Tossing A Tribute To George

To celebrate Washington's birthday in 1936, a smartly dressed Walter Johnson tosses a silver dollar a reported 386 feet across the Rappahannock River in Virginia, near the First President's birthplace.

As thousands cheer on both sides of the river, 48 year-old Senator legend Walter Johnson throws a silver dollar to the far side of the Rappahannock, believed to be a 386-foot toss, February 22, 1936. pic.twitter.com/CGZ3bPhthN

— Baseball In Pics (@baseballinpix) February 22, 2022

February 1936 was a pretty good month for the retired Senators pitcher.  On February 2, results of the first election to the Baseball Hall of Fame were announced and Johnson was one of the five players elected.  He finished fifth in the voting, with Ty Cobb receiving the most votes, Honus Wagner and Babe Ruth tied for second, Christy Mathewson fourth and Johnson fifth.

Washington's Birthday

George Washington was born on February 22, 1732.

Excerpt of Letter from Moses Seixas, warden of the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island; August 1790, on the occasion of President Washington's visit to the town.

For all these Blessings of civil and religious liberty which we enjoy under an equal benign administration, we desire to send up our thanks to the Ancient of Days, the great preserver of Men beseeching him, that the Angel who conducted our forefathers through the wilderness into the promised Land, may graciously conduct you through all the difficulties and dangers of this mortal life: And, when, like Joshua full of days and full of honour, you are gathered to your Fathers, may you be admitted into the Heavenly Paradise to partake of the water of life, and the tree of immortality.

"Here, perhaps, I ought to stop."

On September 19, 1796 the American Daily Advertiser published a letter from President George Washington, whose birthday we should be celebrating today.  Widely reprinted across the nation, the letter became known as Washington's Farewell Address.  In it, the President announced his intent not to run for a third term, and makes a few brief reflections on his presidency.  He then declares:

Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger, natural to that solicitude, urge me, on an occasion like the present, to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent review, some sentiments which are the result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and which appear to me all-important to the permanency of your felicity as a people. These will be offered to you with the more freedom, as you can only see in them the disinterested warnings of a parting friend, who can possibly have no personal motive to bias his counsel.

A few pertinent excerpts follow:

Towards the preservation of your government, and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite, not only that you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts.

One method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the Constitution , alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown. In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments as of other human institutions; that experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country; that facility in changes, upon the credit of mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to perpetual change, from the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion; and remember, especially, that for the efficient management of your common interests, in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indispensable.

Liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It is, indeed, little else than a name, where the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each member of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and property.

It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism.

A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositaries, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of them in our country and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them.

If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit, which the use can at any time yield.

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?

And 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.

Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love towards it, which is so natural to a man who views in it the native soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations, I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government, the ever-favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.

Geo. Washington

All Possess Alike Liberty of Conscience

On June 29, the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia opens an exhibit (running until Sept. 30) featuring President George Washington's 1790 letter to the Jewish community of Newport, Rhode Island (full text below), which has not been displayed in public for many years.  The letter was revolutionary in its peculiarly American approach toward the word "tolerance", differing from its use in many other parts of the world then, and in many places even now.

In the summer of 1790, President Washington undertook a lengthy visit to New England during which he visited Newport.  On August 17, 1790 Moses Seixas, warden of the town's Jewish Congregation sent a letter (full text below) to the President, welcoming him to Newport on behalf of "the children of the stock of Abraham", expressing their happiness in having the "invaluable rights of free Citizens" and going on to write:
 

"we now with a deep sense of gratitude to the Almighty disposer of all events behold a Government, erected by the Majesty of the People -- a Government, which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance -- but generously affording to all Liberty of conscience, and immunities of Citizenship"