Joan Swirsky
George Washington statue in the Boston Public Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Sculptor: Thomas Ball. Photoa by Daderot – Own work, CC0, Wikipedia
Today, February 22d, is the anniversary of George Washington’s birth. He was born in 1732, 294 years ago today; the tricentennial of Washington’s birth is but six years away.
In 1971 Congress, in enacting the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, 5 U.S.C. § 6103(a), shifted the annual official observance of Washington’s Birthday from February 22d to the third Monday in February. So we officially celebrated Washington’s birthday last Monday.
The Federal holiday is still officially known as “Washington’s Birthday”. Some States, which also honored other Presidents with additional official holidays on other days (many, for example, honoring Abraham Lincoln on February 12th and Virginia honoring Thomas Jefferson on April 13th), merged those official holidays into the Federal Monday observance of Washington’s Birthday. They thereby reduced the incidence of closures of courts, government offices, banks, and markets, but in some places confusion lead to a corrupted version of the holiday’s name, as “Presidents Day”.
But on this actual anniversary of Washington’s birth, it is appropriate to pause for a moment and take stock of what a difference his person and character made in American and, indeed, human history.
Everything he did as President of the United States a President was doing for the first time.
Perhaps nothing he did was more important for America’s political cultural than the simple fact of his voluntary retirement. That is, after being elected to two terms as President he declined to run for a third term. There can be no doubt that, had he desired it, he could have been President of the United States for life. But he thought it important that power be surrendered, and surrendered visibly and decisively. His return to private life was intentional, thoughtful, and conspicuous. It was meant to send the message that, in a democratic republic, power belongs to the people and not to the government.
Yet he did so much more. I offer just one illustration, and it was a truly signal achievement: By his example he helped establish American traditions of religious freedom, not just as legal abstractions but as cultural realities.
In 1781, as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, George Washington visited the Touro Synagogue — the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island.
After his election as President he toured the northern States, including Rhode Island, and on August 18, 1790, he addressed the same synagogue with a formal response to the congregation’s address of welcome to him.
When Washington traveled he often entered houses of worship in the cities he visited. Thus it was that the first President of the United States, himself an Anglican (a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church), could be found at various times attending services under the roofs of religious institutions of denominations other than his own, including Catholic (attending Mass, for example, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Philadelphia), Lutheran (attending services at the German Lutheran Congregation, also in Philadelphia), Presbyterian, Baptist, and Quaker churches.
This practice was without precedent in the annals of the heads of state of other nations prior to that time. It was part and parcel of the “exceptionalism” that we discern in the American Experiment in ordered liberty.
This is a good moment to re-read the message that President Washington delivered to the Jews of Newport in 1790, a clarion call of religious liberty and a proud moment in American history:
To the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, R.I., 18 August 1790
Gentlemen.
While I receive, with much satisfaction, your Address replete with expressions of affection and esteem; I rejoice in the opportunity of assuring you, that I shall always retain a grateful remembrance of the cordial welcome I experienced in my visit to Newport, from all classes of Citizens.
The reflection on the days of difficulty and danger which are past is rendered the more sweet, from a consciousness that they are succeeded by days of uncommon prosperity and security. If we have wisdom to make the best use of the advantages with which we are now favored, we cannot fail, under the just administration of a good Government, to become a great and a happy people.
The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.
It would be inconsistent with the frankness of my character not to avow that I am pleased with your favorable opinion of my Administration, and fervent wishes for my felicity. May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy.
But more importantly, all of February is black history month and that’s why we can’t play Cesar Franck’s sonata for violin and piano or even mention Arnold Schoenberg, who mostly wrote atonal and 12 tone music but considered himself a Brahmsian and did orchestrate one of Brahms’s piano quartets for orchestra in the style of Brahms as he imagined Brahms might have developed if he had lived until the 1930’s. (Brahms Piano Quartet No. 1 in G Major, opus 25 (1937) It’s very tonal.
Why?
Because Schoenberg notoriously once said, there’s still a lot of good music to be written in C Major! The racist!
There are no Black Keys in C Major!
and the Franck sonata has none either. Moreover, he was guilty of nepotism and might have wound up in the Epstein files if he’d lived another 150 years because it’s in A minor which is the relative minor of C!
It’s musical apartheid, I tell you.
Incidentally, unlike Jefferson, Washington did free all his slaves and gave them land and the means to work it when he died without any fanfare but that’s not important, of course.
Oh well, I was close. He did what he could. Slavery was abolished in the North during the American Revolution, in some cases, on a gradualist basis, as in New York.
Wonderful movie musical goes into it. “1776” (1972)
Prime Video has it streaming. An inspiring must watch. The whole thing takes place in the chambers of the Continental Congress as the war is raging and illustrates the debates and clash of personalities that led to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Every so often a letter is read from General Washington pleading for funding.
AI Overview
While George Washington did make provisions in his 1799 will to free the slaves that he owned, the claim that he freed all of them and provided them with land and the means to work it upon his death is only partially accurate.
Only Some Slaves Freed: Of the 317 enslaved people at Mount Vernon in 1799, only 123 were owned directly by Washington and were freed by his will. The other 153 “dower” slaves belonged to the estate of Martha Washington’s first husband and could not be legally freed by George or Martha; these were divided among Martha’s grandchildren after her death.
Emancipation Condition: Washington’s will mandated that his slaves be freed upon the death of his wife, Martha. However, fearing for her safety, Martha signed a deed of manumission to free them early, on January 1, 1801, roughly a year after his death.
Provision for Support: Washington’s will did provide for the care of the elderly, sick, or young enslaved people, including provisions for training children in reading, writing, and a trade.
No Land Provided: There is no evidence in his will that Washington provided land to the emancipated individuals. The freed slaves struggled to survive, with many falling into poverty.
Fanfare: While he did not do it with public fanfare, the emancipation was widely publicized and praised by abolitionists.
George Washington’s Mount Vernon
George Washington’s Mount Vernon
+5
Note: William Lee, a valet, was freed immediately upon Washington’s death with a $30 annual pension.
George Washington’s Mount Vernon
George Washington’s Mount Vernon
Oh, it’s in A Major. More violins on television. Never mind. Not that anyonewill ever notice the correction.
Good sentiment, however, Chaim Solomon was never repaid.
@pschieber
@pschieber In short, maybe post-revolutionary America lacked “the warmth of collectivism?” Too far in either direction spells disaster.
The veterans of the Continental army were never paid either. Many met tragic ends.
That’s one of the reasons the form of government changed shortly after to become more centralized.
“In God we trust, all others pay cash.” – 19th century advertisement
AI Overview
@Peloni Comment disappeared
Thanks, it is back
what did lenin say about jews
AI Overview
Lenin officially denounced antisemitism as a tool of the ruling class to deflect worker anger, calling it a “feudal relic”. While he recognized Jews as highly oppressed under czarism and included many in early Bolshevik leadership, his administration simultaneously dismantled Jewish communal life and religious institutions under anti-religious policies.
Key aspects of Lenin’s views:
Condemnation of Pogroms: In 1919, Lenin publicly denounced anti-Jewish pogroms, arguing that antisemitism was used by exploiters to divert the hatred of workers and peasants.
Political Pragmatism: He viewed the “Jewish Question” through a class lens, believing that socialism would eliminate the economic and social basis for prejudice.
Action Against Jewish Life: Despite his rhetoric against hatred, his government confiscated Jewish property, closed synagogues, and suppressed religious education as part of a broader anti-religious campaign.
Mixed Record on Violence: Although he officially opposed them, some historians note that Lenin did not heavily prioritize punishing Red Army soldiers who engaged in anti-Jewish violence.
Lenin’s approach was primarily ideological rather than based on racial antisemitism, but it nonetheless resulted in the systematic dismantling of traditional Jewish life in the early Soviet period.
Query:
Indeed, by contrast, Lenin said, Good leaders are not born by the hundred.”