In honor of the two President's who gave us the day off today, and nary a word is mentioned about them on the major news networks websites this morning...I thought I would look up some quotes.
As I read through a list of G. Washington's quotes he sounds like a bit of a neo-con, but without the Rovian meanness. Now I'm inspired to go read more about him. I haven't read much about him since high school, and Lord knows that was tainted with myths and fables...cherry trees, anyone?
Here's a sampling:
Geo: Mankind, when left to themselves, are unfit for their own government.
Geo: Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.
Geo: I know [patriotism] exists, and I know it has done much in the present contest. But a great and lasting war can never be supported on this principle alone. It must be aided by a prospect of interest, or some reward.
Geo: "Guard against the postures of pretended patriotism."
Abe of course was a great, and often funny, speaker. If you need to see evidence of just how great his ability to communicate in just a few words the anguish of the Civil War, go read a copy of the Gettysburg Address. Here are some quotes from him...
Abe: "Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them."
Abe: "I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.
Abe: "A woman is the only thing I am afraid of that I know will not hurt me."
Abe: "Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose - and you allow him to make war at pleasure."
Abe: "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
The Reenactor just came in and said this is his favorite Abe quote:
"In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be wrong."
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A fellow on NPR has been talking this afternoon about the fact that it is PresidentS' Day, and asks why we don't honor them all, as the law requires, and not just Washington & Lincoln--although he admits they are "stars" [my word] of the group.
Another guest on the show thinks we should do away with the holiday as it is just commercialized anyway, and go back to celebrating those we choose on their real birthdays! He insists some are not worthy of celebrating.
Brave thought! Worth thinking about.
Honor them all, as the law requires? Uh-oh. I think I broke the law Monday. I only mused briefly about Harry Truman, although I did get 7/10 answers right on the NPR presidential quiz!
I'm very happy to know the Reenactor is walking around with a Lincoln quote rattling in his head. He must be galvanize.
I mean galvanized.
In the reenacting world I refer to him as AC/DC.
"The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God's purpose is something different from the purpose of either party - and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are the best adaptation to effect His purpose. I am almost ready to say this is probably true - that God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet. By His mere quiet power, on the minds of the now contestants, He could have either saved or destroyed the Union without human contest. Yet the contest began. And having begun He could give the final victory to either side any day. Yet the contest proceeds."
Two things about this quote, one historical and one snarky.
Historical - This was written in September 1862, when the Union's fortunes were not riding so high. Lee had kicked the collective ass of McClellan, Pope, and soon to be McClellan's again, although Grant was starting to show signs of brilliance in the west. This quote never saw contemporary publication, but was found after his death.
Snarky - Ken Burns used part of this quote as voice-over for The Civil War, but for some reason changed it. I will admit that the revision (...both may be, but one must be wrong...) sounds better, but why would you do that? One more way Ken fades the more you view his work critically.
And yes, I think all serious reenactors of this period agree that having both impressions is the right thing to do.
The Reenactor seems to be wearing his tweed professor's jacket and a bow tie today. "If I'm talking, you should be taking notes."
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