President’s Day - What Happened To It?

Posted on February 20, 2006

President’s Day was established in order to combine the birthday celebrations of two of our most popular and revered Presidents; George Washington and Abe Lincoln. George Washington, the Revolutionary War General and first President of the United States is known in our history books as the Father of Our Country. Abe Lincoln, the self taught lawyer from Illinois who led this nation through the American Civil War and is the Father of the Republican Party.

George Washington made several statements in relation to the proper place of government and citizenship.

“Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”

“A government is like fire, a handy servant, but a dangerous master.”

“I am sure that never was a people, who had more reason to acknowledge a Divine interposition in their affairs, than those of the United States; and I should be pained to believe that they have forgotten that agency, which was so often manifested during our Revolution, or that they failed to consider the omnipotence of that God who is alone able to protect them.”

Following his brief inaugural address to the Congress, President George Washington and his party walked over to St. Paul’s Church for divine services. His prayer that afternoon was:

“Almighty God, we make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt 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 and for their fellow-citizens of the United States at large.”

On September 19, 1796, President George Washington spoke about the importance of morality to the country’s well-being:

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports…. And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion…. Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a Nation with its virtue?”

Keep in mind that Washington was a Federalist. Perhaps we should take a moment to define Federalism.

Federalism is the theory or advocacy of federal political orders, where final authority is divided between sub-units and a center. Unlike a unitary state, sovereignty is constitutionally split between at least two territorial levels so that units at each level have final authority and can act independently of the others in some area. Citizens thus have political obligations to two authorities. The allocation of authority between the sub-unit and center may vary, typically the center has powers regarding defense and foreign policy, but sub-units may also have international roles. The sub-units may also participate in central decision-making bodies. Much recent philosophical attention is spurred by renewed political interest in federalism, coupled with empirical findings concerning the requisite and legitimate basis for stability and trust among citizens in federations. Philosophical contributions have addressed the dilemmas and opportunities facing Canada, Australia and Europe, to mention just a few areas where federal arrangements are seen as interesting solutions to accommodating differences among populations divided by ethnic or cultural cleavages yet seeking a common political order. SOURCE

The government of the United States is a grounded in the pricipals of Federalism. But it is in fact a Constitutional Republic.

Notice that in a Democracy, the sovereignty is in the whole body of the free citizens. The sovereignty is not divided to smaller units such as individual citizens. To solve a problem, only the whole body politic is authorized to act. Also, being citizens, individuals have duties and obligations to the government. The government’s only obligations to the citizens are those legislatively pre-defined for it by the whole body politic.

In a Republic, the sovereignty resides in the people themselves, whether one or many. In a Republic, one may act on his own or through his representatives as he chooses to solve a problem. Further, the people have no obligation to the government; instead, the government being hired by the people, is obliged to its owner, the people.

The people own the government agencies. The government agencies own the citizens. In the United States we have a three-tiered cast system consisting of people —> government agencies —> and citizens.

The people did “ordain and establish this Constitution,” not for themselves, but “for the United States of America.” In delegating powers to the government agencies the people gave up none of their own. (See Preamble of U.S. Constitution). This adoption of this concept is why the U.S. has been called the “Great Experiment in self government.” The People govern themselves, while their agents (government agencies) perform tasks listed in the Preamble for the benefit of the People. The experiment is to answer the question, “Can self-governing people coexist and prevail over government agencies that have no authority over the People?” SOURCE

In part II, I will explain why we celebrate Abe Lincoln and discuss what happened to this important holiday.

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2 Responses to “President’s Day - What Happened To It?”

LomaAlta on February 20th, 2006 12:19 pm

Three cheers for President Washington. The man who could have been king but loved his country enough to refuse. The man who could have been president for life, but stepped down to curb presidential power and avoid becoming a de facto king.
Three cheers for the Father of Our Country
WMCClark on February 21st, 2006 11:31 pm

The liberal left (a redundancy if there ever was one) would have us all believe that then-President Thomas Jefferson was adamantly opposed to any public involvement in religion connected in any way with the government of this great nation. They love to quote his letter that talks about a “wall of separation between church and state” while ignoring the fact that the very next day after he sent that letter he began a long and regular practice of attending Sunday morning religious services in the very room where the House of Representatives met. If he tried that today the ACLU, PAW, and the rest would froth at the mouth and advocate lynching him.