TDIH: Washington dreads being President
He did it anyway. What a guy.
On this day in 1788, George Washington writes a letter. He really did not want to be President. He did it anyway.
What a guy. And what a contrast to recent decades.
What would he think of us today?
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An excerpt from his letter is here:
“I call Heaven to witness,” he wrote, “that [accepting the office] would be the greatest sacrafice of my personal feelings & wishes that ever I have been called upon to make. It would be to fore go repose and domestic enjoyment; for trouble, perhaps; for public obloquy: for I should consider myself as entering upon an unexplored field, enveloped on every side with clouds & darkness.”
![Washington's portrait with his quote: "[Accepting election] would be the greatest sacrafice of my personal feelings & wishes that ever I have been called upon to make. It would be to fore go repose and domestic enjoyment, for trouble . . . ." -- George Washington, Letter to Benjamin Lincoln, October 26, 1788](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!DEZq!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9817dec4-b133-413e-8f70-3c912cf7622a_766x757.jpeg "Washington's portrait with his quote: \"[Accepting election] would be the greatest sacrafice of my personal feelings & wishes that ever I have been called upon to make. It would be to fore go repose and domestic enjoyment, for trouble . . . .\" -- George Washington, Letter to Benjamin Lincoln, October 26, 1788")
Washington loved to be home, but he gave up many years of being where he loved to be where he needed to be for his country. He refused to be king, but set precedents as our first president that were followed for many years. I’ve read that he referred to the Constitution regularly to put the government on paper into action. Thank you, Tara, for reminding us of the sacrifices Washington made to make us a nation.
George Washington was perhaps the greatest President this Country will ever see. He truly isn’t held up today in the high esteem he truly deserves. Over the past 200+ years our Country has had some great Presidents but George Washington cast a very large shadow that was hard to grow out of.
Unfortunately for the past 100 or so years we have had presidents that have been in office as pure egotistical politicians. So very opposite of the humble servant that George Washington was. When we say “God Bless America” we should certainly be saying “God Save America.”
❤️🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸