By: Hamilton Ryan
Today we, as a nation, celebrate a holiday that both praises and criticizes past American Presidents. For me it was not a surprise at all to find that the top two presidents in American history were Lincoln followed by Washington. It is my opinion that these two men possessed the true qualities of a leader. George Washington knew when a conflict was right. He knew which fights to stand up for, and which ones to not be a part of in this world. However, Washington also possessed a respect for his common man. That respect carried over into the general society of America during the colonial/revolutionary era, which was an era that was looking for guidance from a real leader.
In a crisis Washington many times showed both his status and his mercy. I know of three stories that illustrate this perspective. The first takes place during the conflict between the Native Americans and the French. Washington had been traveling with a fellow companion by the name of Christopher Gist. George Washington and Gist happened to be riding near an Indian village named Murdering Town. As they approached, their horses gave out from underneath them, and they stopped to let them rest. After having stopped both of the men came upon a lone Native American who attempted to befriend them both. It was not long after this, however, that the Indian spun around and fired a shot at Gist. Washington immediately checked to see if he was okay, and after Gist responded that he had not been hit he began to charge after the Native American warrior. Washington immediately stopped Gist and let the Indian live to fight another day (Ellis).
Another story tells of how George Washington, as a high ranking officer, rode before his men on horseback while they walked through the snow. Many of his men began to feel tired and could not press on much further. Washington immediately stopped, got off his horse, and walked the rest of the way with his men. This is a leader. This is a Commander-in-Chief who knows his rank, but before he knows his rank he realizes the common man. The burdens, the trials, the conflicts within their souls; all of these Washington made an attempt to understand and care for both before and during his assumption of his rank.
The last story, out of the three that show both Washington’s status and mercy, depicts a scene of treachery and abandonment. During the Revolutionary War it was not uncommon to hear of men deserting at certain times. The penalty of deserting the American militia during the revolution was death; typically by a firing squad. One day Washington caught some of his men deserting the militia. The rest of the men watched as these deserters were lined up and prepared to be shot. As the last blindfold was tied and the rifles were raised to fire, General Washington ordered that the men be cut loose and given a second chance. This is the quality of a true president. He assumes his status by following through with what the typical punishment would have been, but in the end he realizes that men make mistakes and he gives them a second chance. This is perhaps why Washington’s men loved him. They saw his compassion and love for his fellow man, and they knew that at the end of the day he felt that rank truly did not define who you were.
Perhaps, however, Abraham Lincoln understood this even more. In his second inaugural address to war torn and weary nation, Lincoln stated, “With malice toward none, with charity for all….” Historians have said that during his second term, Lincoln was a different man. He acted even more compassionate then he had his first term as President of the United States. He visited the sick and wounded from battle, and he continued to stand behind his message that all men are created equal. We, as a nation, see Lincoln’s care for his common man in his Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863. In it he makes his famous statement that, “…that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
I illustrate these two men because I feel that, even though we idolize them, we have forgotten what they stood for in this nation’s history. We have forgotten about our common man. In a nation where many have turned to greed, and power has corrupted their reason, we find that the people of America have been muzzled and silenced from their government. It is not the blame of one man, but of many. Many citizens have both lost faith in their government, and many do not care to speak up about the real issues affecting their families. The father, or mother, who has lost their job, and cannot afford to put food on the table, or pay for medical costs for a child that may die within the week, has become an all too realistic image in American society.
This is not what the founders had in mind. I have always felt that there was one single aspect that led to this sort of downward spiral, and that is our partisan politics. For too long we have hated our brother and our father for their ideology, and while we may not be at war with them we are still destroying them through our policies, or lack of due to petty fighting over a very petty symbol. Politics in America has become a team sport. A sport of factions that continuously seek to gain the upper hand in popularity and rank. Let me say with the sternest possible tone that politics is NOT a team sport. We are not here to form policy based upon ourselves or some symbol that supposedly defines us (i.e. a donkey or an elephant). No! We should form policy based upon another symbol that defines who we are, and that is the American people.
How many countless lives are in pain everyday because we want to bicker in our nation’s capitol building about which side is right? How many more citizens have to lose their jobs and their family members because we cannot come to some form of consensus? When did we forget about the common man, and when did the citizens of our country learn to get along and come together before the leaders of our country? I say, and ask, all of this in honor of President’s Day because I feel as though it needs to be said.
In his farewell address, President Washington stated this, “They serve to organize faction; to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community, and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans, digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests.” He is talking about political parties, or “factions” as he so elegantly displays them. It is somewhat ironic that a nation that had listened to its first Commander-in-Chief on every issue happened to turn a deaf ear to the most important advice that he could give. WAKE UP! Partisan politics MUST end and we must seek to both listen to our fellow man and work to make a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people” united once again in an effort to help each other so that WE may NOT perish from the earth!
Websites/Sources Used:
Ellis, Joseph J. His Excellency George Washington. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004.
Washington’s Farewell Address:
http://www.liberty1.org/farewell.htm
The Gettysburg Address:
http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm
Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address:
http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/inaug2.htm
