortunes (if not before) will, by this event, be fixed in America; for it would be a heart rending circumstance, if you should seperate Eliza from her friends in this country. Whether the Marriage is to take place soon, or late, we have no data to judge from but be it as it will, if you should bring her to Philadelphia, we invite you both to this house. With very great esteem and regard I am etc.
WGW, vol. 37, 12-25-1798. To George Washington Motier de Lafayette.

“Your acquaintance Lawrence Lewis is appointed Captain of a Troop of Light Dragoons; but intends, before he enters the Camp of Mars to engage in that of Venus; Eleanor Custis and he having entered into a contract of marriage; which, I understand, is to be fulfilled on my birthday (the 22d. of Feby).

Washington Custis prefering a Military career to literary pursuits, is appointed Cornet in Lewis’s Troop, and Washington Craik a Lieutenancy. Young Carroll of Carrolton, will be a Volunteer Aid of mine, and Mr. Lear is my Secretary.” Washington’s “Diary” for February 22 records: “Morning raining. Mer at 30. Wind a little more to the Northward. Afterwards very strong from the No. Wt. and turning clear and cold. The Revd. Mr. Davis and Mr. Geo. Calvert came to dinner and Mass Custis was married abt. Candle light to Mr. Lawe. Lewis.”

On February 23 Washington wrote: “General and Mrs. Washington present their Compliments to Mr. Andw. Ramsay, Mrs. Ramsay and Mr. Willm. Ramsay and request the favour of their Company to dine on Tuesday next, with the couple Newly Married” A photograph of this letter is in the Washington Papers.

WGW, vol. 37, 2-19-1799. To George Deneale. Sir: You will please to grant a license for the Marriage of Eleanor Parke Custis with Lawrence Lewis, and this shall be your Authority for so doing from Sir Yr. etc.”

125 WGW, vol. 37, 9-20-1799.

126 Sparks, The Writings of George Washington, vol. XII, pp. 405-407. See John Eidsmoe, Christianity and the Constitution, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1987), p. 140-141. “Did Washington embrace Christianity? His adopted daughter thought so. Nelly Custis was Martha Washington’s granddaughter, and when Nelly’s father died, George and Martha Washington adopted her and she lived in their home for twenty years. In 1833 she wrote to the historian Jared Sparks, expressing indignation that anyone would question Washington’s Christianity.”.

CHAPTER 13

1     WGW, vol. 35, 3-2-1797.

2     Grizzard, George Washington A Biographical Companion, p. 100.

3     Johnson, George Washington The Christian, p. 249; Littel, Washington: Christian. p. 14.

4     The breadth of words that reflect a knowledge of the life of the Church are extensive in Washington’s writings. They include words of:
·Government: episcopate, bishop, ecclesiastical, vestry, holy orders, cure, commissary, benefice, glebe (parish farm), Parish;
·Ministry: Parson, Reverend, Curate, Pastor, Chaplain, Missionary, vestryman, deacon, clergyman, priest;
·Parishioner Worship: Sunday, Sabbath, first day, seventh day, sermon, votaries, benediction, blessing, curse, obsequies, vows, pew;
·Calendar: Lady’s Day, Michaelmas, Dominical Number, Easter, Easter Monday, Christmas;
·Anglican History: [Oliver] Cromwell, the usurper; Gunpowder;
·Book of Common Prayer: Divine Service, Prayers;
·Sacramental terms: Sponsor, Christen, Little Christian, God-son, Cup of blessing;
·Theology: True Religion, errors, superstition, expiate, conversion, repentance, forgiveness, holy;
·Military Terms that reflect Christian vocabulary: Pardon, Redemption, Atonement, Grace, Mercy, forgiveness, salvation, justification;
·Religious Figures: St. Patrick, Cross, Knights of Divine Providence;
·Other Religious traditions: Jew, Muslim, Atheist, infidel, Father confessor, purgatory, penance.

5     Slaughter, The History of Truro Parish, p. 3.

6     Ibid., p. 82.

7     Boller, George Washington And Religion, p. 28-29.

8     Ford, The True George Washington, p. 78.

9     Boller, George Washington & Religion, p.28.

10   Jackson, Twohig, Diaries of George Washington, vol. 3, p. 366, 6-10-1778.

11   See Chapter 19 on Religious Liberty, where the gunpowder plot is more fully discussed in relation to Washington’s efforts to end the anti-Catholic discrimination within his army.

12   Stephen DeCatur Jr., Private Affairs of George Washington (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Col, 1933) p. 90.

13   Jackson, Twohig, Diaries of George Washington vol. 2, p. 80, 9-27-1772.

14   Johnson, George Washington The Christian, p. 176-177; Donald Jackson, ed.; Jackson, Twohig, Diaries of George Washington vol. 1, p. 50, 11-8-1789.

15   Ibid., entry for 1-24-1768.

16   See the chapter on “Washington and the Clergy.”

17   Custis, Recollections, p. 173-174.

18   WGW, vol. 28, 8-23-1786.

19   Ibid., vol. 37, 9-22-1799.

20   Ibid., vol. 30, 12-23-1788.

21   Slaughter, The History of Truro Parish, p. 123.

22   Jackson, Twohig, Diaries of George Washington, vol. 2, p. 419, 10-2-1785.

23   Slaughter, The History of Truro Parish, p. 97f.

24   Sparks, The Writings of George Washington, vol. 12, p. 405-408.

25   Johnson, George Washington The Christian, p. 199. Also cited in Ashabel Green, The Life of Ashabel Green, 1849, p. 267.

26   John N.Norton, Life of General Washington, 1870. p. 117; also Johnson, George Washington The Christian, p. 58.

27   M’Guire, Religious Opinions and Character of Washington (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1836), p. 154.

28   Ibid., p. 154.

29   Boller, George Washington & Religion, p.32.

30   M’Guire, Religious Opinions, p. 146.

CHAPTER 14

1     Slaughter, The History of Truro Parish, p. 89.

2     Ibid., p. 2-3.

3     Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XIV: Justice, Thomas Jefferson 1781, see http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=514

4     Slaughter, The History of Truro Parish in Virginia, pp. 3-4.

5     Can we claim Jefferson for the Christian fold? This is attempted by Catherine Millard in Rewriting of America’s History, pp. 91-109.

1. The problem is that Jefferson explicitly affirmed that he believed the following things:
The Bible is not revealed of God.
It is good to doubt religion and God to assert the oracle of reason.
He opposed Calvinism and Trinitarianism.
That he was a unitarian.
That he was a member of a sect all his own.
That clergy in general were the source of intolerance.
That he was a “true Christian” in the sense of viewing Jesus’ theology and morals as the same as his own.
Paul was one of the worst corrupters of Jesus’ teachings.

A. The Jefferson Bible’s purpose and history: To distill Jesus’ ethics from corruptions to his system found in the Bible by his followers.

B. Jefferson’s religious doubts were carried out in secret, not the public eye, for fear of its impact upon his career.

C. The irony of Jefferson’s fears of the Supreme Court’s unchecked power under the Constitution!

D. But were Jefferson’s ethics and politics contrary to Christianity?

1. His view of the ethics of Jesus—the best the world has ever known.

2. His view of the Bible in schools—to be used in schools for education.

3. His view of Christianizing the Indians—approved of money given from government.

4. His view of religion in the states—federalism permitted religious actions by state government, but not by federal government as he saw the First Amendment.

The Point of his 1802 letter to Danbury Baptists, which uses the famous phrase, “separation of Church and State,” was to reassure the Baptists that there would be no established federal denomination. He was not afraid of religious activity, and even worshiped on Sundays in a church that met in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Boyd Stanley Schlenther, Charles Thomson: A Patriot’s Pursuit (Newark: University of Delaware Press 1990), p. 216-217.

Not surprisingly, Thomson’s translation of the Bible had left him as a target for several eccentric correspondents. Perhaps the most curious was the Master of the Masonic Order in Baltimore who was “determined... to unbosom my heart.” This man urged Thomson to become a Mason to help him bring the order (which had “deviated from the truth) back to the “first principles” of Christianity. “I am in, you are out,” wrote the Masonic Master. “Will you – can you- deem yourself called upon to lend your aid to do much good?” Thomson stayed out. In fact, thoughtout his life he appears never to have joined any organization that he did not feel was involved in some useful purpose. He never was a member of the Tammany Society; he never joined Philadelphia’s Hibernian Club, organized in 1759 by bother Protestant and Roman Catholic Irish immigrants. It appears that any group that smacked of frivolity or that was mainly given to socializing was never to Thomson’s taste, and even those organizations with which he had associated himself –such as the Philosophical Society and the Agricultural Society – soon lost their charm and interest, especially if they had appeared to have served their purpose for him.

To occupy his time after Hannah’s death, Thomson turned once again to biblical studies. Even while the Bible was in the process of printing, Thomson had begun “to draw up a harmony of the four evangelists from my translation following the Order of Dr. Doddridge.” Thomson believed that by arranging the facts presented in the Gospels, producing them in parallel columns, he had “removed the seeming inconsistencies with which they are charged & shewn that instead of contradicting, they strengthen & confirm one another’s narrative.”
In it, he justified publication on the grounds that though there had been many such harmonies, “infidels still continue to charge the Evangelist with inconsistency, and contradiction.” As for himself, Thomson publicly admitted that the real reason he first undertook the task was for his own “solace.”

One result of the publication of the synopsis was brief renewal of his correspondence with Jefferson, which had not been maintained, following their exchanges at the appearance of the full Bible in 1808. Early in 1816 Jefferson wrote that he had received a copy of the synopsis, and after perfunctory compliments, he proceeded to inform Thomson that he had made a “wee little book” of his own; by cutting the texts from the Gospels which include the words of Jesus, Jefferson had compiled what he called the “Philosophy of Jesus.” This information led Thomson to an innocent but extremely awkward indiscretion. Delighted that Jefferson saw this project as proof of his own religious nature) “I am a real Christian – that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus”), Thomson brought several Philadelphians to the conclusion that there was reason for “the Religious world. ...[to be] daily congratulating each other,” on Jefferson’s “happy change of Religious belief.” The miraculous had happened: Jefferson had made “a profession of faith.” The matter had gone so far that Thomson nearly provided Jefferson’s letter for publication, only to receive this rebuke: “I apprehend that [you] were not sufficiently aware of its private & personal nature, or of the impropriety of putting it in the power of an editor to publish, without the consent of the writer.” Crestfallen, Thomson wrote immediately to apologize. Jefferson – who had been caused no little anxiety and trouble by the who affair – replied, saying that he had received a communication from a person in Philadelphia who had seen his letter to Thomson, asking Jefferson “questions which I answer only to one Being. To himself, therefore. I replied: ‘Say nothing of my Religion; it is known to my God and myself alone.’” Under the circumstances, it was a kindly response to Thomson, but this really was the last letter ever to pass between the two men.

6     Meade, Old Churches, vol. II p. 48.

7     Ibid., vol. II p. 49.

8     Boller, George Washington & Religion, p.26.

9     Ibid., p.27.

10   Slaughter, The History of Truro Parish, p. 89.

11   Note. See oaths George had to take to assume role of public surveyor

12   Slaughter, The History of Truro Parish p. 34.

13   Ibid., p. 34.

14   Ibid., p. 21. The oaths of office of the vestryman are given to us in Meade, Old Church Ministers, Volume II, 41-42. Again, note how concerned they were that the participants not return to the control of the Roman Church. This is from Bishop Meade’s book, Old Church Ministers and Families of Virginia,
“Oath of Allegiance: “I, A.B., do sincerely promise and swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to his Majesty King George the Second, so help me God.”
Oath of Abjuration: “I, A.B., do swear that I do from my heart abhor, detest and abjure, as impious and heretical, that damnable doctrine and position that Princes excommunicate or deprived by the Pope, or any authority of the See of Rome, may be deposed or murdered by their subjects or any other whatsoever. And I do declare that no foreign Prince, Prelate, Person, State, or Potentate, hath, or ought to have, any jurisdiction, power superiority, pre-eminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm. So help me God.”
II. Oath of Allegiance: “I, A.B., do truly and sincerely acknowledge and promise, testify and declare, in my conscience, before God and the world, that our sovereign Lord, King George the Second, is lawful and rightful King of this realm and all other his Majesty’s dominions and countries hereunto belonging; and I do solemnly and sincerely declare that I do believe in my conscience that the person pretended to be Prince of Wales during the life of the late King James,1 and since his decease pretending to be, and taking upon himself the style and title of, the King of England, or by the name of James the Third, or of Scotland by the name of James the Eighth, or the style and title of King of Great Britain, hath not any right whatsoever to the crown of this realm, or any other dominions hereto belonging. And I do renounce, refuse, and abjure any allegiance or obedience to him and I do swear that I will bear faithful and true allegiance to his Majesty King George the Second, and him will defend to the utmost of my power against all traitorous conspiracies and attempts whatsoever which shall be made against his person, crown, or dignity; and I will do my utmost to endeavor to disclose and make known to his Majesty and his successors all treasonable and traitorous conspiracies which I shall know to be against him, or any of them; and I do faithfully promise to the utmost of my power to support, maintain, and defend the successor of the crown against him, the said James, and all other persons whatsoever, which succession, by an Act entitled ‘An Act for the further limitation of the crown and better securing the rights and liberties of the subjects,’ is, and stands limited to, the Princess Sophia, late Electress and Duchess-Dowager of Hanover, and the heirs of her body, being Protestants; and all other theses things I do plainly and sincerely acknowledge and swear, according to these express words by me spoken, and according to the plain and common sense understanding of the same words, without any equivocation, mental evasion, or secret reservation whatsoever; and I do make this recognition, acknowledgement, abjuration, renunciation, and promise, heartily, willingly, and truly, upon the true faith of a Christian, so help me God....
Test Oath: “I do declare that I do believe that there is not any transubstantiation in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, or in the Elements of bread and wine at or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever.”
Thus, here we see a strong affirmation of the historic Protestant faith.

15   Ibid., p. 5.

16   Ibid., p. 7.

17   Ibid., p. 9.

18   Ibid., p. 8.

19   Ibid., p. 9.

20   Ibid., p. 16.

21   Ibid., p. 18.

22   Ibid., p. 10 n.

23   Ibid., p. 17.

24   Ibid., p. 30.

25   Ibid., p. 78.

26   Ibid., p. 51.

27   Ibid., p. 41.

28   Ibid., p. 43.

29   WGW, vol. 2, 11-13-1757.

30   Ibid., vol. 2, 8-26-1761.

31   Ibid., vol. 1, 1755.

32   Slaughter, The History of Truro Parish, p. 51.

33   Ibid., p. 54-55.

34   Ibid., p. 63.

35   Ibid., p. 63-64.

36   Interview with Peter Lillback and Jerry Newcombe with Reverend Donald S. Binder, Ph.D, 2005.

37   Washington wrote to Bryan Fairfax on July 4, 1774: “Dear Sir: John has just delivered to me your favor of yesterday, which I shall be obliged to answer in a more concise manner, than I could wish, as I am very much engaged in raising one of the additions to my house, which I think (perhaps it is fancy) goes on better whilst I am present, than in my absence from the workmen. I own to you, Sir, I wished much to hear of your making an open declaration of taking a poll for this county, upon Colonel West’s publicly declining last Sunday; and I should have writ ten to you on the subject, but for information then received from several gentlemen in the churchyard, of your having re fused to do so, for the reasons assigned in your letter;[editors note:(Note: The poll here mentioned was for the election of delegates to the House of Burgesses.) Mr. Fairfax declined, as he said, chiefly because he thought he could not give satisfaction at that time; for he should think himself bound to oppose strong measures, and was in favor of petitioning, and giving Parliament a fair opportunity of repealing their obnoxious acts. ...]” upon which, as I think the country never stood more in need of men of abilities and liberal sentiments than now, I entreated several gentlemen at our church yesterday to press Colonel Mason to take a poll, as I really think Major Broadwater, though a good man, might do as well in the discharge of his domestic concerns, as in the capacity of a legislator. And therefore I again express my wish, that either you or Colonel Mason would offer. I can be of little assistance to either, because I early laid it down as a maxim not to propose myself, and solicit for a second....” WGW, vol. 3, 7-4-1774.

38   Fitzpatrick, Diaries of George Washington, vol. I, p. 315.

39   Slaughter, The History of Truro Parish, p. 88.

40   Ibid., p. 89.

41   WGW, vol. 27, 7-10-1783.

42   Slaughter, The History of Truro Parish, p. 95.

43   Ibid., p. 90.

44   Washington had mentioned his paying for the Fairfax pew when he wrote his draft of a letter to George William. He wrote from Williamsburg on June 10, 1774, “Inclosd you have a Copy of the Acct. I settled before I left home with Mr. Craven Peyton; as also of my Acct. with you in which you will perceive a charge for your Pew in the New Church at Pohick which is now conveyed to you by the Vestry and upon Record. The Balce. Of this Acct. to with £ is now Exchangd for Bills and remit viz.” But he crossed it out before he sent it, thus not asking for repayment. WGW, vol. 3, 6-10-1774.

45   Philip Slaughter writes, “That pew has become historical. It was afterwards occupied by Gen. Robert E. Lee, and there are tablets on the walls of the Church in memory of these two heroic characters and devout Christians. This historic pew attracts every week streams of pilgrims to Christ Church.” Slaughter, The History of Truro Parish, p. 96.

46   WGW, vol. 3, 2-15-1773.

CHAPTER 15

1     WGW, vol. 3, 5-4-1772. To Reverend Jonathan Boucher.

2     Reverend Mason Gallagher, A Chapter of Unwritten History. The Protestant Episcopacy of the Revolutionary Patriots Lost and Restored. A Centennial Offering (Philadelphia: Reformed Episcopal Rooms, 1883), p. 3. The quote continues: “In an able article on “The Causes which drove the Puritans from England,” the New Englander for November, 1882, says: ‘It was the bishops who drove the Puritans into Holland; it was the bishops who hung the sword of Damocles over them as they sailed to Plymouth; it was the bishops who compelled the founding of New England, and the great Puritan exodus.’”
When fifty years afterwards Archbishop Tillotson and other bishops of England expressed with such energy to increase Mather, their just resentment to the injury which had been done to the first planters of New England, the old Puritan exclaimed: ‘If such had been the bishops there had never been a New England.’

3     John S. Littel puts it this way:

Before our Independence, there was in the colonies no Confirmation for anyone, and of course both individual members and the welfare of the Church as a whole were hindered. It is certain that the Church cannot expect to attain her very best development when her children are not “sealed” with the spiritual grace which our Lord at Pentecost placed in His Church to be ministered by the Apostles in “the laying on of hands.” Washington was never confirmed, but so far as he was able he was in close touch with the Church. We have it on the testimony of his political and military associates and members of his family that for many years he was accustomed to make his Communions. Littell, George Washington: Christian.

4     WGW, vol. 37 3-26-1762. to Gov. Horatio Sharpe. “Sir: Be so good as to pardon the liberty I presume to take in recommending to your Excellency’s notice the Revd. Mr. West; a young Gentn. lately entered into Holy Orders, of a good Family, and unexceptionable Morals; this with truth I can venture to certifie as he is a neighbour of mine, and one of those few of whom every body speaks well. At present he is engagd to officiate as Curate to the Revd. Doctr. Swift of Port Tobo.; who it seems is in the last Stage of a Consumption, and attempting by a Voyage to England, the recovery of his health, but, shoud he fail in this (as most probably he will) and the Parish become vacant by his death. Mr. West woud think himself very happy in the honour of your presentment of him to the Cure, and I am fully persuaded that his endeavours woud merit the favour.”

5     Griffith, Virginia House of Burgesses 1750-1774., pp. 118-123, 127, 130, 147, 164, 194.

6     WGW, vol. 1, 5-28-1755.

7     Griffith, Virginia House of Burgesses, pp. 118-19. Lucille Griffith writes, “George Washington was more than a mere surveyor for Lord Fairfax, he was an intimate of the family; George William was one of his best friends and Sally Cary Fairfax his confidant. Anne Fairfax, sister to George William, was married to Lawrence Washington, George’s elder half-brother. It is a truism that Fairfax interest and support launched the youthful George on a political career.”

8     WGW Note: Washington was married on Jan. 6, 1759, to Martha Custis, widow of Daniel Parke Custis, and daughter of John Dandridge. Ford states that the ceremony was performed by the Reverend David Mossum in St. Peters Church, a few miles from the Custis White House, which was on the Pamunkey River, in New Kent County, Va., but documentary evidence that the ceremony was performed in St. Peters is not available.

9     Sawyer, Washington, I.214.

10   William Stith, A.M. President of William and Mary College. Published at the Request of the House of Burgesses Williamsburgh, Printed and Sold by William Hunter, MDCCLIII. Meade, Old Churches, vol. I. p.137-138 writes, “William Stith was the only son of Captain John Stith, of the county of Charles City, and of Mary, a daughter of “William Randolph, gentleman,” of Turkey Island, in the adjoining county, Henrico, in the Colony of Virginia : their son William was born in the year 1689. On the death of her husband, Mrs. Stith, at the instance of her brother, Sir John Randolph, removed to Williamsburg and placed her son in the grammar-school attached to the College of William and Mary, where he pursued his academic studies and graduated. His theological studies were completed in England, where he was ordained a minister of the Episcopal Church. On his return to Virginia, in the year 1731, he was elected master of the grammar-school in the College and chaplain to the Hose of Burgesses. In June, 1738, he was called rector to Henrico parish, in the county of Henrico. He married his cousin Judith, a daughter of Thomas Randolph of Tuckahoe, the second son of William Randolph, of Turkey Island, and resided in the parsonage on the glebe near Varina, the seat of justice for the county of Henrico. There he wrote his History of Virginia, which was printed and bound in the city of Williamsburg, at the only printing-press then in the Colony. In August, 1752, he was elected President of William and Mary College, to which he removed and over which he presided until his death, in 1755.”

11   William Stith, A.M. President of William and Mary College. Published at the Request of the House of Burgesses Williamsburgh, Printed and Sold by William Hunter, MDCCLIII: “AND lastly to shew the Universality of CHRIST’s Redemption, that he is the Propitiation for out Sins, and not for our Sins only, but also for the Sins of the whole World. 1 John 2:2. And for the clearer and more distinct Explication of this Subject, I shall observe.

1 That there is no Remission of Sin, or Salvation, but by the Merits and Sufferings of our Lord JESUS CHRIST. He is the Lamb of God, which taketh away the Sin of the World; (John 1:29) who not by the Blood of the Goats and Calves, but by his own Blood, entered in once into the holy Place having obtained eternal Redemption for us. Heb. 9:3. It is by his propitiatory Sacrifice, offered once for all, and by the Satisfaction thereby made to GOD’s Justice (in a Manner and upon Reasons, incomprehensible to our weak Sense and Understanding) that we can have Access to the Throne of Grace, or Inheritance among the Saint’s in Light. He is therefore emphatically stiled by the Prophet, The Lord, our Righteousness. Jer. 23:6. For with his Stripes we are Healed, and by his imputed Righteousness we are justified and accepted in the Sight of GOD. Neither is there Salvation in any other: For there is none other Name under Heaven, given among Men, whereby we must be saved. Acts 4:12.

2 As we are thus, by CHRIST’s Merits and Satisfaction, put into a Capacity of Salvation, so is Faith required on our Part, as an indispensable Condition for entering into the Kingdom of Heaven: an indispensable Condition, I mean, to those who have the Christian Faith offered unto them, or who have the Opportunity to know and embrace the Gospel. For by Grace are we saved, through Faith. Eph. 2:8. So must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have eternal Life. John 3:14, 15. He that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting Life: And he, that believeth not the Son, shall not see Life; but the Wrath of GOD abideth on him. Ibid., 536.

12   See Lane, Washington Collection, Boston Athenaeum, pp. 76-77, 195.

13   Meade, Old Churches, vol. 1, p. 216, Two Penny Act., “...in the year 1758. The act of Assembly which produced the contest, and convulsed both Church and State, was called the Option Law or Two-Penny Act, because the people were allowed the option of paying as usual so much tobacco, or about two pence per pound instead of it.” p. 223 Providence and Tobacco and 2 Penny Act, “They thought it hard, therefore, that when, in the course of Providence, an increase of funds occurred for one year, by which they might be set free from debt or be enabled to buy a few books, this should be prevented by such an act. ...They said the history of Virginia proved that a small crop of tobacco was best for the Colony, that the Legislature was often endeavouring to stint the crop of tobacco by preventing the culture of so much, and in former days had even destroyed some which was already made, and the now, when Providence had stinted the crop, it was hard that the clergy should be the chief, indeed only sufferers.”
Lane, Boston Athenaeum, Catalogue of the Washington Collection, p. 41, “...bought by Washington, as appears from an entry under date of April 16, 1764, in his Ledger preserved in the State Department.” The Rector Detected: Being A Just Defence of the Twopenny Act, against the artful Misrepresentations of the Reverend John Camm, Rector of York-Hampton, in his Single and Distinct View. Containing also a plain Confutation of his several Hints, as a specimen of the Justice and Charity of Colonel Landon Carter by Land Carter of Sabine-Hall Williamsburg: Printed by Joseph Royle. 1764.
“...the Twopenny Act will appear to be calculated for a very general and good Purpose to the whole Community.” (p. 5.) “The Clergy should benefit with the poor. “No 2. The poor, who have an annual Allowance of Tobacco from the Parish to maintain themselves, other poor Persons (those that are boarded out, I suppose) the Clerk of the Church, and the Sexton, not only have no Part of the Charity, but lose two Thirds of their stated allowance, with the Parson by Means of the Act.” (p. 6.)
“The charge that Carter is challenging is “One would think (says he) the poorer any Man was, he ought to receive the greater Share, in a Project for the Benefit of the Poor; but, in this Project, the poorer a Man is, the less he has.” (p. 7)
“Need I appeal to the serious in Christianity to discover the Consistency in Behaviour in a Minister of the Gospel of Christ, thus endeavouring to ridicule and depreciate a Work of such a real Benefit to the Poor? With how much Contempt will it then be read that this witty Ridicule is the Sanctified Performance of the Reverend John Camm, Rector of York-Hampton? Does he not in so doing deny the Power of Godliness, whilst he wears the Form of it? . . .Yet methinks the Scripture should have cautioned him first to pull out his own Beams before he attempted to peck at the Motes of others, for there may be an Hypocrisy in Things of this Kind....” (p. 37.)

14   Meade, Old Churches, p. 220, “Patrick Henry and Davies ...though they must find for the plaintiffs, yet one penny damages would suffice, in five minutes the jury brought in that verdict. ...It is probable, also, that this time Mr. Henry may have been a little alienated from the Church of his father and relatives. The Revs. Mr. Davies and Mr. Waddell (the old blind preacher of whom Mr. Wirt speaks) were then in their height of zeal and eminence, and Mr. Henry often attended their services and admired them much. Disaffection to the Church was also getting quite strong in that region. Mr. Henry may for a time have sympathized in their religious views, though I have no testimony to this effect. The following extract of a letter of Mr. Roger Atkinson, of Mannsfield, near Petersburg, an old vestryman and staunch friend of the Church in that place, to his brother-in-law, Mr. Samuel Pleasants, may throw some light on this point. He is drawing the portraits of the members sent to the first Congress of Virginia. Of Mr. Henry he says, “He is a real half-Quaker; - your brother’s man, - moderate and mild, and in religious matters a saint; but the very d—-l in politics, - a son of thunder. He will shake the Senate. Some years ago he had liked to have talked treason into the House. Whatever may have been the feelings of Mr. Henry as to the Episcopal Church at that time, it is very certain that in after-life he gave full proof that he was no enemy to it, and had no desire to deprive it of any just rights. ... Mr. Henry stood up in opposition to every attempt at their alienation.”
“Patrick Henry also had a significant impact on religious liberty in Virginia as well. In what became known as “The Parson’s Cause,” he helped defeat the required payment of tithes to the state church by the citizens of Virginia, a law that forced many to support a church in which they did not believe. Eidsmoe writes, “Several Anglican clergymen were suing some tobacco planters under a Virginia colony law that required a certain portion of tobacco revenues be paid for the support of the clergy. Henry agreed to defend the planters when their previous attorney declared the case hopeless and withdrew. He assailed the Anglican clergy without mercy, amid a packed courtroom filled with Anglican clergymen confident of victory, and ‘Dissenters’ (Methodists, Baptists and Presbyterians) looking to Henry as their champion: ‘We have heard a great deal about the benevolence and holy zeal of our reverend clergy, but how is this manifested? Do they manifest their zeal in the cause of religion and humanity by practicing the mild and benevolent precepts of the Gospel of Jesus? Do they feed the hungry and clothe the naked? Oh, no, gentlemen! Instead of feeding the hungry and clothing the naked, these rapacious harpies would, were their powers equal to their will, snatch from the hearth of their honest parishioner his last hoe-cake, from the widow and her orphan children their last milch cow! The last bed, nay, the last blanket from the lying-in woman!’ Henry could not demand a verdict for the planters since the law was clearly on the side of the clergy. Instead, he asked the jury to bring forth a verdict for the clergy in the amount of one penny—which the jury did.” John Eidsmoe, Christianity and the Constitution (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1987), p. 301.

15   Lane, Boston Athenaeum, Catalogue of the Washington Collection, p. 99, “Bought by Washington as appears from the following:—1774. June 15. By Henley’s defence agt ye cha: of Heresy....” A Candid refutation of the Heresy Imputed By Ro. C. Nicholas Esquire to The Reverend S. Henley. Williamsburg, Printed for B. White in London, D. Prince in Oxford, and J. Woodyer in Cambridge, 1774. The book explains, “Colonel Bland’s imputation of Socinianism rests solely upon my interpretation of the first chapter to the Hebrews. By this I explained away the divinity of our Saviour. That gentleman affirms it, and therefore, it must be true. Now I would ask, whether upon so inconclusive an evidence any criminal, hitherto, was ever condemned? ...Further: Supposing my interpretation of that chapter to have been the Socinian interpretation, it will, by no means, follow that I am a Socinian. What are the notions you entertain of Socinus? For the only information you may find leisure to receive consult in some dictionary a catalogue of his tenets. You will then find that the Papist, the Protestant, the Arian, and the MONSTROUS Socinian, do, and must, agree in their interpretation of the greatest part of Scripture. What wonder then, if I were to explain one chapter according to Socinus? But, suppose I departed from the orthodox interpretation; yet this concession will profit you nothing. Here methinks, I see you prick up your attention. But be patient. I am, as a minister o the Church of England, obliged to believe in (what I have never denied) the divinity of our Saviour. But the Church does not confine me to prove it by this, or that text.” (pp. 4-6.)

16   Ibid., p. 39, “Bought by Washington, as shown by an entry in the Invoice of Cary & Co. of London, March, 1766, preserved in the State Department at Washington.” Burnet’s work was a classic defense of orthodox Anglicanism, but with a more “broad church” perspective, sometimes called “Latitudinarianism,” suggesting a more tolerant view of theological differences, and less interest in using state power to persecute non-conformists. Gilbert Bishop of Sarum, An Exposition of the XXXIX Articles of the Church of England (Oxford: University Press, 1845). Article I. Of Faith In The Holy Trinity. The last branch of this article is, the assertion of that great doctrine of the Christian religion concerning the Trinity, or three Persons in one divine essence. It is a vain attempt to go about to prove this by reason: for it must be confessed, that we should have had no cause to have thought of any such thing, if the scriptures had not revealed it to us. p. 40.
Article II. Of The Word Or Son Of God, Which Was Made Very Man.
The first of these leads me to prosecute what was begun in the former article: and to prove, that the Son, or Word, was from all eternity begotten of the same substance with the Father. It is here to be noted, that Christ is in two respects the Son, and the only-begotten Son of God. The one is, as he was man; the miraculous overshadowing of the blessed Virgin by the Holy Ghost, having, without the ordinary course of nature, formed the first beginnings of Christ’s human body in the womb of the Virgin. Thus that miracle being instead of a natural begetting, he may in that respect be called the begotten, and the only-begotten Son of God. The other sense is, that the Word, or the divine Person, was in and of the substance of the Father, and so was truly God. (p. 47.)
Article IV. Of The Resurrection Of Christ.
Among all Christians the article of the resurrection and ascension of Christ was always looked on as the capital one upon which all the rest depended. (p. 65.)
Article VI. Of The Sufficiency Of Holy Scriptures For Salvation.
In this article there are two important heads, and to each of them a proper consequence does belong. The first is, that the holy scriptures do contain all things necessary to salvation: the negative consequence that ariseth out of that is, that no article that is not either read in it, or that may not be proved by it, is to be required to be believed as an article of faith, or to be thought necessary to salvation....After the main foundations of religion in general, in the belief of a God, or more specially of the Christian religion in the doctrine of the Trinity, and of the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, are laid down; the next point to be settled is, what is the rule of this faith, where is it to be found, and with whom is it lodged?. . . We on the contrary affirm, that the scriptures are a complete rule of faith, and that the whole Christian religion is contained in them, and no where else.... (p. 79.)

17   WGW, vol. 37, 1-7-1773. To Reverend Jonathan Boucher. “From the best enquiries I could make whilst I was in, and about Williamsburg I cannot think William and Mary College a desirable place to send Jack Custis to; the Inattention of the Masters, added to the number of Hollidays, is the Subject of general complaint; and affords no pleasing prospect to a youth who has a good deal to attain, and but a short while to do it in.” WGW, vol. 36, 1-22-1798. To David Stuart.

Washington leaves this today, on a visit to Hope Park, which will afford you an opportunity to examine the progress he has made in the studies he was directed to pursue.

I can, and I believe do, keep him in his room a certain portion of the 24 hours, but it will be impossible for me to make him attend to his Books, if inclination, on his part, is wanting; nor while I am out, if he chuses to be so too, is it in my power to prevent it. I will not say this is the case, nor will I run the hazard of doing him injustice by saying he does not apply, as he ought, to what has been prescribed; but no risk will be run, and candour requires I declare it as my opinion, that he will not derive much benefit in any course which can be marked out for him at this place, without an able Preceptor always with him, nor then, for reasons, which do not require to be detailed.

What is best to be done with him, I know not. My opinion always has been that the University in Massachusetts would have been the most eligable Seminary to have sent him to, 1st, because it is on a larger Scale than any other; and 2nd, because I believe that the habits of the youth there, whether from the discipline of the School. or from the greater attention of the People, generally, to morals and a more regular course of life, are less prone to dissipation and debauchery than they are at the Colleges South of it. It may be asked, if this was my opinion, why did I not send him there? the answer is as short, as to me it was weighty; being the only male of his family and knowing (although it would have been submitted to) that it would have proved a heart rending stroke to have him at that distance. I was disposed to try a nearer Seminary, of good repute; which from some cause, or combinations of causes, has not, after the experiment of a year, been found to answer the end that was contemplated. Whether to send him there now, or indeed to any other public School, is at least problematical, and to suffer him to mispend his time at this place, will be disgraceful to himself and me.

The more I think of his entering at William and Mary, (unless he could be placed in the Bishop’s family) the more doubtful I am of its utility, on many accounts; which had better be the subject of oral communications than by letter. I shall wish to hear from you on the subject of this letter. On occasion of severe reprimand, I found it necessary to give Washington sometime ago, I received the enclosed from him. I have little doubt of his meaning well, but he has not resolution, or exertion enough to act well. (See also, WGW, vol. 36, 1-22-1798. To David Stuart.)

18   See Edwin S. Gaustad, A Documentary History of Religion In America to the Civil War, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993), p. 202-03.

19   Ibid, p. 203.

20   WGW, vol. 29, 2-20-1788. To Samuel Griffin.

21   To see how Washington’s life reflected the three primary missions of William and Mary’s founding charter, see the chapters: “Washington Vs. Deistic Ethics” for moral issues, “George Washington’s Family Life” for the importance of proper college education for young people, and “Washington’s Virginia and the Anglican Mission to the Indians” for missionary outreach. As to teaching the catechism and assenting to the Articles of the Christian faith, Washington had Anglican and Episcopal tutors for his children and he himself had signed the oath of subscription to the Thirty-Nine Articles when he became a Vestryman.

22   “Washington was assigned to his old Committee, that of Propositions and Grievances ... Privileges and Elections, and later to the new Committee of Religion.....He served on the same three regular committees as in the previous House—Propositions and Grievances, Privileges and Elections, and Religion.” Douglas Southall Freeman, George Washington: A Biography (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1951) III.218, 237.

23   Inasmuch as Virginia had been most forward in support of Massachusetts, Adams was especially eager to meet the Virginia delegates, four of whom, Peyton Randolph, Benjamin Harrison, Richard Henry Lee, and Richard Bland, arrived in the afternoon of September 2. A little converse with them, and Adams declared, “These gentlemen from Virginia appear to be the most spirited and consistent of any. Harrison said he would have come on foot rather than not come. Bland said he would have gone, upon this occasion, if it had been to Jericho.” After a breakfast-table talk with Lee next morning, Adams set Lee down as “a masterly man.” Physically, Randolph was “a large, well looking man,” Lee “a tall, spare man,” Bland “a learned, bookish man.” Silas Deane drew a better portrait of Randolph: “Of an affable, open, and majestic deportment, large in size, though not out of proportion, he commands respect and esteem by his very aspect.” It was Deane who described Harrison as “an uncommonly large man... rather rough in his dress and speech”; but it was Adams who later characterized him as “an indolent, luxurious, heavy gentleman, of no use in Congress or committee, but a great embarrassment to both.” This, however, was when enthusiasms had cooled and the wires of purposes had become crossed. As the other Virginia delegates, Edmund Pendleton, Patrick Henry, and George Washington, did not arrive until Sunday, they failed to get their portraits hung in the Adams gallery at this time. It was Deane again, who a few days later supplied sketches of them. Pendleton was “of easy and cheerful countenance, polite in address, and elegant if not eloquent in style and elocution.” Henry was “the compleatest speaker” he had ever heard. (Congress had then had some “samples” of the celebrated Virginian’s oratory.) Colonel Washington was a tall man, of a “hard” countenance, “yet with a very young look, and an easy, soldier like air and gesture... speaks very modestly and in determined style and accent”. What particularly placed him high in the estimation of the New Englanders was the speech he was said to have made in the House of Burgesses, when he offered to raise and arm and lead one thousand men himself at his own expense for the defense of the country. “Edmund Cody Burnett, The Continental Congress, (New York: The MacMillian Company, 1941), p. 29-30.

24   Meade, Old Churches, I. p. 174. See also, Meade, II. p. 292-293.

25   Meade, Old Churches, II. P. 140.

26   For Richard Henry Lee, see Meade, Old Churches, I. p. 171, II. 140-142. For Edmund Pendleton, see Meade I. pp. 414-416. For the Randolphs see Meade I. p. 181-183, II. p. 292-293, For R. C. Nicholas, see Meade I. 184-185. For Colonel Bland, see Meade, I. 183. For Patrick Henry, see Meade II. p. 12.

27   Federer, America’s God and Country, p. 289.

28   Meade, Old Churches, I. p. 175, II. P. 293.

29   WGW, vol. 36, 1-22-1798. To David Stuart. “The more I think of his [George Washington Parke Custis] entering at William and Mary, (unless he could be placed in the Bishop’s family) the more doubtful I am of its utility, on many accounts; which had better be the subject of oral communications than by letter.”

30   Meade, Old Churches, I. 182-183.

31   Ibid, II. p. 292.

32   Ibid, I. 182.

33   Ellis, His Excellency: George Washington, p. 45.

34   Paul K. Longmore, The Invention of George Washington (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988), pp. 92-93. “When the Assembly convened on 8 May 1769, Washington as usual received appointment to the powerful committees of Propositions and Grievances and of Privileges and Elections. A week later, he was put on the newly created standing Committee for Religion. This marked another significant step in his rise in the House. For the remainder of his membership, he would serve on these three standing committees. He was becoming an increasingly influential and prominent Burgess. Washington now stood in the second circle of power, just outside the central core of leadership.

“Signs of corruption alarmed Virginia’s leaders: Robinson scandal, the sensational Chiswell murder care, pervasive materialism among the gentry, a consequent massive increase in private debt, reputedly widespread immorality among the Anglican clergy, declining influence of the established church, and the rise of disruptive religious sects. The Committee for Religion was established to combat these ominous trends. It included leading members of the House: Colony Treasurer Robert Carter Nicholas (Chair), Attorney General John Randolph, Richard Bland, Benjamin Harrison, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, Edmund Pendleton, and George Washington.

“The committee worked to police the established church by regulating parish vestries. It drafted plans to block a proposed Anglican episcopate and keep the church under indigenous control. It sought to defuse the divisive question of religious dissent by preparing legislation that would extend toleration to Baptists. In short, its actions were part of the effort to restore communal unity and public virtue at a time when both seemed jeopardy. This task was essential as the province confronted the Crown. Virginia’s unified front from 1769 to 1775 suggests that the effort succeeded. It was not coincidence that the colony’s leaders created the Committee for Religion at the same time they fashioned means to resist the Townshend duties and other recent arbitrary measures.

The remonstrances of the Virginia Assembly in 1768 against the Townshend duties had angered Crown officials. They has sent a new governor, Lord Botetcourt, to enforce imperial policy vigorously. Unbeknownst to Virginians, he carried instructions either to persuade provincial leaders to stop their protests against parliamentary authority, or failing that, to dissolve the Assembly and call for new elections. Meanwhile, the House of Lords, probably at the instigation of Lord Hillsborough, invoked a statute from the reign of Henry VIII to threaten the leading militants in Massachusetts with transportation to England to face charges of treason.”

35   Ellis, His Excellency: George Washington, p. 151.

36   Ibid., p. 9.

37   Allan Nevins, The American States: During and After the Revolution 1775-1789, (New York: Augustus M. Kelley Publishers, 1969), p. 435, n. 16.

38   WGW, vol. 28, 1-17-1785. To Samuel Chase. “As you expressed a desire to know what the Assembly of this State had done, or were about to do respecting an establishment for the teachers of religion, I do myself the honor to enclose you a copy of their proceedings in that matter.”

39   Allan Nevins, The American States, p. 434-435.

40   See Peter A. Lillback, Proclaim Liberty: A Broken Bell Proclaims Liberty To The World (Bryn Mawr: The Providence Forum, 2001), p. 88, n. 72. “It is sometimes inferred that Madison’s rejection of established religion was tantamount to a rejection of the Christian faith. While Madison was deeply opposed to Christianity’s use of force and persecution to advance its message, it is not true that he opposed Christianity per se. This is evident in his most famous treatise in the defense of non-governmental support of religion, ‘Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, 1785.’ One of his arguments for not using public funds to support the teachers of religion in Virginia is that it would actually advance the growth of Christianity, a fact that history has thoroughly substantiated. Madison writes, ‘6. Because the establishment proposed by the Bill is not requisite for the support of the Christian Religion. To say that it is, is a contradiction to the Christina Religion itself. . . .12. Because the policy to the bill is adverse to the diffusion of the light of Christianity. The first wish of those who enjoy this precious gift, ought to be that it may be imparted to the whole race of mankind.”

41   WGW, vol. 10-3-1785, To George Mason.

42   Ibid., vol. 30, 10-23-1789. To First Presbytery of the Eastward. “... you will permit me to observe 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-Charta 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.”

43   Ibid., vol. 30, 10-23-1789.

44   Ibid., vol. 30, 10-23-1789. To First Presbytery of the Eastward.

45   Note in Ibid, on May 4, 1772.

46   Ibid., vol. 3, 5-4-1772. To Reverend Jonathan Boucher.

47   Ibid., vol. 3, 5-4-1772. To Reverend Jonathan Boucher.

48   Longmore, The Invention of George Washington, p. 93.

49   See Sawyer, Washington, I. 215.

50   Letter of Nelly Custis, Sparks, The Writings of George Washington, vol. XII, p.405-408.

51   “Samuel Seabury (1729—1796) was the first bishop of the Episcopal church in America. He had been an outspoken and active Tory before and during the Revolution, and his choice by the Episcopal clergy of Connecticut as their candidate for consecration caused much controversy among the American churchmen and laity. The fact that he was consecrated in Scotland rather than in England made some question the validity of his office, and he was a controversial figure until his death.” [a quote from where?]

52   Samuel Provoost (1742—1815) a native New Yorker, was the first Protestant Episcopal bishop of New York. Educated at Cambridge, he was ordained by the bishop of London in 1766. Upon his return to America, he served as assistant minister at Trinity Church in New York City, but his Whig sympathies so incensed the Loyalist members of the parish that he was forced to resign in 1771. After the evacuation of New York by the British, the vestry invited him to return as rector. In 1786 he was elected bishop of New York and was consecrated in England in the chapel of Lambeth Palace in Feb. 1787. In addition he still acted as rector of Trinity Church and was chaplain of the Senate.

53   William White (1748—1836), a native of Philadelphia, was the assistant minister and then, during the Revolution, the successor to Jacob Duché as minister for Christ and St. Peter’s Anglican churches in Philadelphia. White had recently returned from England, where earlier this year he had been consecrated an Anglican bishop, thus becoming empowered to consecrate deacons for the newly formed Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America, which he was instrumental in organizing following the Revolution. White’s sister Mary was the wife of George Washington’s Philadelphia host, Robert Morris.

54   See Schaff’s Creeds of Christendom, vol. 1, paragraph 82.

55   See justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1786/BCP; David Griffiths’, Bibliography of the Book of Common Prayer; Paul Marshall, Prayer Book Parallels; William McGarvey Liturgiæ Americanæ (1907).

56   “A FORM OF PRAYER AND THANKSGIVING TO ALMIGHTY GOD, For the inestimable Blessings of Religious and Civil Liberty; to be used yearly Fourth Day of July, unless it happen to be on Sunday, and then on following. The Service shall be as usual, except where it is hereby otherwise appointed. Among the Sentences at Morning Prayer shall be the following:
THe Eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting Arms. Deut. 33. 27. Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: The fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine: also his heavens shall drop down dew. Verse 28. Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people favoured by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy Excellency. Verse 29. The Lord hath been mindful of us, and he shall bless us; he shall bless them that fear him, both small and great. Psalm 115. 12, 13. O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare the wonders that he doeth for the children of men. Psalm 107.21. Instead of “O come let us sing, &c.,” the following Hymn shall be said or sung.
MY Song shall be alway of the loving kindness of the Lord : with my Mouth ever be shewing his Truth from one generation to another. Psal. 89. 1. The merciful and gracious Lord hath so done his marvellous Works : that they ought to be had in remembrance. Psal. 111. 4. Who can express the noble Acts of the Lord : or shew forth all his praise? Psal. 106. 2. The works of the Lord are great : sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. Psal. 111.2. For he will not alway be chiding : neither keepeth he his anger forever. Psal. 103.9. He hath not dealt with us after our sins : nor rewarded us according to our wickedness. Verse 10. For look how high the heaven is in comparison of the earth : so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. Verse 11. Yea, like as a father pitieth his own children : even so is the Lord merciful unto them that fear him. Verse 11. Thou, O God, hast proved us; thou also hast tried us, like as silver is tried. Psal. 66.9. Thou didst remember us in our low estate, and redeem us from our enemies for thy mercy endureth forever. Psal. 136. 23, 24.
Then shall be said or sung the Psalm; which shall be the same as is appointed Day, Part 2.
The first Lesson shall be, Deut. 8; and the second Lesson shall be, [1] Thess. 5.12 to 24.
A thanksgiving for the day, to be said after the general thanksgiving.
O God, whose Name is excellent in all the earth, and thy glory above the heavens, who as on this day didst inspire the direct the hearts of our delegates in Congress, to lay the perpetual foundations of peace, liberty, and safety; we bless and adore thy glorious Majesty, for this thy loving kindness and providence. And we humbly pray that the devout sense of this signal mercy may renew and increase in us a spirit of love and thankfulness to thee its only author, a spirit of peaceable submission to the laws and government of our country, and a spirit of fervent zeal for our holy religion, which thou hast preserved and secured to us and our posterity. May we improve these inestimable blessing for the advancement of religion, liberty, and science throughout this land, till the wilderness and solitary place be glad through us, and the desert rejoice and blossom as the rose. This we beg through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.
The Collect: to be used instead of that for the Day.
ALmighty God, who hast in all ages shewed forth thy power and mercy in the wonderful preservation of thy church, and in the protection of every nation and people professing thy holy and eternal Truth, and putting their sure trust in thee; We yield thee our unfeigned thanks and praise for all thy public mercies, and more especially for that signal and wonderful manifestation of thy providence which we commemorate this day; Wherefore not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy Name be ascribed all honor and glory, in all churches of the Saints, from generation to generation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle. Philip. 4. 4.
REjoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
The Gospel. St. John 8.31.
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

57   The comment continues, “and on which our communion, the true, legitimate, Protestant Episcopal Church is based; while Bishop Seabury, a non-juror in principle and orders, and a pensioner of the British Government till his death, has impressed his principles of Episcopal and Sacerdotal exclusiveness, and of Sacramental, mechanical grace, upon the liturgy and Rites of the Church we have been forced to abandon.” A Chapter of Unwritten History. The Protestant Episcopacy of the Revolutionary Patriots Lost and Restored. A Centennial Offering, by Reverend Mason Gallagher (Philadelphia: Reformed Episcopal Rooms, 1833), p. 4.

58   See chapter on religious liberty.

59   A Chapter of Unwritten History. The Protestant Episcopacy of the Revolutionary Patriots Lost and Restored. A Centennial Offering, by Reverend Mason Gallagher (Philadelphia: Reformed Episcopal Rooms, 1833), pp.; 4-5, 12.

60   A Revolution that Led To A Church, Prepared for the 200th Anniversary of the establishment of the Episcopal Church in the United States. Journal of the Proceedings of the Bishops, Clergy, and Laity of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 1789 (Cincinnati: Forward Movement Publications,: 1990). Seven years of war knocked the wind out of the Anglican churches in America. Without an episcopate and a common bond of union, the Church in America was in danger of disintegrating. As the war drew to a close, however, churches in some states took independent action to protect their rights and liberties and to establish their own identity without regard to the larger issue of union of the church as a whole. Maryland took the lead in 1780 when it was agreed that “the Church formally known as the Church of England should now be called the Protestant Episcopal Church.” But there had to be more!

In the Summer of 1782, thirty-four-year-old William White, Rector of the United Churches of Christ Church and St. Peter’s, Philadelphia, published a pamphlet titled, The Case of the Protestant Episcopal Church... Considered. As the most important writing on the subject of union and reorganization at the time, it made White the central figure in the reorganization of the church.

White argued that because the ties with England had been broken, the churches were free to decide to unite or to remain separate. If they decided for union, they should build their organization from the parish up and not for the diocese down, this allowing laity a voice in the formation and operation of the church. To provide a forum where problems and solutions could be aired, White advocated a state convention of clergy and elected lay representatives.

On the matter of the episcopacy, White proposed that until that “higher office” could be obtained (and only until then), there be a Presbyterian type of ordination, and clergymen elevated to the “superior order” would serve in a parish. Since he believed (then) that the episcopate would be long in coming, he was convinced that his plan was in the best interest of the churches. As was expected, his proposal met with mixed reviews.

But more important than the immediate reactions to “The Case” was that by the time the Treaty of Paris had been signed, the former colonial churches had the outline of a plan for reorganization. Though all churchmen would not agree with White’s proposals, his pamphlet opened up communications among various church leaders and attention began to be paid to the needs of the churches. Moreover, by 1785 the reorganization of the Episcopal Churches from New York to South Carolina was accomplished in open conventions of clergy and laity.

In contrast, the clergy of Connecticut, who apparently had received an early copy of White’s pamphlet, met secretly in 1783 to discuss what they called the “Philadelphia Plan.” Horrified, they went their own way: the episcopate first, union second. They elected Tory Samuel Seabury as bishop. Armed with a letter from the clergy to the archbishops, Seabury sailed for England to seek consecration. Though cordially received, his request was refused; and he turned to the non-juror bishops of Scotland and was consecrated in 1784, returning to the States the following spring (wearing a mitre, an ornament not used by the English bishops in the eighteenth century).

61   Reverend Mason Gallagher, A Chapter of Unwritten History, p. 12.

CHAPTER 16

1     WGW, vol. 30, 4-1779.

2     Boller, George Washington & Religion, p. 40.

3     From an interview done by Jerry Newcombe for Coral Ridge Ministries, 2005.

4     Johnson, Washington the Christian, p. 18.

5     WGW, vol. 2, 10-12-1761.

6     Ibid., vol. 3, 7-15-1772.

7     Ibid., vol. 2, 5-30-1768.

8     See Lane, Washington Collection, Boston Athenaeum, p. 23.

9     See WGW, vol. 2, Catalogue of Books for Master Custis Referred to on the Other side.

10   See the chapter on the Godly Leader.

11   WGW, vol. 27, 6-11-1783. To Reverend John Rodgers, “Dear Sir: I accept, with much pleasure your kind Congratulations on the happy Event of Peace, with the Establishment of our Liberties and Independence.
Glorious indeed has been our Contest: glorious, if we consider the Prize for which we have contended, and glorious in its Issue; but in the midst of our Joys, I hope we shall not forget that, to divine Providence is to be ascribed the Glory and the Praise.1
“Your proposition respecting Mr Aikins Bibles [Note: Rodgers’s letter (May 30) suggested that Congress present each soldier with a Bible. This letter is in the Washington Papers.] 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, takg off near two thirds of our Numbers, 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.
“I hope it will not be long before you will be able to go peaceably to N York; some patience however will yet be necessary; but Patience is a noble Virtue, and when rightly exercised, does not fail of its Reward.”

12   WGW, vol. 3-5-1794. To Charles Thompson. “Dear Sir: Weeks have passed since I finished reading the first part of your translation of the Septuagent; but having neglected (when I had the pleasure to see you last) to ascertain the medium through which I was to return it, and being unwilling to hazard the production to an uncertain conveyance, I give this letter to the Post Office in hopes of its reaching you, and of my receiving the information above.”

13   See Boller, George Washington & Religion, p. 40.

14   WGW, vol. 37, Last Will and Testament,

15   Reverend Bryan Fairfax, Minister of Christ Church, Alexandria, Sermon; from Christ Church, Rare BV 4500 P14.

16   “While President, Washington followed an invariable routine on Sundays, The day was passed very quietly, no company being invited to the house. After breakfast, the President read aloud a chapter from the Bible, then the whole family attended church together. Washington spent the afternoon writing personal letters, never neglecting his weekly instructions to his manager at Mount Vernon, while Mrs. Washington frequently went to church again, often taking the children with her. In the evening, Lear read aloud to the family some sermon or extracts from a book of a religious nature and everyone went to bed at an early hour. The President was an Episcopalian and in New York at first went to Saint Paul’s Chapel, as Trinity Church, which had been burned in the great fire of September, 1776, was then being rebuilt. The new church, when completed in March following, contained the ‘President’s Pew,” which was offered to Washington and accepted and after the new edifice was consecrated on the twenty-fifth of March, 1790, he attended services there until his departure from the city the following autumn.” (Stephen Decatur, Private Affairs of George Washington: From the Records and Accounts of Tobias Lear, Esquire, his Secretary, pp. 90-91.)

17   M’Guire, Religious Opinions, p. 134 and following; Johnson, George Washington The Christian, p. 229-230; Meade, Old Churches, vol. 2, p. 246.

18   Custis, Recollections, p. 477.

19   Boller, George Washington & Religion, p. 40. See also P. Marion Simms, The Bible in America (New York, 1936), p. 132.

20   Consider here Uzal Ogden’s 1795 work, Antidote to Deism, against Thomas Paine’s Age of Reason that Washington declined to endorse. Boller, p. 80, following Eliot Morison (The Young Man Washington (Cambridge, 1932), p. 37), implies that this was because of his sympathies for Deism. Washington received the two volumes on March 22, 1796. Ogden had written, “Dear Sir—I beg your acceptance of a Publication (which I have taken the Liberty to inscribe to you) designed to check the Progress of Infidelity and Vice, and to promote the Interests of Truth and Virtue—I shall be happy if the work shall be honored with your approbation, and am with sincere and great Esteem, Dear Sir, Your most obedient and very humble Servant Uzal Ogden.” (William Lane, A Catalogue of the Washington Collection, (The Boston Athenaeum, 1897) pp. 154-55; The George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress, Series 4. General Correspondence. 1697-1799, Uzal Ogden to George Washington, March 22, 1796, Image 20 of 1122.) The truth is Washington by this time had determined to deal with Paine in total silence. To have endorsed a book that critiqued Paine would have opened him up for further wrangling with his erstwhile friend. See chapter two above. This view is corroborated by the fact that Washington in this instance did not even acknowledge Ogden’s letter, although earlier he had clearly enjoyed an evangelical and biblically based sermon by Ogden, as is evident from Washington’s letter to Ogden (WGW, vol. 16, 8-5-1779), and in another instance, although declining to endorse a publication by him, he graciously explained that he could not (WGW, vol. 30, 7-6-1789.) Interestingly, Washington not only retained Ogden’s anti-Deistic work in his library, but Washington’s autograph is on the title page of both volumes. Lane, Washington Collection, Boston Athenaeum p. 154.

21   WGW, vol. 30, April 1789.

22   Ibid., vol. 29, 4-25-1788.

23   Ibid., vol. 26, 6-8-1783.

24   Ibid., vol. 28, 7-25-1785.

25   Ibid.

26   Ibid., vol. 29, 4-5-1788. To Marquis de Chastellux. “...but for the sake of humanity it is devoutly to be wished, that the manly employment of agriculture and the humanizing benefits of commerce, would supersede the waste of war and the rage of conquest; that the swords might be turned into plough-shares, the spears into pruning hooks, and, as the Scripture expresses it, “the nations learn war no more.”

27   Ibid., vol. 3, 5-21-1772. To Reverend Jonathan Boucher.

28   Ibid., vol. 16, 9-30-1779. To Marquis de Lafayette.

29   Ibid., vol. 32, 6-21-1792. To Gouverneur Morris.

30   Ibid., vol. 33, 5-26-1794. To the Earl of Buchan. “But providence, for purposes beyond the reach of mortal scan, has suffered the restless and malignant passions of man, the ambitious and sordid views of those who direct them, to keep the affairs of this world in a continual state of disquietude; and will, it is to be feared, place the prospects of peace too far off, and the promised millenium at an awful distance from our day.” The millennium refers to the biblical text of Revelation 20:6 where a period of one thousand years is mentioned.

31   Ibid., vol. 30, 10-23-1789. To the First Presbytery of the Eastward. “I am persuaded, you will permit me to observe that the path of true piety is so plain as to require but little political direction.”

32   Ibid., vol. 30, 10-9-1789, note. “On October 9 the Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church in North America sent an address to Washington, the answer to which is undated, but recorded immediately...In the answer he stated: “I readily join with you that ‘while just government protects all in their religious rights, true religion affords to government its surest support.’” WGW, vol. 30, 10-3-1789. Washington’s first Thanksgiving Proclamation declared in part, “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,...” WGW, vol. 24, 6-28-1782. To the Ministers, Elders, and Deacons of the Reformed Dutch Church at Albany. “Your benevolent wishes and fervent prayers for my personal wellfare and felicity, demand all my gratitude. May the preservation of your civil and religious Liberties still be the care of an indulgent Providence; and may the rapid increase and universal extension of knowledge virtue and true Religion be the consequence of a speedy and honorable Peace.”

33   Ibid., vol. 13, 12-17-1778.

34   Ibid., vol. 10, 1-29-1778.

35   Ibid., vol. 25, 12-18-1782.

36   Ibid., vol. 30, April 1789.

37   Ibid., vol. 7, 1-22-1777

38   Ibid., vol. 12, 8-20-1778.

39   Ibid., vol. 27, 12-13-1783.

40   Ibid., vol. 35, 11-18-1796.

41   Ibid., vol. 36, July 25, 1798

42   Ibid., vol. 35, 5-15-1796.

43   Ibid., vol. 35, May 15, 1796

44   Interview with Mary Thompson, with Jerry Newcombe and Peter Lillback, 2005.

45   Ibid., vol. 29, 6-19-1788.

46   Ibid., vol. 31, 8-17-1790.

47   Ibid., vol. 35, 2-21-1796.

48   Ibid., vol. 35, 10-17-1796.

49   Ibid., vol. 35, 2-28-1797.

50   Ibid., vol. 35, 4-7-1797.

51   Ibid., vol. 35, 5-15-1797.

52   Ibid., vol. 35, 5-28-1797.

53   Ibid., vol. 35, 6-24-1797.

54   Ibid., vol. 35, 6-24-1797.

55   Ibid., vol. 35, 6-25-1797.

56   Ibid., vol. 35, 6-25-1797.

57   Ibid., vol. 35, 6-26-1797.

58   Ibid., vol. 35, 7-4-1797.

59   Ibid., vol. 35, 7-8-1797.

60   Ibid., vol. 30, 8-29-1788 to Sir Edward Newenham; vol. 33 5-26-1794 to the Earl of Buchan; vol. 34, 12-24-1795 to Dr. James Anderson.

61   Boller, George Washington And Religion, p. 43, writes, “If Washington ‘diligently searched the Holy volume,’ as has been asserted, he seems to have utilized his findings largely for purposes of whimsy.”

62   WGW, vol. 37, 8-28, 1762.

63   Ibid., vol. 27, 9-2-1783. Her poem and letter, dated Aug. 28, 1783, and signed “Emilia,” are in the Jackson, Twohig, Diaries of George Washington.

64   WGW, vol. 31, 8-14-1790 to Gouveneur Morris, see note.

65   Transcript of a TV interview with Rabbi Daniel Lapin, Coral Ridge Ministries 17 May 2001.

66   WGW, vol. 28, 7-25-1785.

67   Ibid., vol. 27, 9-2-1783.

68   Ibid., vol. 36, 6-13-1798.

69   Ibid., vol. 30, April 1789.

70   Ibid., vol. 28, 1-5-1785.

71   Ibid., vol. 37, 8-30-1799.

72   PGW, 2:179-181.

73   Ibid., vol. 5, 7-20-1776.

74   Ibid., vol. 22 7-8-1781.

75   Ibid., vol. 13, 12-12-1778.

76   Ibid., vol. 36, 4-16-1798.

77   Ibid., vol. 4, 1-14-1776.

78   Ibid., vol. 26, 6-8-1783.

79   Ibid., vol. 26, 5-26-1794.

80   Ibid., vol. 9, 10-19-1777.

81   Ibid., vol. 6, 9-24-1776.

82   Ibid., vol. 9, 10-19-1777.

83   Ibid., vol. 27, 9-2-1783.

84   Ibid., vol. 23, 1-31-1782.

85   Ibid., vol. 13, 12-17-1778.

86   Ibid., vol. 36, 12-3-1797.

87   Ibid., vol. 36, 11-4-1797.

88   Ibid., vol. 22, 6-7-1781.

89   Ibid., vol. 29, 4-25-1788.

90   Ibid., vol. 29, 4-25-1788.

91   Ibid., vol. 26, 7-8-1783.

92   Ibid., vol. 20, 11-20-1780.

93   Ibid., vol. 30, 6-28-1788.

94   Ibid., vol. 14, 3-31-1779.

95   Ibid., vol. 27, 6-11-1783.

96   Ibid., vol. 30, 8-28-1788.

97   Ibid., vol. 26, 3-15-1783.

98   Ibid., vol. 11, 4-30-1778.

99   Ibid., vol. 24, 5-24-1793

100 Ibid., vol. 27, 10-12-1783.

101 Ibid., vol.3, 2-23-1773.

102 Ibid., vol. 4, 3-6-1776.

103 Ibid., vol. 27, 11-2-1783.

104 M’Guire, Religious Opinions, p.158

CHAPTER 17

1     WGW, vol. 7, 4-15-1777.

2     Believing that these phrases are not critical to be found in any specific context, but rather that it be understood that Washington used them, we here simply refer our reader to the WGW search feature, and ask them to type in the phrase and consider any number of examples for the phrases selected here.

3     See WGW search feature online.

4     See search feature of WGW.

5     WGW, vol. 4, 11-26-1775.

6     Ibid., vol. 4, 11-26-1775.

7     Ibid., vol. 8, 7-16-1777.

8     Ibid., vol. 10, 2-21-1778.

9     Ibid., vol. 6, 12-10-1776.

10   Ibid., vol. 28, 8-1-1786.

11   Ibid., vol. 6, 12-18-1776.

12   Ibid., vol. 9, 1-27-1777.

13   Ibid., vol. 19, 8-26-1780.

14   Ibid., vol. 17, 1-28-1780.

15   Ibid., vol. 17, 1-31-1780.

16   Ibid., vol. 27, 8-21-1783.

17   Ibid., vol. 26, 4-9-1783.

18   Ibid., vol. 36, 5-27-1798.

19   Ibid., vol. 34, 7-29-1795.

20   Ibid., vol. 37, 6-24-1799.

21   Ibid., vol. 29, 5-28-1788.

22   Ibid., vol. 13, 10-12-1778.

23   Ibid., vol. 27, 11-10-1783.

24   Ibid., vol. 31, 3-15-1790.

25   Ibid., vol. 30, 8-29-1788.

26   Ibid., vol. 29, 10-1783.

27   Ibid., vol. 30, 1-12-1790.

28   Ibid., vol. 13, 10-4-1778.

29   Ibid., vol. 31, 6-4-1790.

30   Ibid., vol. 27, 6-24, 1783.

31   Ibid., vol. 30, 5-10-1789.

32   Ibid., vol. 17, 11-27-1779.

33   Ibid., vol. 3, 9-14-1775.

34   Ibid., vol. 31, 3-15-1790.

35   Ibid., vol. 30, 8-18-1789.

36   Ibid., vol. 34, 2-10-1796.

37   Ibid., vol. 27, 8-10-1783.

38   Ibid., vol. 29, 5-5-1787.

39   Ibid., vol. 35, 8-29-1796.

40   Ibid., vol. 4, 1-27-1776.

41   We will consider Washington’s view of God in a subsequent chapter.

42   We will consider Washington’s view of providence in a subsequent chapter..

43   We will consider these in the subsequent chapter on Washington’s view of God.

44   A subsequent chapter will consider Washington’s view of heaven and eternal life.

45   WGW, vol. 7, 4-12-1777.

46   Ibid., vol. 10, 11-30-1777.

47   Ibid., vol. 30, 4-30-1789.

48   Ibid., vol. 9, 10-18-1777.

49   Ibid., vol.2, 10-12-1761; WGW, vol. 3, 7-15-1772; WGW, vol. 3, 7-18-1771.

50   Ibid., vol. 3, Diary.

51   Ibid., vol. 27, 7-10-1783.

52   8 times, e.g. WGW, vol. 4, 3-29-1776.

53   5 times, e.g. WGW, vol. 2-14-1784.

54   10 times, e.g. WGW, vol. 26, 6-8-1783.

55   5 times, e.g. WGW, vol. 27, 12-12-1783.

56   Ibid., vol. 29, 6-8-1788.

57   8 times, e.g. WGW, vol. 4, 12-5-1775.

58   5 times, e.g. WGW, vol. 30, 4-30-1789.

59   21 times, e.g. WGW, vol. 35, 5-15-1796.

60   This word is used over 1,500 times. The phrase “devoutly wishes” is used once in WGW, vol.35, 6-24-1797 and “devout wishes” is used twice, WGW, vol. 27, 7-14-1783; WGW, vol. 24, 1-7-1796. The words “devout” and “wish” occur together in various arrangements 22 times.

61   Ibid., vol. 27, 8-10-1783.

62   Ibid., vol. 17, 11-27-1779.

63   Human intercession resulting in pardon. WGW, vol. 25, 10-11-1782.

64   3 times, e.g. WGW, vol. 26, 6-8-1783. Benediction of heaven is used twice, e.g., WGW, vol. 27, 11-27-1783.

65   11 times, e.g. WGW, vol. 3, 7-4-1775.

66   Ibid., vol. 35, 9-16-1796.

67   Ibid., vol. 30, 7-20-1788.

68   161 times, e.g., WGW, vol. 26, 6-8-1783.

69   7 times, e.g. WGW, vol. 4, 11-18-1775.

70   Ibid., vol. 10, 11-30-1777.

71   Ibid., vol. 3, 7-29-1775.

72   Ibid., vol. 34, 12-30-1794.

73   9 times, e.g. WGW, vol. 5, 15, 1776.

74   Ibid., vol. 30, 10-3-1789.

75   Ibid., vol. 4, 11-18-1775.

76   Ibid., vol. 35, 8-29-1796.

77   3 times e.g. WGW, vol. 2, 8-2-1758.

78   We will consider the specific written prayers of Washington in the next chapter/APPENDIX, so we will not specifically footnote these phrases, since any number of the several examples can easily be found with the WGW search feature.

79   Ibid., vol. 36, 6-18-1798.

80   Ibid., vol. 27, 5-28-1784.

81   Ibid., vol. 27, 11-2-1783

82   Ibid., vol. 30, 7-21-1788.

83   Ibid., vol. 26, 6-8-1783.

84   Ibid., vol. 26, 3-23-1783.

85   Ibid., vol. 27, 11-15-1783.

86   Ibid., vol. 30, 9-23-1789.

87   Ibid., vol. 14, 3-4-1779.

88   Ibid., vol. 23, 9-8-1781.

89   Ibid., vol. 27, 2-14-84.

90   Ibid., vol. 27, 5-28-1784.

91   Ibid., vol. 24, 6-28-1782.

92   Ibid., vol. 27, 11-10-1783.

93   Ibid., vol. 37, 1-20-1799.

94   Ibid., vol. 27, 8-10-1783.

95   Ibid., vol. 31, 4-6-1790.

96   Ibid., vol. 31, 2-21-1791.

97   Ibid., vol. 37, 5-13-1776.

98   Ibid., vol. 2, 7-20-1758.

99   Ibid., vol. 33, 1-1-1794.

100 See appendix on Washington’s written prayers.

101 WGW, vol. 28, 8-18-1786.

102 Ibid., vol. 3, 6-23-1775.

103 Ibid., vol. 37, 1-20-1799.

104 Ibid., vol. 5. 5-31-1776.

105 Ibid, vol. 4, 1-14-1776.

106 Ibid., vol. 37, 10-27-1799.

107 Ibid., vol. 37, 11-22-1799.

108 Ibid., vol. 5, 8-13-1776.

109 Ibid., vol. 31, 7-28-1791.

110 Ibid., vol. 37, 5-13-1776.

111 Ibid., vol. 13, 12-18-1778.

112 Ibid., vol. 33, 8-4-1793.

113 Ibid., vol. 36, 7-13-1798.

114 Ibid., vol. 3, 8-20-1775.

115 Ibid., vol. 3, 7-18-1775.

116 Ibid., vol. 30, 8-28-1788.

117 Ibid., vol. 30, 9-22-1788.

118 Ibid., vol. 1, 12-1756.

119 Ibid., vol. 36, 8-9-1798.

120 Ibid., vol. 4, 4-20-1776.

121 Ibid., vol. 37, 1-20-1799.

122 Ibid., vol. 35, 12-19-1796.

123 Ibid., vol. 26, 6-8-1783.

124 Ibid., vol. 3, 8-20-1785.

125 Ibid., vol. 28, 7-26-1786.

126 Ibid., vol. 26, 3-121-1783.

127 Ibid., vol.

128 Ibid., vol. 3, 8-11-1775.

129 Ibid., vol. 3, 9-14-1775.

130 Ibid., vol. 7, 4-15-1777.

131 Steiner, The Religious Beliefs Of Our Presidents, 1936.

132 WGW, vol. 30, 8-28-1785. To Reverend Jonathan Edwards.

133 Ibid., vol. 15, 6-2-1779. To the Minister, Elders, and Deacons of the Dutch Reformed Church at Raritan.

134 Ibid., vol. 30, 5-26-1789. To the General Assembly of Presbyterian churches in the United States.

135 Ibid., vol. 30, 10-23-1789. To the First Presbytery of the Eastward, Newburyport.

136 Ibid., vol. 28, 1-25-1785. To Sir James Jay.

137 Ibid., vol. 28, 2-8-1785. To the President of the Congress, WGW, vol. 28, 1-25-1785. To Sir John Jay.

138 Ibid., vol. 28, 1-25-1785. To Sir James Jay.

139 Ibid., vol. 32, 4-10-1792. To Reverend John Carroll.

140 Ibid., vol. 27, 8-10-1783. To George Martin.

141 Ibid., vol.13, 12-18-1778. To Benjamin Harrison

142 Ibid., vol. 11, 5-2-1778. General Orders.

143 Ibid., vol. 5, 5-15-1776. General Orders.

144 Ibid., vol. 30, 7-20-1785. To Jonathan Trumbull.

145 Ibid., vol. 30, 4-30-1789. The First Inaugural Address.

146 Ibid., vol. 35, 9-19-1796. Farewell Address.

147 A Discourse, Delivered, On the 18th day of December 1777, the Day of Public Thanksgiving Appointed by the Honourable Continental Congress, By the Reverend Israel Evans, Available on the Evans Collection Early American Imprints, 1st series, no. 15791 (filmed), “A.M. Chaplain to General Poor’s Brigade And now published at the Request of the General and Officers of the said Brigade, To be distributed among the Soldiers, Gratis. Lancaster: Printed by Francis Bailey 1778. Evans wrote, “Methinks I see the illustrious Washington, with but two or three thousand men, retreating indeed before 10 or 12,000 of the enemy; but yet checking their progress thro’ the country, and when reinforced by the brave militia, turning upon the enemy, killing some, captivating many, and obliging so large an army to retire, and confine themselves, during the whole winter, within narrow bounds. Oh America, give glory to God, for such a faithful hero! Then you saw him greatest when most without your aid. Collected in himself, he greatly resolved, with his few faithful followers, to be the barrier of liberty, or fall in its defense. Oh sons of America, let it not again be said, that you seemed to desert liberty and Washington: But God supported and preserved him and us all; so that instead of being conquered, we gained strength and knowledge, in the art and means of defense, during the two last campaigns: And having now nearly concluded the third campaign, although victory has not fully attended us in every enterprise, the prospect is glorious, and far exceeds our former expectations or hopes, and calls us to praise God, and say, blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us to be a prey to our enemies.... I now enter upon a less joyful subject than the triumphs of victory; but it is to some the sure attendant of conquest. Suffer me, my dear fellow soldiers, to check, for a moment, the current of joy and gladness, and blame me not for doing honour to the memory of the brave heroes, who fell in battle, honourably defending their country. They well deserve the tribute of a tear, and are justly entitled to the honour of being recorded in our breasts, among the saviors of our country. For us and posterity they bravely fought, and bled, and died, and fell in the field of glory, and the arms of victory. With us they were acquainted, and to us they were dear. Neither officers nor soldiers shall be ungratefully forgotten by us; for they have done honour to their country, and made a generous sacrifice of their lives, to the rights and liberties of mankind. Such bravery is worthy of imitation, and gives a dignity to human nature. Follow therefore, ye men of war, their noble example, and to all your innate bravery, join love to all the friends of liberty, and true love to God, who covered your heads in the day of battle, and shielded you from death, when you saw his arrows fly so thick around you, and so many were slain. I beseech you, let not your near escape from death, harden you against God, and dispose you to forget and neglect him. He is continually doing you good; why will you offend him, and disregard the innumerable obligations, you are under, to be obedient to his laws and submissive to his will. Behold, how tenderly the Psalmist represents the care and kindness of the Lord, unto all those who put their trust in him. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor the arrow that flyeth by day. In the strength of God, therefore, go on ye heroes, who, in two battles with the enemy, bravely fought, and have survived those conflicts, and are happily before me this day, employed in the most reasonable and dignified service, of praising and adoring the Lord of hosts, the God of battle, who with infinite ease disposes all the events of war, and guides the seemingly casual revolutions of kingdoms and states, to his own appointed purposes. Walk in the road of glory, and the pleasant path of true virtue, and gather fresh laurels in every enterprise. Regret not your removal from the late successful command of the honourable General Gates, for here is His Excellency General Washington. Look on him, and catch the genuine patriot fire of liberty and independence. Look on him, and learn to forget your own ease and comfort; like him resign the charms of domestic life, when the genius of America bids you grow great in her service, and liberty calls you to protect her. Look on your worthy general, and claim the happiness and honour of saying, he is ours. Like him love virtue, and like him, reverence the name of the great Jehovah. Be mindful of that public declaration which he has made. “That we cannot reasonably expect the blessing of God upon our arms, if we continue to prophane his holy name. Learn of him to endure watchings, cold and hardships, for you have just heard that he assures you, he is ready and willing, to endure whatever inconveniences and hardships may attend this winter. Are any of you startled at the prospect of hard winter quarters? Think of liberty and Washington, and your hardships will be forgotten and banished. Let Europe, nay let the world hear, that the American army, in the defense of their country, cheerfully submitted to the inconvenience of having no other houses of accommodation, than such as their own hands reared in the depth of winter. Be encouraged, therefore, to undertake all that has been proposed to you, in the generals orders. And let me assure you, from some little experience obtained, in three campaigns, that what has appeared hard and impractible, at a distance, has been found tolerable and easy, when the worst that could be imagined has arrived.”

148 WGW, vol.11, 3-13-1778. To Israel Evans.

149 WGW, vol. 30, 8-28-1788.

150 WGW, vol. 11, 3-13-1778. To Israel Evans. Valley Forge, March 13, 1778, “Your favor of the 17th. Ulto., inclosing the discourse which you delivered on the 18th. of December; the day set a part for a general thanksgiving; to Genl. Poors Brigade, never came to my hands till yesterday.

“I have read this performance with equal attention and pleasure, and at the same time that I admire, and feel the force of the reasoning which you have displayed through the whole, it is more especially incumbent upon me to thank you for the honorable, but partial mention you have made of my character; and to assure you, that it will ever be the first wish of my heart to aid your pious endeavours to inculcate a due sense of the dependance we ought to place in that all wise and powerful Being on whom alone our success depends.”

151 See, for example, The American Heritage Dictionary, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982), p. 390 under “devout”.

152 WGW, vol. 7, 4-12-1777

153 WGW, vol. 7, 4-15-1777.

154 WGW, vol. 36 7-13-1798, To THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
“Satisfied therefore, that you have sincerely wished and endeavoured 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 favoured the People of these United States.”

155 WGW, vol. 30, 9-22-1788., To HENRY LEE
“Should the contingency you suggest take place, and (for argument sake alone let me say it) should my unfeigned reluctance to accept the office be overcome by a deference for the reasons and opinions of my friends; might I not, after the Declarations I have made (and Heaven knows they were made in the sincerity of my heart) in the judgment of the impartial World and of Posterity, be chargeable with levity and inconsistency; if not with rashness and ambition? “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 must be expected from some.”

156 WGW, vol.1, 5-29-1754. To ROBERT DINWIDDIE.

157 WGW, vol. 30, 12-4-1788. To Arthur Young.

158 WGW, vol. 24, 4-20-1782. To BARTHOLOMEW DANDRIDGE
“In a word, I see so many perplexing and intricate matters before me, which must be the work of time to arrange and bring to a conclusion, that It would be injurious to the Children, and madness in me, to undertake as a principle a trust which I could not discharge. Such aid however, as it ever may be with me to give to the Children, especially the boy, I will afford with all my heart, and with all my Soul, and on the assurances of it you may rely.”

159 WGW, vol. 25, 12-14-1782. To COMTE DE ROCHAMBEAU
“To this testimony of your Public character I should be wanting to the feelings of my heart, was I not to add expressions of the happiness I have enjoyed in your private friendship. The remembrance of which, will be one of the most pleasing Circumstances of my life.”

160 WGW, vol. 34, 12-16-1795. To THE CITIZENS OF FREDERICK COUNTY, VIRGINIA
“Next to the approbation of my own mind, arising from a consciousness of having uniformly, diligently and sincerely aimed, by doing my duty, to promote the true interests of my country, the approbation of my fellow citizens is dear to my heart. In a free country, such approbation should be a citizen’s best reward; and so it would be, if Truth and Candour were always to estimate the conduct of public men. But the reverse is so often the case, that he who, wishing to serve his country, is not influenced by higher motives, runs the risk of being miserably disappointed. Under such discouragements, the good citizen will look beyond the applauses and reproaches of men, and persevering in his duty, stand firm in conscious rectitude, and in the hope of [an] approving Heaven.”

161 Ibid., vol. 16, 7-29-1779. To PRESIDENT JOSEPH REED
“..the first wish of my Soul is to return to that peaceful retirement, and domestick ease and happiness from whence I came.”
Ibid., vol. 30, 1-10-1789. To SAMUEL HANSON
“The first wish of my Soul is to spend the evening of my days in the lot of a private citizen on my farm....”
Ibid., vol. 24, 6-15-1782. To ARCHIBALD CARY
“I can truly say that the first wish of my Soul is to return speedily into the bosom of that Country which gave me birth and in the sweet enjoyment of domestic pleasures and the Company of a few friends to end my days in quiet when I shall be called from this Stage.”

162 Ibid., vol. 19, 10-17-1777. To RICHARD HENRY LEE “You may believe me, my good Sir, that I have no Earthly views, but the public good, in what I have said. I have no prejudice against General Conway, nor desire to serve any other Brigadier, further than I think the cause will be benefitted by it; to bring which to a speedy and happy conclusion, is the most fervent wish of my Soul”
Ibid., vol. 26, 4-4-1783. To THEODORICK BLAND
“As it is the first wish of my Soul to see the war happily and speedily terminated, and those who are now in Arms return to Citizenship with good dispositions, I think it a duty which I owe to candor and to friendship to point you to such things, as will have a tendency to harmony and to bring them to pass.”
Ibid., vol. 13, 12-12-1778. To PRESIDENT JOSEPH REED
“Were I to give into private conveniency and amusement, I should not be able to resist the invitation of my friends to make Phila. (instead of a squeezed up room or two) my quarters for the Winter; but the affairs of the army require my constant attention and presence, and circumstanced as matters are at this time, calls for some degree of care and address to keep it from crumbling. As Peace and retirement are my ultimate aim, and the most pleasing and flattering hope of my Soul, every thing advansive of this end, contributes to my satisfaction, however difficult and inconvenient in the attainment; and will reconcile any place and all circumstances to my feelings whilst I continue in Service.”

163 Ibid., vol. 29, 2-25-1787. To HENRY KNOX,
“...to see this Country happy whilst I am gliding down the stream of life in tranquil retirement is so much the wish of my Soul, that nothing on this side Elysium can be placed in competition with it.”

164 Ibid., vol. 36, 8-4-1797. To LAWRENCE LEWIS
“I am sorry to hear of the loss of your servant; but it is my opinion these elopements will be MUCH MORE, before they are LESS frequent: and that the persons making them should never be retained, if they are recovered, as they are sure to contaminate and discontent others. I wish from my soul that the Legislature of this State could see the policy of a gradual Abolition of Slavery; It would prevt. much future mischief.”

165 Ibid., vol. 27, 12-1-1783. To THE FREEHOLDERS AND INHABITANTS OF KINGS COUNTY.

166 Washington’s deep emotions are very evident in his words to his Army at the time of the cease fire with Britain. Friday, April 18, 1783.
“Although the proclamation before alluded to, extends only to the prohibition of hostilities and not to the annunciation of a general peace, yet it must afford the most rational and sincere satisfaction to every benevolent mind, as it puts a period to a long and doubtful contest, stops the effusion of human blood, opens the prospect to a more splendid scene, and like another morning star, promises the approach of a brighter day than hath hitherto illuminated the Western Hemisphere; on such a happy day, a day which is the harbinger of Peace, a day which completes the eighth year of the war, it would be ingratitude not to rejoice! It would be insensibility not to participate in the general felicity.

“The commander in chief far from endeavouring to stifle the feelings of Joy in his own bosom, offers his most cordial Congratulations on the occasion to all the Officers of every denomination, to all the Troops of the United States in General, and in particular to those gallant and persevering men who had resolved to defend the rights of their invaded country so long as the war should continue. For these are the men who ought to be considered as the pride and boast of the American Army; And, who crowned with well earned laurels, may soon withdraw from the field of Glory, to the more tranquil walks of civil life.

While the General recollects the almost infinite variety of Scenes thro which we have passed, with a mixture of pleasure, astonishment, and gratitude; While he contemplates the prospects before us with rapture; he can not help wishing that all the brave men (of whatever condition they may be) who have shared in the toils and dangers of effecting this glorious revolution, of rescuing Millions from the hand of oppression, and of laying the foundation of a great Empire, might be impressed with a proper idea of the dignified part they have been called to act (under the Smiles of providence) on the stage of human affairs: for, happy, thrice happy shall they be pronounced hereafter, who have contributed any thing, who have performed the meanest office in erecting this stupendous fabrick of Freedom and Empire on the broad basis of Independency; who have assisted in protecting the rights of humane nature and establishing an Asylum for the poor and oppressed of all nations and religions. The glorious task for which we first flew to Arms being thus accomplished, the liberties of our Country being fully acknowledged, and firmly secured by the smiles of heaven, on the purity of our cause, and the honest exertions of a feeble people (determined to be free) against a powerful Nation (disposed to oppress them) and the Character of those who have persevered, through every extremity of hardship; suffering and danger being immortalized by the illustrious appellation of the patriot Army Ibid., vol. 26, 4-18-1783..

167 Ibid., vol. 16, 7-29-1779. General Orders.