Bishop Barron reflects on George Washington's legacy from Mount Vernon
Bishop Robert Barron speaks from George Washington's estate on religious liberty and Washington's historic resignation of his military commission.
Summary
Bishop Barron delivers a short reflection filmed at Mount Vernon, George Washington's estate in Virginia, on the occasion of America's 250th anniversary. He highlights two dimensions of Washington's legacy: his early championing of religious liberty through letters to Jewish and Catholic communities in 1790, and his extraordinary act of resigning his military commission to Congress in December 1783 rather than seizing power after the Revolutionary War. Bishop Barron connects these historical moments to present-day concerns about American founding values, noting that he is in the Washington, D.C. area to deliver a religious liberty commission report to the President.
Key Takeaways
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Welcome from Mount Vernon
Bishop Barron: Hello everybody. It's Bishop Barron, and I'm standing here at George Washington's house at Mount Vernon. I'm looking out the other side here to the beautiful Potomac. I'm in the D.C. area because tomorrow we deliver our religious liberty commission report to the President. That's why I'm in this area. But I wanted to come here as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of our country. Maybe it seems a little bit corny to talk about George Washington, but it shouldn't, because Washington was, as they always say, the indispensable figure in our founding. And I want to mention two things.
Washington and Religious Liberty
First of all, religious liberty, which has been on my mind very much this past year — the first liberty, as enshrined in the First Amendment. In 1790, so George Washington has just become President, he writes two extraordinary letters. One was to Jews — a sign of his solidarity with the Jewish community, his pledge to stand against all forms of bigotry and to permit religious liberty. The other was a letter to Catholics with the same sentiment. Now, mind you, at that time especially, both were very minority religions. That Washington, the father of the country, representing the revolutionary generation, reached out with such generosity to Jews and to Catholics signals this great American value of religious liberty, born of our respect for human dignity.
It's interesting that those two letters come out in 1790, and 1791 is the ratification of the First Amendment. What do we find? "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion" — we don't want an official religion of the country — at the same time allowing for the free exercise of religion. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that Washington's own attitudes toward religion had a lot to do with the formulation of that amendment, and his own attitudes were formative of this conviction. So I think it's worthwhile, on this 250th anniversary, to celebrate George Washington for the role that he played in the cultivation of religious liberty.
Washington's Resignation of His Military Commission
Here's the second thing, and being here at Mount Vernon, it comes to mind. Go back to 1783. The Revolutionary War effectively ended in 1781 with the surrender at Yorktown, but for two years the peace was being negotiated. Not until 1783 do we find the Treaty of Paris and the official end of the war. So during those two years, Washington kept his army together because he wasn't exactly sure what was going to happen.
Well, once the peace treaty was determined and America had won the war, here was George Washington — national hero, revered figure, in possession of a mighty army. Figures from Julius Caesar to Napoleon: what had they always done in similar circumstances? They became king, or emperor, or supreme leader. Of course they did. What was going to limit George Washington at that point?
But instead, Washington returned to where Congress was meeting at the time, which was the Maryland State House — still standing, a beautiful building in Annapolis. I've been there; I believe the Maryland Senate still meets there. George Washington returned, and what he did before Congress was surrender his commission. They had commissioned him to run the army in 1775. He had fought the war over those many years, and then at this moment, instead of leading his army and establishing himself as the emperor or king of America, he humbly surrendered and resigned his commission to Congress.
This took place, by the way, on December 23rd, 1783. And he said, "I want to be home by Christmas Eve." So then George Washington, head of this mighty victorious army, got on a horse — and I'm sure it would have been snowy, cold weather — and rode by himself back here to Mount Vernon and retired.
When word of that got around the world, people were astounded. In fact, King George III said, when he heard it, that he must be the greatest man in the world. It's a quiet moment, but one of extraordinary significance, when Washington with tremendous humility said, "Look, I'm not here to be emperor. I'm not here to be a military despot. I'm acknowledging the primacy of Congress."
Now, they called him back into power. Washington ran the Constitutional Convention in 1787, and he became of course the first President. But that gesture — that humble gesture of resigning his military commission and leaving the government to Congress — set the tone for the best of our history. That humble move of George Washington, which caught the attention of the world because it was so unprecedented, so unusual.
Why Washington Still Matters
I say it might seem corny to be talking about how great George Washington was, but he was a great figure. He was the indispensable person. And in so many of the moves that he made, he set the tone for the ethos of our country. And now, at a time when there are prominent figures in our public life who are calling into question American values — people being elected to high office who are standing athwart the great principles of our founders — I think it's worthwhile, maybe, to shout a little bit about these great figures, including and especially the great George Washington.
God bless you.