We didn’t manage to go up in the Washington Monument;
transportation and timing got in the way, so that will have to wait for another
trip. But the Washington Monument was visible from almost every direction. We
saw it from the Jefferson Memorial, from the Lincoln Memorial, from Arlington
Cemetery, from the White House, and from the Capitol.
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| The Washington Monument, view from the Lincoln Memorial on the Mall |
The clean lines and extraordinary height of the monument
make it look modern. But the obelisk is actually an ancient Greek design, a
four-sided structure rising to a point. It is the tallest stone structure and
tallest obelisk in the world, at 555 feet and 5 ½ inches.
[For you Texans, the San Jacinto Monument, also an obelisk,
is 567.31 feet tall. Permission to exceed the height of the Washington Monument
was never given; the design was submitted, and they said, “Oh, and we’ll just
put a star on top.” It is the star that puts it over height, so we’ll let the
claim of tallest obelisk stand with the Washington Monument, even though we
know everything’s bigger in Texas.]
The monument wasn’t actually built until after Washington’s
death in 1799, not even fully designed until the 1830s. But the intention to
build a monument was set during his lifetime. So, at least according to one of
our tour guides, that is why it is called a monument, while so many other sites
are memorials.
The place to get to know the real George Washington is his
home, about 16 miles south of the capitol (about 8 miles south of Arlington, VA).
We went to Mount Vernon on Thursday, by taxi—my first taxi ever. And if there
was nothing else to know about George Washington, we would know from his estate
that he was a man who loved civilization. He loved family. He loved God. He
loved work, industriousness, and attention to detail.
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| Mount Vernon, George Washington's home |
He broke his own horses, and was considered one of the best
horsemen of his day. He personally selected breeding sheep to produce the
finest wool, which they spun on site. Mount Vernon was a self-sustaining
plantation, with many of the same services of a small town. It had a
blacksmith, a saddlery and stables and coach house, a paint cellar—meant for
the continuing repainting and maintenance of the many buildings. It had orchard
lands, woods preserved for hunting, acres for farming, kitchen gardens, flower
gardens, and even decorative hedges in a sort of maze.
Washington was one of the wealthiest colonists—and then
early Americans. Much of his wealth came into the family with his marriage to
the widow Martha Custis. But Mount Vernon was his family home, inherited from
his father. The house started much smaller. A second story, as well as right
and left wings, were added eventually, and also a kitchen separated by a
covered walkway. A formal parlor was the last portion completed, after the
presidency, during which there were only a few years to enjoy it before his
death.
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| There's a covered walkway on each side of the house, leading to outbuildings such as the kitchen. Out back there's a clear panoramic view of the Potomoc River, pretty much as Washington would have viewed it. |
He met Martha while on a military errand, when he was about
26, and found her both beautiful and good company. She had two young children.
The daughter died after a prolonged illness, after which Martha began bringing
supplies to the soldiers in winter quarters during the Revolutionary War. The
son grew up and provided grandchildren that were a special delight to Granddad George
Washington. The couple, by all accounts, had a loving and strong marriage
relationship. But they did not have any additional children, so he always
treated Martha’s offspring as he would his own.
He was a reluctant but extraordinarily brave warrior. It was
said of him that he could not be killed. In one battle his clothing was hit
with four balls, without any injuries to him. I don’t know if he knew for
certain what God was planning for him, but it seems in retrospect that God
granted him protection because of a spoken or unspoken promise to lead the new,
free nation without any hunger for power.
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| The weather vane, atop the cupola, has a dove holding an olive branch, representing peace--Washington's design request |
A young George Washington took it upon himself to develop
the habits of good character. He had lists of behavior to practice and follow,
until such habits could become natural to him. He also educated himself in a
wide variety of subjects. He had a collection of books on landscape design that
guided him in designing his own beautiful grounds. He loved and appreciated
good music. He purchased paintings, which he displayed gallery style in is
formal parlor, particularly favoring landscapes. Also, he read widely and understood
the philosophies that went into the founding documents.
When I was growing up, there wasn’t a President’s Day; there
were two significant birthdays in February, one for Lincoln, and one for
Washington. We didn’t stay home from school to celebrate. We studied these men
in school. I think our students could still benefit from such study—even more
than one day a year.
But there has been a tendency, in recent decades, to try to
point out America’s flaws. Among such things is the dismissal of Washington’s
significance because he was a slaveholder. I would not disagree, even after seeing
the relatively clean and spacious bunkhouses used for his slaves, that the
practice is out of synch with his character. So I’d like to take a minute to
talk about that.
Washington grew up in a time and place in which societal
stratification was normal. They were subject to royalty, and to the noblemen governors
appointed by royalty. Originally, the fight was for that royalty to provide for
the rights long guaranteed in English law, rights that were being abrogated. If
England’s King George had corrected the abuses, there would not have been a
breaking away. Re-read the Declaration of Independence; they had tried all
reconciliations first.
The level of civilization reached by the colonists was mixed
with this stratification—a southern hemisphere concept on the Spherical Model.
In addition, the practice of slavery was not invented by the colonists, but was
centuries old in Britain and throughout most of the world. That some people were
superior by birth than other people was understood as a given.
It wasn’t until the philosophical understanding of God-given
natural rights became the basis for self-rule for the new America that
stratification began to be questioned. Early on there were colonies against
slavery, for religious reasons, but also for social reasons. The way northern
towns were set up was very different from the southern plantations. More
entrepreneurial, less brute labor intensive.
George Washington grew up on a southern plantation. So,
while we’d like to think that slavery is self-evidently evil, the evil of it
dawned slowly—as people began thinking about freedom and equality before the
law. In this atmosphere of thought, the blessedly good George Washington came
to realize that slavery was wrong. It didn’t fit in a world of freedom and
equality.
There were only a few years following his presidency, where
he could retire to repose in his family home. During those short years, he
re-wrote his will, arranging for all of his slaves to be given their freedom,
upon the death of his wife, Martha. He wanted to assure that she was well cared
for. However, Martha, knowing what her husband believed, and feeling herself
well-enough off, immediately set them free upon his death, rather than waiting.
Even in this I believe George Washington is an example of
civilization. He came to see something in his life that didn’t belong in the
northern hemisphere zone of freedom, prosperity, and civilization. So he
corrected it in his own life, where he had influence to do so. Start building freedom
and civilization at home first. And extend out from there, as God expands our
circle of influence, so others enjoy the blessings of civilization that we
enjoy. That is the pattern for us still, because we're still finding parts of our world that can't cohabit with freedom, prosperity, and civilization.
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