George Washington in 1789

Electoral Brawlage, #1

“Electoral Brawlage” examines the first inaugural address of each president in U.S. history, with some commentary and analysis. This is the first installment. Check back on Mondays for more.

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Father George Speaks

The first president of a brand-new nation, elected with overwhelming popular support, probably has something important to say about taking office and establishing a set of traditional practices to be followed down the line.

If you find yourself curious about George Washington’s inaugural remarks, you can read them in their entirety at Archives Dot Gov, which—for reasons I cannot explain—uses Calibri as its default font.

As you might expect, assuming office under these circumstances is no simple thing, and even the most stalwart of revolutionaries might tremble under the weight of its import. Washington, for all his strengths, was no less mortal a man, and came at the office with powerful humility and even some anxiety about his shortcomings. It is easy for us to wonder what those shortcomings might be, after more than two centuries of time and analysis to look back at him, but nobody would know his frailties better than the man himself.

Washington never sought power. He was a man to answer the call as it came to him, and he preferred to spend time on his farm and with his family. His ultimate goal in using power was to better his country and his people, then return to his closest stewardship in peace. He didn’t want the office to be about him, but rather he wanted men to remember that anyone holding it must concern himself with the will of God, and execute accordingly. He rightly credited the establishment of the Constitution as God’s doing, and as such men ought to be good custodians of it.

The citizens of 1789 were no strangers to history, and they knew very well that men were likely to pursue and abuse power. The Constitution looked great on paper, yet with time and the meddling of men, it could become a rigid and tyrannical instrument—or worse, it could be ignored altogether. Washington saw fit to remind the nation of the Constitution’s provenance, of its rigorous built-in protections, and of the difficulty of the Amendment process, specifically to make it hard to subvert.

While the language of this reassurance may seem odd today, you need to remember that the Bill of Rights had not yet been established or ratified, and so the inalienable rights of speech, petition, assembly, religion, and the press were not a given, nor was the right to keep and bear arms. Quartering soldiers, searches and seizures, self-incrimination, all of those things were—in a technical sense—on the table, even if by custom they had been cast off through the Revolution.

Fortunately for America, Washington had led the Army to victory in that Revolution, and was well-acquainted with its purpose and cause. Even without the Bill of Rights in place, he would not be the executive to tread on those rights. And he made a point of saying that in his address.

Also in keeping with his practice during the war, he didn’t collect a salary as president, just took money for expenses. He closed his address with a supplication to God for guidance, concluding his remarks in fewer than 1500 words. (His second term address wouldn’t even be 1/10th as long.)

My Thoughts:

It goes without saying that Washington had a big job ahead of him, owed in no small part to the fact that he had no past examples to look back on—he was going to be the past example starting with the second man to take the job eight years later. So I think it’s good that he reassured the nation of his object in accepting the role, and that he was humble before God and his fellow countrymen, anxious to do the job right.

That he did, in great measure. Any and all of George Washington’s haters can absolutely suck it. America has yielded many great men and even many good leaders. We may never have another like Father George.

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