Washington's speech acquired

[Randall]

Maryland to Unveil the Page That Began a New Chapter

George Washington's Resignation Speech Left the U.S. Military in Civilians' Hands

By William Wan

Washington Post Staff Writer

Monday, February 19, 2007; A01

 

It was a speech so moving the crowd wept. It was a speech so personally important George Washington's hand shook as he read it until he had to hold the paper still with both hands. After the ceremony, he handed the thing to a friend and sped out the door of the State House in Annapolis, riding off by horse.

 

For centuries, his words have resonated in American democracy even as the speech itself -- the small piece of paper that shook in his hands that day -- was quietly put away, out of the public eye and largely forgotten.

 

Today, however, amid festivities celebrating his birthday, Maryland officials plan to unveil the original document -- worth $1.5 million -- after acquiring it in a private sale from a family in Maryland who had kept it all these years. It took two years to negotiate the deal and raise money for the speech, which experts consider the most significant Washington document to change hands in the past 50 years.

 

The speech, scholars say, was a turning point in U.S. history. As the Revolutionary War was winding down, some wanted to make Washington king. Some whispered conspiracy, trying to seduce him with the trappings of power. But Washington renounced them all.

 

By resigning his commission as commander in chief to the Continental Congress -- then housed at the Annapolis capitol -- Washington laid the cornerstone for an American principle that persists today: Civilians, not generals, are ultimately in charge of military power.

 

A little more than 223 years later, the manuscript at the heart of this ideal has faded into a brownish-beige tinge. The page is lighter along its borders, where it was held in a frame and hung on a family's wall for generations.

 

But the words remain bold -- dark ink set in Washington's ornate 18th-century handwriting.

 

"I've looked it over so many times, and the magical feeling never goes away, you know?" State Archivist Edward Papenfuse said as he buzzed through a secure storeroom in the state archives last week for yet another look.

 

He stopped in front of a black, fireproof vault, locked by two number combinations kept secret -- and separate -- by two archives employees. And from within the temperature- and humidity-controlled walls, Papenfuse pulled out the speech, lying flat in an acid-neutral beige folder, encased in slips of clear plastic Mylar.

 

The manuscript includes the crossed-out lines and penned-in additions as Washington searched for the right words and exact phrasing to formally resign as commander in chief of the Continental Army.

 

It is short, about 350 words on a single page, front and back.

 

Papenfuse was the architect behind the secretive deal over the past two years that secured the speech for Maryland. Even now, with the document safely in state hands, he will say little about its origins.

 

The family who owned it required anonymity. State officials say the page was probably given to Washington's former aide, Maryland congressman James McHenry, who kept it among his papers. And it was passed down among his descendants along with an account of the day McHenry wrote to his bride-to-be (also turned over to the state in the recent deal).

 

To acquire it, the state paid $600,000. Two Baltimore businessmen, Willard Hackerman and Henry A. Rosenberg Jr., gave an additional $200,000 each, and the owners donated the remaining value of $500,000.

 

Had the speech been sold publicly, the state would have faced stiff competition from large institutions and private collectors, said Chris Coover, a specialist for Christie's auction house. The highest auction price paid for a Washington manuscript was $834,500 in 2002 for a letter he wrote about his military adventures during the French and Indian War, Coover said.

 

There are two other final versions of Washington's speech: one in the Library of Congress and another in the National Archives. But this draft is the original.

 

Drawing from historical accounts, Papenfuse and others believe Washington wrote it at an Annapolis inn a few weeks after the last British soldiers withdrew. He had just bid his troops a tearful farewell in New York after leading them through bitter winters and near starvation, and rode into Annapolis, intent on resigning but unsure of how to go about it.

 

A letter was sent to Congress, asking for direction. Recognizing the importance of what was about to unfold, Congress set up a protocol committee chaired by Virginia's Thomas Jefferson. They wrote back, asking for a formal speech.

 

Then, at noon Dec. 23, 1783, the doors of Congress were thrown open, and in walked Washington. A throng had crowded the avenues. The Senate chamber was packed with delegates and spectators. Ladies filled the gallery.

 

Washington had carefully prepared his speech that day, according to the revisions in the newly acquired manuscript. It appears that he wanted to stress the importance of Congress and his subservience to it. He crossed out, for example, the word "deliver" and said instead, "I here offer my commission," leaving his resignation up to the will of Congress.

 

When he read it aloud, "the spectators all wept, and there was hardly a member of Congress who did not drop tears," McHenry writes in his account. "His voice faultered and sunk, and the whole house felt his agitations."

 

Washington paused to recover from the emotion.

 

From there, the draft originally ended: "bidding an affectionate, a final farewell to this August body . . . I here today deliver my Commission, and take my ultimate leave of all the employments of public life."

 

What is notable in the manuscript, however, is that Washington crossed out the words "final" and "ultimate," as though saying to Congress after years of wearying war and service he would be willing to serve again, if needed.

 

Five years later, he would indeed be called back into service -- this time, as the first president of the United States of America.

 

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...7021801551.html

[spain]

It only took us about 220 years to get us a real King George...

[Randall]

It only took us about 220 years to get us a real King George...

 

 

 

At least in his mind he is.

[10g_DBA]

Mr. President: The great events on which my resignation depended having at length taken place; I have now the honor of offering my sincere Congratulations to Congress and of presenting myself before them to surrender into their hands the trust committed to me, and to claim the indulgence of retiring from the Service of my Country.

 

Happy in the confirmation of our Independence and Sovereignty, and pleased with the opportunity afforded the United States of becoming a respectable Nation, I resign with satisfaction the Appointment I accepted with diffidence. A diffidence in my abilities to accomplish so arduous a task, which however was superseded by a confidence in the rectitude of our Cause, the support of the Supreme Power of the Union, and the patronage of Heaven.

 

The Successful termination of the War has verified the most sanguine expectations, and my gratitude for the interposition of Providence, and the assistance I have received from my Countrymen, increases with every review of the momentous Contest.

 

While I repeat my obligations to the Army in general, I should do injustice to my own feelings not to acknowledge in this place the peculiar Services and distinguished merits of the Gentlemen who have been attached to my person during the War. It was impossible the choice of confidential Officers to compose my family should have been more fortunate. Permit me Sir, to recommend in particular those, who have continued in Service to the present moment, as worthy of the favorable notice and patronage of Congress.

 

I consider it an indispensable duty to close this last solemn act of my Official life, by commending the Interests of our dearest Country to the protection of Almighty God, and those who have the superintendence of them, to his holy keeping.

 

Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great theater of Action; and bidding an Affectionate farewell to this August body under whose orders I have so long acted, I here offer my Commission, and take my leave of all the employments of public life.