Celebrate Washington's Birthday !

Today is Washington's birthday and if any person in the United States deserves a celebratory day, it is George Washington. Without his devotion to the nation, his steadfast leadership and his vision, there can be no doubt but that the American Revolution would not have succeeded. And not only that, the Constitution of the United States would not have taken the form that it did, which created a republic that still stands over 200 years later. Not only was the United States the first modern constitutional republic, it still stands. Washington also set precedents as President that still stand. Imagine, when he was inaugurated as President, he alone comprised the executive branch of the nation.

He also showed his devotion to the core philosophy of the United States, "that are men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" arranging for the slaves of himself and his wife to be freed upon the demise of himself and his wife with proper support for their lives, education and retirements. [Legal reasons prevented earlier grants of freedom.]

Washington lived through extraordinary times and accomplished extraordinary things. In ancient times, no doubt he would have been elevated to god status by the Romans, like Julius Caesar. The Greeks would have talked of his godlike nature. We don't do that, but can we just celebrate this day qua his birthday ?

Book of the Week

On a prior post of Washington's Birthday I mentioned a magnificent pair of volumes on Washington's life, viz. All Cloudless Glory: The Life of George Washington by Harrison Clark. Those books are superb in using original sources of Washington's letters and writings as the basis of the book; one reads Washington's own words and sees his character ... and humor.

For this week, I select a classic book on him, The Life of George Washington, by John Marshall, the famous Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Marshall knew Washington personally, having served on his staff during the war and later knew personally of the political strife that occurred in his terms as President.

The book is well-worth reading and is available from many sources, including a fine hardcover edition from Liberty Press, which I own.

Markets

Still holding my puts; I will add the last slug of this speculation at some point.

Word of the Day

"Evince" - verb, transitive[ $10] used often in Marshall's "The Life of George Washington".
Evince means 1. indicate, to make evident; 2. show that one has (a quality)
Sentence: Washington's refusal to be drawn into the growing partisan strife in the nation in the 1790s evinces his singular strength of honor and devotion to the entire nation. We surely could use someone with his principles today.