Washington’s Legacy of Inspiration

On an unusually warm Veterans Day weekend, my husband and I spontaneously decided to visit Mt. Vernon, the home of our first President, George Washington. I was expecting to be awed by the home, but found myself equally inspired by the man, his words and his actions. Duty and home were ever present in Washington’s mind throughout his life as he fought tirelessly to create and protect our democracy. The estate is a beautiful and inspirational reminder of our responsibility to also protect that democracy still, so many generations later.

The home sits on the banks of the Potomac River on five hundred of the original eight thousand acres. The original home was built by Washington’s father in 1734 and expanded twice under the guidance of our first president. It was saved and renovated in the 1850s by a group of women who were saddened by its disrepair and inspired to save it. The property is still owned and operated by the Mt. Vernon Ladies’ Association (you go, ladies!)

George Washington served our country as a soldier, a politician, and as its first president. It seemed duty was in his DNA. And yet it was his decision not to serve that set our country on its course of having a president and not a king. With his decision not to seek a third term, he set in motion the idea of service in democracy, not a monarchical reign over a fiefdom.

In the entryway of Mt. Vernon, there is a glass-encased key sent to Washington by Marquis de Lafayette, a young man who served in the Revolutionary War. So inspired was he by Washington’s example of fighting for democracy that he returned to France to fight a similar battle. The key to the Bastille, the French prison Lafayette liberated, sparking the start of the French Revolution, is a symbol of his gratitude to Washington.

It seemed Washington inspired many people during his life as evidenced by the over 600 visitors a year he hosted in his home during his retirement. Poor guy was hoping to return to a life of simple farming.

Washington was not a formally educated man, achieving only a seventh-grade education. But he used this deficit to propel his own curiosity, reading furiously and educating himself. He aimed to put his knowledge to use through scientific measures that improved farming and enhanced the local fisheries. He apparently excelled at math, a skill he put to good use as a surveyor and mapmaker.

Finally, at Washington’s desk in his study at Mt. Vernon, he wrote his last will and testament including a manumission clause, freeing his one hundred and twenty-two slaves. He was the only founding father to take such an action.

Washington had famously lamented that “there was not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do to see a plan adopted for the abolition of slavery.” At the risk of continued myth-making of one of our preeminent forefathers, it is this last action that represents the greatest of inspiration and reflects the sentiment in one of his lesser-known quotes:

“Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.”

George Washington

Sidebar: I am reminded of this notion of conscience and duty with this past week’s election. While I’ve never served my country in any distinguished post like the military or elected office, I served as an election officer last Tuesday. I witnessed first-hand how foundational our elections are to our democracy.

I observed all walks of life exercising their constitutional duty and privilege by dropping their ballot in the ballot box. Despite the cynicism of one woman who commented that the ballot box “sure does look like a giant shredder to me,” I was overall heartened by this democratic process of ours. I saw elderly men walking or being rolled up to the ballot box, many wearing their “Go Army” t-shirts or USS Intrepid hats. I witnessed a woman in her nineties ambling forward with two canes who said this could be her last election. While we attempted to shorten her path to the ballot box for her comfort, she proudly defied our efforts saying she wanted “to savor every step.” Finally, about five minutes before the polls closed, a man who had recently been sworn in as a naturalized citizen arrived to vote in his first election. We all gave him a standing ovation.

I believe George Washington would have been inspired.