{"id":2980,"date":"2022-04-08T00:05:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-08T04:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=2980"},"modified":"2022-03-30T15:09:58","modified_gmt":"2022-03-30T19:09:58","slug":"g-george","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=2980","title":{"rendered":"G: George"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

George\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Philadelphia, April 30<\/span>th<\/span>, 1789<\/span><\/p>\n

My dearest Martha,<\/span><\/p>\n

It has recently come to my attention that I have made quite a name for myself. Not unreasonably, I assumed that becoming Commanding General of the Continental Army in 1775 was to be the pinnacle of my career. Having led our troops to victory, I expected to retire, with you by my side, to our home at Mount Vernon, which I did in 1783. I looked forward to passing the time dancing with you and attending the theater. How I long for those calmer days! I planned to continue working on the Great Dismal Swamp and Potomac canal projects I started before the war, and, indeed, I did exactly that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But, alas, having once won our independence, there was a pressing need to re-establish a functional government. This, my love, was no trifling matter, given that those absurd Articles of Confederation were never more than a rope of sand.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I initially refused to lead the Virginia delegation to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, having had serious concerns about its legality. Eventually, however, I was persuaded to join the delegation, and it’s well that I did. Our newly adopted Constitution just might give this Union the opportunity to achieve true greatness. The alternative, I fear, would have been anarchy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I did not, however, anticipate where that document would take me next. The Presidency? I still yearn for the days of my youth as a surveyor of land.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With you by my side, I am certain that I can do this job. I assure you that this is but a temporary position. The term of office is a mere four years, and I would never agree to serve more than two consecutive terms. I steadfastly refuse to be viewed as a king. We did not fight a bloody war just to replace one king with another.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Take care, my dearest. We shall be together soon, once I\u2019m settled and you can join me. I eagerly await your presence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Your entire,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Geo. Washington<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

George\u00a0 Philadelphia, April 30th, 1789 My dearest Martha, It has recently come to my attention that I have made quite a name for myself. Not unreasonably, I assumed that becoming Commanding General of the Continental Army in 1775 was to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[354,4,7],"tags":[368,373],"class_list":["post-2980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-to-z-blog-challenge-2022","category-original-stories","category-story-writing","tag-a-to-z-blog-challenge-2022","tag-george-washinton"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2980"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2981,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2980\/revisions\/2981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}