Jetsam-Please DELETE/SCROLL if not interested: >President' Day Feb 15th, 1999 FYI: >The Herald Sun. Feb 7, 1999, NW Life, Sec. D, p 1D QUOTED AS FOLLOWS: >Citizen Washington ( in the script that George Washington would use >in his writing, accompanied with a 7" X 6" Oval copy of a color >picture of General Washington, with no caption, nor a source for the >beautiful full color oval pix of our 1st Pres.;( Herald graphics have >been superb in my book.-CC). >Father of our country also put an 'unsettling' stamp on state's >identity > Editor's note: Though George Washington's birthday is Feb 22, >President's Day, on Feb. 15 this year, is the day we celebrate his >birthday as well as Abraham Lincoln's as a national holiday. > This year marks the 200th anniversary of Washington's death in 1799. > And as we look at how our chief executive comes to symbolize America, >everyone from historians to novelists is reappraising one of the >founders of our country. (End of Ed's note-CC) > By DIANE WRIGHT Herald Writer > He is everywhere: His image is in libraries, government buildings, >even on the dollar bills we handle every day. (Not to mention our >earliest postage stamps down through the history of our various >postage stamps, as philatelists well know. - CC.). > George Washington is the symbol of a nation, but also a human being. > We're the only state in the union named after a president, and for >us, Washington's image is even more pervasive. He's a daily presence >on our highway signs, our state seal, our state flag. > Has it somehow shaped our identity? > One novelist says yes. > One historian says no. > William Martin, the Harvard-educated author of "Citizen >Washington," believes that people in Washington state have a >proprietary interest in the man who gave the 42nd state its name. > "A nation that has no mythology has to create one," he said. "A >nation that has not gods must create one." > David Micandri, director of the Washington State Historical >Society, believes that for Washingtonians, it has created an identity >crisis. > "It's had a subtle effect of creating an unsettling effect on >Washingtonians' perception of themselves," he said. > Unlike other Western states, we sit here with a decidedly Eastern >name. > "Not only do we not have an extra appreciation, our lack of an >indigenous name like an Indian name or Columbia has had the >psychological effect of distancing the state of Washington from the >sage of Western grandeur," Nicandri said. > In the early national period, when the United States was developing >as its own country rather than English colonies, the tradition grew to >adapt state names from Indian place names and dialects, such as >Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Dakota, Nicandri >said. > In the Northwest, the area known as the Oregon country was growing >fast, and residents of Puget Sound didn't want to travel south to a >capital two or three days away in Salem. > "A movement grew up in Olympia that northern Oregon needed to be its >own territory, north of the Columbia River," Nicandri said. "The >citizens petitioned to Congress to name this new territory Columbia. >The imagery of Columbia was the early national mythological figure >assopciated with the United States." > The petition went back to Congress and was debated on the floor. A >congressman from North Carolina objected. > "He said, 'We can't name this territory in the West Columbia, >because there will be enormous confusion regarding that and the >District of Columbia. Let's name it Washington instead,' " Nicandri >said. "Which in the evolution of time compounded the confusion." > Why Washington? > A half century after his death, he still was the pre-eminent >presidential figure. > "In my opinion, there was no other person in the nation's popular >and patriotic imagination that would even be considered to have a >territory or a state named after him," Nicandri said. "By the 1860s, >before Lincoln's apotheosis, before Jefferson's elevation there was no >one imaginably approaching Washington." > Even in his lifetime, George Washington knew he was a symbol, said >historical novelist William Martin, author of "Citizen Washington." > " He knew he was a figurehead, and an image of the solidity of >America," Martin said. "It was the same image he created as general. >All throughout the Revolution, congressmen came and went, and the men >of 1776 all went off to servie in other ways. (sans" sic.-CC.) > "But the only true image of continuity was George Washington. he >made himself a symbol of endurance, not only of personal endurance, >but of the endurance of a nation." > Washington was an extraordinarily modest man, a leader who also >believed he was the servant of the people. He could have had any >title, including king, but refused it, believeing that no citizen >should be elevated above another. > A born farmer, he spent eight years in grinding battle without pay >commanding Revolutionary forces. After the war, he returned home to >Mount Vernon, onlyh to be drafted as president of the Constitutional >convention, the body that created the one of the great documents in >history. (sic-CC.) > His stewardship earned him the name "The Father of Our Country." His >own father had died when he was 11, ending most of his plans for >formal education. The man who had no biological children of his own >took care of his family and his farm like a father. > And his family became the population of the colonies,m and his farm >the emerging states. Just as a good father glories in the >independence of his children, Washington did everything in his power >to ensure independence from tyranny for a new nation. > He served as president of the United States for two terms, refusing >a third, had to be urged to accept a yearly salary of $25,000. > Throughout his life, despite hardships of incredibile magnitude, >Washingotn was the epitome of the motto "Never give up." > In the military campaigns of 1776, "his armies are falling away, >there's nothing left," Martin said. > "They're marching in bare feet, and 6,000 well-fed, well-armed >British under Cornwallis are on their tails, and Washington writes to >Martha he expects if they can't hold Philadelphia, they'll fall back >to Virginia, to the mountains, at which time he'll expect her to be >with him. > "He wrote, 'Though our cause may remain under a cloud for a time, I >cannot see it fail. ' " > And as president of a country still evolving its own statecraft, >watching political factions form, enduring press criticism even then >(though he maintained that a free press was essential to society, >giving the people "the best data for its judgment.") he was a billiant >leader of peacetime America. > It's because of his personal reluctance to wield exclusinve power >that the executive branch of the government is just that - a branch. >And he established the presidential precedent of decision-making by >comparing the opinions "of those in whom I confide with one another, >and those again (without being bound by them) with my own, that I may >extract all the good I can." > Washington, who left voluminous writings, was remarkably visionary >about the future. > "In a country that only contained 2.5 million people, with a meager >economy of enormous potential, he really did anticipate the greatness >of America," Martin said. "Of that number, 500,000 were slaves; they >had no voice. > Another million were women; their voices were relatively still. > "And of that last million, we produced Washington, Jefferson, John >Adams, Samuel Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, James >Monroe, James Madison, Patrick Henry, on and on." > Washington's greatness never needed the sentimentalized stories of >his first biographer, Parson Weems of the "cherry tree" and "I cannot >tell a lie" myths. > "It's a good image," Martin said. > "It's a man whose presentation to the world was one of diginity and >honor and endurance, and whose human foibles served to enhance the man >as a human being." > Included in the article is a pix of William Martin, author of the >book. > END OF QUOTED ARTICLE by Herald Writer Diane Wright. Valentine's Day Feb. 14 will, no doubt, get greater publicity (& hype), and President's Day Feb. 15 will be in the shadow of it. Washington, the man, was our 1st link in the long chain of presidents of our country. Had it not been for each and every one of them we wouldn't be able to enjoy our chain of Valentine's Day. "Love knows no bounds . . . . " it has been said, yet Love is NOT greed. There are those who love greed. For them, there seems to be no bounds. Happy Valentine's Day ! Happy President' Day ! And I love the name of our state, just as it is -WASHINGTON ! (Even if some of us do add an "r" to it - we like it that way! And George "Warshington" was our 1st president. <GBG> Carroll, Snohomish. (perusing, p e r u s i n g; I spelled it p u r u s i n g -again !) X >Carroll, in Snohomish. > > X > ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]