washington had enjoyed the pleasures of retirement on his estate for four years when his country again claimed his services for the general good and he was unanimously elected president of the united states. he had misgivings as to his ability to fulfil the duties of the highest office in the government. his success in the military field, he argued, did not guarantee that he was capable of becoming a wise administrator. the people, however, thought otherwise. in the countless decrees and orders which washington had issued during the long period of the war, the great statesman had been apparent as well as the great general. and especially at the moment when the constitution, which had been amended in the meanwhile, was to receive its first trial, every one felt that no hand could hold the rudder of state so securely as washington’s. his friends urged him to sacrifice his love of private life once more for his country. he hesitatingly accepted. “to-day,” he writes in his diary on april 16, 1789, “i bade farewell to private life and domestic felicity. i am so overwhelmed with care and painful emotion that words fail me to express it. i have set out on the journey to new york to obey the call of my country with the best intentions to serve her in every possible way, but with poor prospect of fulfilling her expectations.”
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his journey resembled a triumphal procession. the inhabitants of trenton paid him particular honors, in remembrance of his memorable crossing of the delaware twelve years previously. triumphal arches were erected on the bridge, bearing appropriate inscriptions, and little girls in white dresses strewed the path which the “choice of the people” was to tread with flowers. a gayly decorated vessel, guided by thirteen pilots in the name of the thirteen states, brought him into new york harbor. the love of the people touched and encouraged him, but did not suffice to quite banish the burden of care which the contemplation of all the difficulties which were awaiting him had laid upon him. it was to be read in his face and in his whole bearing. he said in his inaugural address:
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“it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that almighty being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect that his benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the united states, a government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge. in tendering this homage to the great author of every public and private good, i assure myself that it expresses your sentiments, not less than my own, nor those of my fellow citizens at large less than either. no people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the united states.” the close says: “there is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists in the economy and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness, between duty and advantage, between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of the public prosperity and felicity. since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which heaven itself has ordained, and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the american people.”
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he wrote to his friend lafayette: “harmony, honesty, industry, and temperance are the qualities to make us a great and happy people. this path to the attainment of the people’s happiness is as plain and straight as a ray of light.” he would not accept a salary even as president. he considered it a great boon to be in a position to render services to the state without remuneration. with grave earnestness he took up the labors of his position, in order to master the difficulties that awaited him on all sides. a heavy load of debt was hanging over the country, commerce and trade needed encouragement, and the frontiers suffered much from the depredations of indian tribes. with the outbreak of the french revolution new difficulties arose. washington considered the events in paris a natural consequence of previous misgovernment, but in spite of his esteem for certain frenchmen, he soon felt that the moral earnestness essential for the attainment of true liberty was lacking among the masses of the french people. his prophetic soul already foresaw what the end of the movement would be. he pointed out the erratic qualities of the french people and the bloody acts of revenge of which they were guilty and continued: “there certainly are reefs and sand-bars enough on which the ship of state may be wrecked, and in this case a much more disastrous despotism will result from the movement than that from which the people have suffered before.” whatever was sound in the french revolution was brought back by the french who had fought in america. unfortunately the sound ideas, as we know, did not long prevail, and with the reaction came corresponding bestial degeneration. the fate which overtook king louis the sixteenth moved washington profoundly; never in his life, those close to him have told us, had he been so crushed and bowed down as when the news of louis’ execution was received. the horrors in france had their echoes in america; clubs were formed which presented the claims of the french jacobins. a picture was published by them with the inscription, “washington’s funeral,” in which he was represented standing under the guillotine; they did not conceal their intention of ignoring the president and the constitution. washington stood firm amidst party storms, as he had once stood on the delaware when storm and ice threatened to destroy his bark. this firmness and the further development of the bloody drama in france caused the extreme party in america gradually to lose its influence with the people and finally to disappear.
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washington was elected president for the second time in 1793. the eight years of his administration were very prosperous ones. his interpretation and administration of the constitution have always been considered the standard, among the best of his successors, for their actions. at the end of his second term, when washington learned that the people really intended to confer on him for the third time the highest honor in the land, he begged his fellow citizens to put the rudder of state into younger hands, and in an official declaration he decisively declined a re?lection. he also took leave of the nation, at the same time giving them some golden words of advice: “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. let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice; let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”
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in closing he said: “though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, i am unconscious of intentional error, i am, nevertheless, too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that i may have committed many errors. whatever they may be, i fervently beseech the almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. i shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence; and that, after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.”
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for a year and a half thereafter he led a life of tranquil happiness on his estate in the country. on the twelfth of december, 1799, during a ride, he was overtaken by a storm and took a severe cold. all treatment was unavailing. his breathing became very painful. he said to the doctor, with unclouded glance and in a calm voice, “doctor, i die hard, but i am not afraid to go. i believed from my first attack that i should not survive it. my breath cannot last long.” in the evening, at ten o’clock, he sank to eternal rest.
his death took place december 14, 1799, in his sixty-eighth year. in his will washington freed his slaves, providing at the same time for the old and infirm among them, and setting aside large sums for the founding of a university and of a free school for poor children.
