The Visionary Leadership of the Founding Fathers
Signing of Declaration of Independence by Armand-Dumaresq, c1873
After the end of the French and Indian War (or the Seven Years War depending on your point of view) in 1763, tensions between the United Kingdom and her American colonies became intense. In 1774, after failed reconciliation attempts by the individual colonies, the First Continental Congress met to present a unified position to find a compromise with the King and Parliament.
The Second Continental Congress met in 1775 to continue the process. While it was meeting in Philadelphia, the first shots were fired at Lexington and Concord. Reconciliation turned into revolution. While General Washington took command of the army, Congress continued to meet. The result was the Declaration of Independence. The Articles of Confederation quickly followed this to align the 13 colonies into a single alliance.
The American Revolution proved to be a war of attrition lasting from 1775 to 1783. The new nation, still operating under the Articles of Confederation, proved to be unstable. The leaders came together at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The result was the Constitution of the United States. One thing the founders realized was that the document was and never would be perfect. That is the reason they created the amendment process. To secure initial ratification, the Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments) was passed. The Constitution has continued to evolve in response to our growth as a people and the changing world around us. The preamble says it best. The goal is to create “a more perfect union,” not a perfect union. Progress is perfection.
America was blessed with a remarkable team of visionary leaders. Some of the names are instantly recognizable – Franklin, Washington, Adams, and Jefferson, among them. Hundred of others were part of the Congresses, Convention, and state legislatures who wrote and ratified the Constitution. Hundreds of leaders labored for 25 and rallied around a vision and worked to make it a reality. Not everyone agreed with each other. Many disliked each other. Some hated each other. But still, they came together. They were fully committed to the vision. If the British had one, they would have been hanged. They all understood that when they started.
Just a few years later, the French would rally behind similar ideas represented by three words – “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité”. Their leaders did not have the same strength of character or moral courage. The French Revolution descended into terror and resulted in the rise of Napoléon Bonaparte.
(This is excerpted from The Leader With A Thousand Faces.)
The Greatness of George Washington
Twice, George Washington could have remade himself in the image of a monarch. Both times he chose not to do so. The first time was when he resigned his commission as General of the Continental Army on December 23, 1783. The second was when he chose not to stand for a third term as President of the United States. The following passage from his farewell address is as relevant and important today as it has ever been.
General George Washington Resigning His Commission by John Trumbull
“The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so; for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national Union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.”
What I’m Up To
Being grateful that I live in the United States of America and remembering that we believe “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Quote of the Week
“This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.”
– Theodore Roosevelt
The Leader With A Thousand Faces is available on Amazon.
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