JISHOU, HUNAN — When George Washington resigned his commission as commander of the Continental Army in 1783, he sent a short letter to the 13 governors of the former colonies. Many years hence, part of his letter was plagiarized to create a spurious document, “Washington’s Prayer,” which is now bouncing around the Intertubes.
You see, some people are trying to convince us that the Founding Fathers were all Bible-thumping, Trinitarian, fundamentalist Christians, and that therefore, the USA is a “Christian Nation.” For the most part, the Founding Fathers were not any of the above. Lacking any supporting evidence in the US Constitution and US legal code, historical revisionists grasp at straws to puff up their claims.
Here are the last three paragraphs of the actual document.
Circular Letter Addressed to the Governors of all the States on the Disbanding of the Army, June 14, 1783
...I have thus freely declared what I wished to make known, before I surrendered up my public trust to those who committed it to me. The task is now accomplished. I now bid adieu to your Excellency, as the chief magistrate of your State, at the same time I bid a last farewell to the cares of office and all the employments of public life.
It remains, then, to be my final and only request that your Excellency will communicate these sentiments to your legislature at their next meeting, and that they may be considered the legacy of one, who has ardently wished, on all occasions, to be useful to his country, and who, even in the shade of retirement, will not fail to implore the divine benediction on it.
I now make it my earnest prayer that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection; that he would incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow-citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for brethren who have served in the field; and finally that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation.
One site I visited suggests that Washington’s aide de camp;, and not the general himself, may have written the letter.
The spurious “Washington’s Prayer” goes like this:
Almighty God; We make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy holy protection; that Thou wilt incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government; and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow citizens of the United states at large. And finally that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation. Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
[I highlighted the words that were plagiarized from the original letter. The rest someone other than Washington added to make it sound like a prayer inspired by the King James Version of the Bible.]
So, why is this fabrication worth worrying about? For one thing, many people take it at face value that Washington would have written something like it, although most likely he would not have. Washington rarely refers to Jesus Christ by name in his writings, experts say.
As a case in point, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) read this prayer in the House just two months ago, mistakenly identifying as part of Washington’s inaugural address.
It also appears in those annoying forwarded emails people send you, and it is repeated without any question to its validity on scores of conservative Christian websites. In fact, taking it up a notch, the Christian Broadcast Network, among others, would have us believe that the deist General Washington kept a prayer journal.
Bam! He didn’t!
Prayer journals are a more recent manifestation of Christian practice. In fact, the journal in question is not George Washington’s at all. The handwriting is not the general’s. The journal actually belonged to one of his descendents, and turned up in 1890, almost 100 years after Washington died.
Christian revisionists want us to believe that Washington and the other Founders were all Pentecostal/Fundamentalist Christians (another anachronism) intent on forging the new United States into a Christian Nation. No evidence exists that the Founders had any such cockamamie idea. So the revisionists make stuff up.
After all, who’s going to complain? The Founders are all dead.
Funny you should mention footnoting a hard copy of Washington's letter. There are still hard copies around — I saw the first page of one on a website. But those copies have been transcribed into other more legibile, machine-readable formats. So, we have authenticated copies to read, thereby preserving the originals for posterity.Now, consider the birthers with their constant cries for the "long form" birth certificate. Hawai'i and all the other states long ago transcribed their original records; they don't hand out certified photocopies of the originals anymore. The originals are preserved somewhere safe, and vital records staff only handle authenticated copies (which of course are now digitized as well). We (sensible, logical people) trust the vital records departments of our states to have accurately replicated the information on the original documents, just as we trust historians to have replicated accurately the text of Washington's circular letter.Crazy, but not like a fox.
There is no burden of proof for them, they just change the story to fit their facts. When they are proven wrong they just tweek the story more to make them look right.
The Internet age presents major challenges to citizen verification of such claims: even if we look for footnotes, and few of us do, we find they are typically to electronic versions that could have been falsified just as easily as the quote circulated in the email. Can you footnote a hard copy from which you quoted Washington's actual, original remarks? Probably not. Not that I'm doubting you, John. It's just we haven't yet developed well accepted solutions to this emerging problem. On the other hand, Rep. Bachmann has now repeatedly demonstrated a habit of taking demonstrably false stuff as true. Dumb or crazy like a fox? You make the call!
Via Facebook:
Greg Crabb
There is no burden of proof for them, they just change the story to fit their facts. When they are proven wrong they just tweek the story more to make them look right.
Via Facebook:
David Hochman
The Internet age presents major challenges to citizen verification of such claims: even if we look for footnotes, and few of us do, we find they are typically to electronic versions that could have been falsified just as easily as the quote circulated in the email. Can you footnote a hard copy from which you quoted Washington’s actual, original remarks? Probably not. Not that I’m doubting you, John. It’s just we haven’t yet developed well accepted solutions to this emerging problem. On the other hand, Rep. Bachmann has now repeatedly demonstrated a habit of taking demonstrably false stuff as true. Dumb or crazy like a fox? You make the call!
Funny you should mention footnoting a hard copy of Washington’s letter. There are still hard copies around — I saw the first page of one on a website. But those copies have been transcribed into other more legible, machine-readable formats. So, we have authenticated copies to read, thereby preserving the originals for posterity.
Now, consider the birthers with their constant cries for the “long form” birth certificate. Hawai’i and all the other states long ago transcribed their original records; they don’t hand out certified photocopies of the originals anymore. The originals are preserved somewhere safe, and vital records staff only handle authenticated copies (which of course are now digitized as well). We (sensible, logical people) trust the vital records departments of our states to have accurately replicated the information on the original documents, just as we trust historians to have replicated accurately the text of Washington’s circular letter.
Bachmann is crazy, but not like a fox. Like her doppelganger Sarah Palin, Bachmann just spouts random thoughts without too much regard for logical consistency or factual accuracy.
Funny you should mention footnoting a hard copy of Washington's letter. There are still hard copies around — I saw the first page of one on a website. But those copies have been transcribed into other more legibile, machine-readable formats. So, we have authenticated copies to read, thereby preserving the originals for posterity.Now, consider the birthers with their constant cries for the "long form" birth certificate. Hawai'i and all the other states long ago transcribed their original records; they don't hand out certified photocopies of the originals anymore. The originals are preserved somewhere safe, and vital records staff only handle authenticated copies (which of course are now digitized as well). We (sensible, logical people) trust the vital records departments of our states to have accurately replicated the information on the original documents, just as we trust historians to have replicated accurately the text of Washington's circular letter.Crazy, but not like a fox.