Founders Friday - May 7, 2010

George Washington - The Indispensable Man:

George Washington is the guy we’ve been looking for - an honest guy who doesn’t want to serve. He was the indispensable man because nobody trusted anybody. All the states were arguing with each other.

At age 16 George Washington was out surveying land for his country, which was then Great Britain. What Washington really wanted to do was go to Mount Vernon and be a farmer. Both his countries, Britain and the U.S., had him serving year after year.

All things started to fall apart after he won the Revolutionary War. To become the farmer he hoped to be, he went back to Mount Vernon. They came knocking at his door and said, “George, we need you.” His reply was something like, “Have I not yet done enough for my country?” No!

He’s a guy that in the end could have been made king. Made a ruler. A guy who could’ve been really upset at Congress.

One of the most telling moments of George Washington’s power is when the soldiers were going to revolt. They had just won against the most powerful army on the planet, Great Britain. They found out the U.S. Congress wasn’t going to take care of the troops, wasn’t going to pay them. They went nuts. They said, you’re in the going to pay us? We’ve just defeated Great Britain! We’re afraid of you?

They made plans to go and kill Congress and knew Washington wouldn’t go with it. Washington said “Let’s not replace on tyrant with another.” Of course they didn’t listen to him and went off to have a meeting. Washington wasn’t invited, but he knew what was going on. He went to Congress and go a letter that said he’d do his best but needed more time.

Washington found out about the meeting and walked in in the middle of it. It became silent. He said something like, “Gentlemen, I know what you are doing. Don’t do it! We didn’t work this hard.” He then said, “I have a letter in my pocket.” He reached into his pocket and opened up the letter. He was going to read it, but he needed his glasses.

George is a guy who would sit on top of a white horse in the middle of a battle and never get shot. People thought this guy was God. When he put his glasses on, he said, “I am sorry, but I have grown old and gray in the service of my country.” Nobody ever saw him with his glasses on before. He took off his glasses, folded the paper up and never read it and walked out. It shows the power of George Washington. They decided not to storm Congress but they were mad at Washington. Most of the choices he made weren’t because he wanted to do them but because it was right.