{"id":183833,"date":"2023-02-21T02:19:40","date_gmt":"2023-02-21T07:19:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/?p=183833"},"modified":"2023-02-22T08:50:34","modified_gmt":"2023-02-22T13:50:34","slug":"two-forgotten-letters-of-george-washington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/two-forgotten-letters-of-george-washington","title":{"rendered":"Two forgotten letters of George Washington"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last updated on February 22nd, 2023 at 08:50 am<\/p>\n

On President\u2019s Day 2023, as America celebrated the birth of its incomparable first president (\u201cthe indispensable man,\u201d as biographer James Thomas Flexner called him), a firm that specializes in finding important historical documents made this surprising announcement:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Raab Collection announces today [February 20] the discovery of a letter of George Washington, which sheds unique light on the financial plight of the nation\u2019s founding father on the cusp of the great Constitutional Convention in 1787. The letter, valued at $50,000, shows his need to sell land to raise cash. This unpublished letter has heretofore been unknown to scholars. For generations, it has been in a small private collection in coal country in rural West Virginia, an inheritance from a now-deceased collector. This powerful letter, coming as it does on the doorstep of one of Washington\u2019s great moments, gives us a glimpse into the financial stresses and concerns of Washington.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The long-forgotten letter underscores the sacrifices Washington made in his shared commitment with the signers of the Declaration of Independence<\/a>\u2014he was already in the field commanding troops when the document was produced\u2014to pledge their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why put everything on the line and stand up to the mightiest military power on earth in a war that at best would be, as John Adams predicted<\/a>, \u201clong, obstinate, and bloody\u201d? Because, answers the Declaration, everything was at stake: the Creator-endowed rights of Americans\u2014and all mankind\u2014to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It was no mere rhetoric; at the close of the War, Washington would comment<\/a>, \u201cThe establishment of civil and religious liberty was the motive which induced me to the field.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Years later while concluding his service as the nation\u2019s first president, he wrote a letter to America, a letter now largely forgotten but alongside which the newly discovered letter pales in significance. It is Washington\u2019s Farewell Address<\/a>, his final testament to the fledgling nation for which he had sacrificed so much. In his advice to his fellow Americans both present and future, the word \u201cindispensable\u201d leaps out.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This was a crystallization of what President Washington had stated eight years earlier in his First Inaugural Speech<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The foundations of our National policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality…. There is no truth more thoroughly established, than that there exists in the economy and course of nature, an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness, between duty and advantage, between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy, and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity…. We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

However much Washington\u2019s letter from the Raab collection brings at auction, his letter to America is priceless. The man who was eulogized as \u201cFirst in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen\u201d bequeathed to his country not only liberty but the formula for keeping it\u2014a veritable life preserver for the crisis of our day when Americans who hate America are, according to Mark Levin, \u201cusing America\u2019s freedom to destroy freedom and the Constitution to destroy the Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The counterrevolution to the American Revolution is in full force. And it can no longer be dismissed or ignored, for it is devouring our society and culture, swirling around our everyday lives, and ubiquitous in our politics, schools, media, and entertainment. Once a mostly unrelatable, fringe, and subterranean movement, it is here\u2014it is everywhere. You, your children, and your grandchildren are now immersed in it, and it threatens to destroy the greatest nation ever established, along with your freedom, family, and security.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The solution? According to Matthew Spalding,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We don\u2019t need to remake America, or discover new and untested principles. The change we need is not the rejection of America\u2019s principles but a great renewal of these permanent truths about man, politics, and liberty\u2014the foundational principles and constitutional wisdom that are the true roots of our country\u2019s greatness.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

To rescue the greatest nation on earth from itself, we must dust off Washington\u2019s long-forgotten letter to America and proclaim its truths from the housetops. America must remember its roots and return to its indispensable supports of religion and morality, \u201cthese great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To rescue the greatest nation on earth from itself, we must dust off Washington\u2019s long-forgotten letter to America and proclaim its truths from the housetops. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":184135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"To rescue the greatest nation on earth from itself, we must dust off Washington\u2019s long-forgotten letter to America and proclaim its truths from the housetops. 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After earning MBA and JD degrees from Brigham Young University, he practiced banking law and served as director of content of the original Law.com.","url":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/author\/dclarkifamnews-com"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183833"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183833\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":184145,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183833\/revisions\/184145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}