I am writing this article on “Presidents’ Day,” but I am doing so under protest. George Washington was born on February 22, 1732. In 1879, the United States made his birthday a federal holiday. In 1968, however, Congress passed the “Uniform Monday Holiday Act” that moved the celebration of Washington’s birthday to the third Monday of February.

Since Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, many states have combined the two into “Presidents’ Day,” which is the case in my home state of Texas. Fortunately, in my view, numerous states still recognize this day as “George Washington Day” or “Washington’s Birthday.” In the city of Laredo, Texas, the Washington Birthday Celebration lasts the entire month.

With all due respect to Mr. Lincoln and our other presidents, George Washington deserves to be recognized by our nation on a specific day. Were it not for him, there likely would not be a “United” States of America to do so.

The reasons speak not only to our past but especially to our future.

 “Separate them if it be better”

By any measure, George Washington occupies a unique place in our national story.

As commander in chief of the Continental Army, he led his troops to eventual victory over the unquestioned superpower of the day. This despite the fact that most of his soldiers were farmers and merchants with no formal military training; the British fielded much larger numbers of professional soldiers along with the world’s strongest navy.

After winning our independence, Gen. Washington presided over the Continental Congress that created our Constitution, then became our first president (the only person ever elected by unanimous vote of the Electoral College).

However, the nation he led was not sure it was a nation. The thirteen colonies were widely disparate in culture and economics, united primarily in their opposition to King George III and their quest for independence from his despotic rule.

Our Declaration of Independence was titled, “The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America” (note the lower case “united” and upper case “States”). The resolution adopted the declaration, “That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.” Independence did not, in fact, create one nation, but thirteen.

During the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, the West threatened to secede from the East. At the end of Thomas Jefferson’s first term, New England threatened to secede over his economic and political stances. He responded: “Whether we remain in our confederacy, or break into Atlantic and Mississippi confederacies, I do not believe very important to the happiness of either part.” He added, “Separate them if it be better.”

Blue cities within red states

We live in a day that seems as divided by partisan politics and cultural issues as ever. We are not just “blue” states and “red” states but blue cities and towns within red states and vice versa. A record-high 80 percent of US adults believe Americans are greatly divided on the most important values, while only 18 percent believe our country is united.

There was a day when Americans could find unity in their shared religiosity, but a smaller percentage of us now claim a church membership than ever before. Those with no religious preference outnumber any other single religious demographic.

Additionally, a recent poll reported that two-thirds of US adults believe this is the lowest point in our nation’s history that they can remember; 76 percent said the future of the nation is a significant source of stress in their lives.

Do these facts correlate with our declining religious commitment?

I believe George Washington would say so.

An annual tradition worth emulating 

Since 1896, it has been an annual tradition for a current member of the US Senate to read Gen. Washington’s Farewell Address in honor of his birthday. I believe this is something every American would profit from doing as well.

There was no constitutional requirement for President Washington to step down after two terms, and he faced significant pressure not to do so. To announce his decision not to seek a third term, he presented his Farewell Address in a newspaper article on September 17, 1796. In it, he stated:

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity.

His reasoning is compelling: a consensual democracy requires a consensual morality. The Dutch diplomat Hugo Grotius (1583–1645) noted more than a century earlier:

A man cannot govern a nation if he cannot govern a city; he cannot govern a city if he cannot govern a family; he cannot govern a family unless he can govern himself; and he cannot govern himself unless his passions are subject to reason.

However, can our “passions” be “subject to reason”? Our first president would say no. Continuing with his Farewell Address:

And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be sustained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of particular structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

Why was he right?

How Americans can “unite” today

After the Fall, the “will to power” has dominated human nature (cf. Genesis 3:5). We will therefore use the political process as a means to our ends. We will place our state ahead of the federal, our community ahead of the state, and ourselves ahead of all.

Consequently, America will remain a “united” nation only if we learn to subject our personal ambitions to the national good and serve a cause greater than ourselves. And we can consistently do this only when we experience the unconditional, selfless love of God and then share it with others: “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19; cf. Galatians 5:22).

In this light, is knowing Christ and making him known not the single greatest service we can render our nation? Is experiencing his love and then paying forward his grace not the most transforming gift we can give?

In 1789, George Washington issued America’s first “Thanksgiving Proclamation.” In it, he called on Americans to render their gratitude to God as “the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be.”

He believed that our disparate nation would then “unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country.” And that we would “unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations” (my emphases).

Can the “United” States of America flourish unless we embrace our first president’s wisdom?

Can you?

 

Denison Forum