Washington's Painful Sensation
When I reflect on the meaning of Independence Day I can't help but marvel at the founding father's vision for America. I've also had a longtime fascination with George Washington's ability to relinquish his power over the colonial armies. The temptation to take their military power and seize control is so great, history is littered with generals who decided the crown was much more appealing. And after the American Revolution, the people and American soldiers would have gladly named him King Washington.
Yet Washington found this notion of crowning himself king to be a "painful sensation". We should consider ourselves fortunate and lucky to have had such men, even with all their faults, paving the way for our future.
Joyce Lee Malcolm writes in today's Wall Street Journal about our good fortune. An article worth looking at.
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We were lucky in our generals. Unlike the commanders of nearly all revolutionary armies before and since, George Washington resisted the temptation to seize power. After England's civil war between King Charles I and parliament, Oliver Cromwell, Parliament's leading general, evicted what remained of parliament and made himself "Lord Protector." The great expectations of the French Revolution ended when Napoleon Bonaparte staged a coup against the republican government and later crowned himself emperor. Not only do victorious generals have a nasty habit of taking over, but once an army becomes entangled in politics it is extraordinarily difficult to remove it from public affairs. Numerous modern countries have tried to control their armies and failed. |
There was a chance that our country could have turned out quite differently. So every year, when July 4 rolls around, I take a few moments to be thankful for the leaders who founded America.