Maggie's Farm

"I walk on untrodden ground. There is scarcely any part of my conduct which may not hereafter be drawn into precedent."

George Washington in reference to being elected as the first President.

He took his job seriously and was aware that the whole world was watching.

He warned us about political parties as well:

"They [political parties] 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."

"However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of government; destroying afterwards the very engines, which have lifted them to unjust dominion."

Taken from Washington's Farewell Address.



If you have an opportunity to visit his Mount Vernon home, you will begin to realize how he used his love for this special place to keep himself focused and sane throughout the struggles of the war.

A truly fascinating man, much overlooked in modern times.