4th of JULY “FLOWERWORKS”
WHAT WERE AMERICA’S FIRST LEADERS LIKE 245 YEARS AGO? HOW DID THEY ACT? WHAT WERE THEIR PRIORITIES?
WPCNR NEWS AND COMMENT. By John F. Bailey. Reprinted from the WPCNR Archives. July 5, 2021:
It is the 245th birthday of our nation as this holiday weekend draws to a close, commemorating the accord of the Continental Congress to adapt the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia in 1776.
I usually run this column on George Washington’s birthday, however, in light of the character-challenged behavior being shown lately by our leaders and congress in Washington, it is instructive to look at our first leader, George Washington, the father of our nation.
One cannot help be reminded of the snowy winter at Valley Forge, when the bedraggled, poorly equipped rebel army suffered but held together, and attacked the Hessians in Trenton on Christmas Eve, 1776, crossing the Delaware River at night.
What kind of man was he that George Washington could inspire his troops against all odds?
Washington was a man of tremendous character. Where did he get this character? He specialized in self-control at an early age.
Reenacters Marching to Raise Old Glory at Purdy House in Honor of George Washington’s Birthday. Photo, 2003 WPCNR News Archive.
According to The American President, Washington, at sixteen, had formed a code of conduct. He had written a book of etiquette with 110 “maxims” to guide his conduct in matters. In this etiquette book he had written,
Every action done in company ought to be done with a sign of respect to those who are not present. Sleep not when others speak; sit not when others stand; speak not when you should hold your peace; walk not when others stop;…Let your countenance be pleasant but in serious matters somewhat grave…Undertake not what you cannot perform but be careful to keep your promise.
According to the character sketch provided by the authors of The American President, this personal “rulebook” was a book that Washington wrote over the years and referred to it often,
“for self-control, to avoid temptation, to elude greed, to control his temper. Reputation was everything to him. It had to do with his strength, his size, his courage, his horsemanship, his precise dress, his thorough mind, his manners, his compassion. He protected that reputation at any cost.”
Honor Guard Strikes the Colors to a Drum Roll. Photo, WPCNR News.
Earning respect by example. Quelling rebellion with a few words.
Washington inspired by example. He lived with his troops. He shared hardships with them, and so much was their respect for him that he was able to talk them out of armed rebellion at the end of the American Revolution.
Washington had been asked by the army to join them to over throw the Continental Congress, and make himself King.
Washington had been asked by one of the officers of the rebels to join them, and he wrote them:
You could not have found a person to whom your schemes are more disagreeable. Banish these thoughts from your mind.
Hearing that the rebels who were planning insurrection against the new country due to not having been paid by the Continental Congress, Washington rode to Newburgh, New York, (not very far from White Plains) on March 15, 1783, to meet with the dissident insurgents. Washington spoke to the rebellious group, saying,
“Gentlemen, as I was among the first who embarked in the cause of our common Country; as I never left your side one moment, but when called from you on public duty; as I have been the constant companion and witness of your Distresses…it can scarcely be supposed …that I am indifferent to your interests. But…this dreadful alternative, of either deserting our Country in the extremest hour of her distress, or turning our Arms against it…has something so shocking in it that humanity revolts from the idea…I spurn it, as every Man who regards liberty…undoubtedly must.”
Where is that love of country, unity, respect and reason in our leaders in Washington today? It’s missing in action.
The would-be rebels fell silent before their peerless leader, digesting what he had said. Then Washington withdrew a letter from Congress, but could not read the text, withdrawing some eyeglasses from his tunic, remarking,
“Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles for I have not only grown gray but almost blind in the service of my country.”
The men present were reported to have tears in their eyes at this gesture of Washington’s and abandoned their plot out of respect for their leader.
Where is that respect in the leaders of our country across the country today? We need that back.
Washington retired from the military, surprising the entire new country. His action surprised King George III of England, who was astonished that Washington had refused to hold on to his military authority and use it for political or financial gain. The defeated King of England, remarked, “If true, then he is the greatest man in the world.”
Members of Common Council, 2003: Tom Roach, Rita Malmud, Benjamin Boykin and Glen Hockley, (center of Picture) and observers of the ceremony salute the Colors. Photo, WPCNR News.
Seeker of Diverse Views
As President, George Washington invented the Presidential Cabinet, whom he referred to as “the first Characters,” persons who possessed the best reputations in fields and areas of the jobs he was filling. Washington said on political appointments,
“My political conduct and nominations must be exceedingly circumspect. No slip into partiality will pass unnoticed…”
Washington tolerated the relentless clashes between Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State, and Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, but lectured them on the necessity for tolerance and moving beyond partisanship:
“I believe the view of both of you are pure, and well meant. Why then, when some of the best Citizens in the United States, Men…who have no sinister view to promote, are to be found, some on one side, some on the other…should either of you be so tenacious of your opinions as to make no allowances for those of the other? I have great esteem for you both, and ardently wish that some line could be marked out by which both of you could walk.”
The Constitution Should be Protected
When George Washington left office after two terms, he made a farewell address which warned future generations of Americans about foreign entanglements and partisanship in the republic:
I shall carry to my grave the hope that your Union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the Constitution may be sacredly maintained; and that free government…the ever favorite object of my heart…will be the happy reward of our mutual cares, labors and dangers.”
Where is “happy” government today? Where is competent government today? Where are rational, compassionate judges especially in Supreme Court, wallowing in didactic dividing intellectualism.
Washington died in 1800, three years after leaving office in 1797. He was saluted on the floor of congress as being “First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen.”
His comments above resonate today in some of the most cantankerous rhetoric and partisan stands the country has seen since the Civil War. Only the political positions are not “civil” in the least.
We should also remember that those drafters and adapters of the Declaration of Independence in Independence Hall in Philadelphia in 1776, were putting their lives at risk by meeting and discussing, arguing, the Declaration wording, despite knowledge that if British occupying troops learned of the meeting, they could have been arrested and hung.
That’s commitment. That’s leadership.
That is a pressure the crybaby congress (both houses) of today which cannot seek a way to compromise and seek compassionate solutions to immigration crisis, and do not have on them.
They worry only about preserving their pathetic seats of shame, and talk of stolen elections and benefits for their donors, while children are held in concentration camps, people in need are shunted aside and sent back to die. Can they put themselves in their shoes?
No, our leaders have lost empathy.
Compromise and respect for the other point of view and the millions who will be affected by what some would say are “reckless,” “feckless,” “cruel” and “dangerous” changes to traditional American policies are missing in today’s political discourse,.
Can these leaders in their right minds dignify what congress and the Supreme Court have done the last six months by calling it political discourse).
I’d like to introduce a new term, “transminder,” the ability to listen to those whose views are opposite of yours. Find between you what you feel is the ultimate goal of a policy change and how the good can be accommodated and the bad eliminated, without hurt with fairness to all. The more you talk in terms of the common good, the better what you come up with gets.
Can they do that? Apparently not so far when it comes to calling discriminatory voting policies, fair. Helping refugees not an option. Allowing companies to rachet up prices to recoup losses in Covid by laying off employees.
I challenge every person in government to read the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights and the Constitution carefully today.
It will not take long.
Really read it. Too many of you leaders out there are looking after your self-interests and not the interests of people in trouble, people looking to you for hope and rescue.
Do some work. Do some good.
Measure your hates, prejudices, positions, and behaviors against those documents.
Analyze your apparent lack of ability to see and tell the truth.
Do you stand up to it? Does the hate and spinning of scenarios emanating from Washington, measure up to unity in Philadelphia 245 years ago?
That is easy.
No, it does not.
All you “leaders” out there, wherever you are, whatever “party” you affiliate, George Washington’s words above are what you should measure yourself against.
He was the greatest leader of them all.
He had standards.
Where are yours?
It is time to find where you lost them.
4th OF JULY THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE WAS AGREED TO BY THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS IN PHILADELPHIA, 245 YEARS AGO.
In Congress, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Editor’s Note: A WPCNR reader clarified to us that “The Declaration of Independence was approved on July 4 (to explain why independence had been declared two days earlier) but it wasn’t signed until starting in August 1776.”
According to historians “widely accepted, the Fourth of July 1776— was the day the document was formally dated, finalized, and adopted by the Continental Congress, which had officially voted for independence on July 2 (the day John Adams thought we should celebrate).
John Hancock and Charles Thomson signed early printed copies of the Declaration to be given to military officers and various political committees, but the bulk of the other 54 men signed an official engrossed (finalized and in larger print) copy on August 2, with others following at a later date. Hancock (boldly) signed his name again on the updated version.
WPCNR thanks WPCNR reader and history buff Cliff Blau for correcting the actual sequence.
ADVISORY ON 701 WESTCHESTER HEARING JULY 6. ROSEDALE RESIDENTS: PROPOSAL COULD LEAD TO DEVELOP AREA ACROSS FROM SAXON WOODS IMPACTING ROSEDALE NEIGHBORHOOD
WPCNR THE LETTER TICKER. From The Rosedale Association. July 3, 2021:
In solidarity with our neighbors in North St. and Gedney Farms, it is important that we support their opposition to the 701 Westchester Ave project.
If we allow the city to rezone at will, provide special permits, and approve projects like this one, they will continue to approve projects that impact our neighborhood without our input. We may eventually see a similar process playout at the 1311 Mamaroneck Ave corporate park across from Saxon Woods. This will drastically change the character of Rosedale and the south end of WP. This is also a reason why we and many other neighborhoods are pushing for maximum input in the city’s new Comprehensive Plan and the process to create a new plan.
Please review the following letter from the North St. Association and contact our leaders with concerns that you have about development in and around Rosedale that will impact traffic and safety throughout our neighborhood.
PUBLIC HEARING – CHANGE IN ZONING – 701 Westchester Ave
255 Main Street, 2nd Floor
July 6th at 7:30PM
Public Hearing Part 2 : 701 Westchester Ave Re-Zoning
Dear North Street Association Residents & Friends:
The Public Hearing to determine if 701 Westchester Ave (“701”) will be approved to be rezoned as a Campus-Office Overlay District (“C-O”) will reconvene at Common Council Chambers on Tuesday, July 6 at 7:30pm. This C-O zoning allows high density residential buildings to be constructed in locations where it was previously prohibited. The C-O zoning circumvents and violates the White Plains Comprehensive Plan which clearly states that the City should “Maintain the range of residential uses that currently exist in the Outer neighborhoods.
Please either attend the Public Hearing on Tuesday, July 6th 7:30pm at Common Council Chambers City Hall or email the Mayor and Common Council members to express your opinion on (1) high density development in low density neighborhoods (2) Ridgeway Firehouse Ladder 34 continued outages, (3) vehicular congestion, (4) pedestrian safety, and (5) maintaining quality of life in the South End.
We want to assure you that we want to see White Plains continue to evolve and encourage appropriate development in suitable locations.
Sincerely,
The North Street Association Board Members
Public Hearing 701 Westchester Ave Re-Zoning:
• Senlac Ridge has petitioned to construct a 360 residential rental unit building (high density) at “701” with an estimate of 611 resident vehicles.
• As part of the rezoning application, Senlac Ridge submitted a traffic study that concluded the proposed redevelopment “will not have a significant impact on traffic operations within the surrounding area.” It is our belief that this project in conjunction with others planned nearby, will result in an additional 2,100 vehicles that will be utilizing Bryant Ave., North St., Ridgeway, Maplemoor –Sammis Ln.
• Additionally, Senlac Ridge stated there would be no impact to pedestrian traffic or safety. We continue to have an ongoing dialogue with White Plains City officials about pedestrian safety due to the both the complete absence and lack of continuous sidewalks, increased vehicular traffic, speed zones greater than 30 mph, and insufficient crosswalks and traffic signals in the South End.
• We have additional concerns on the impact to our municipal services, particularly the Ridgeway Firehouse and Ladder 34 which continue to operate at part-time status.
• Overall, the South End of White Plains is a low density, single family area that we do not feel is a fit for these high-density rental unit projects. We feel these rental units fit in with the downtown area close to the Metro North station, bus terminals and walkable retail. Notwithstanding, there are already over 5,500 multi-family units slated to be constructed in White Plains, so we question do we need to add an additional 360 units in what seems to be an already saturated market.
We urge you to attend the meeting and/or email the Common CouncilMayor Thomas Roach
[email protected]
Justin Brasch
[email protected]
[email protected]
Nadine Hunt-Robinson
[email protected]
[email protected]
John Kirkpatrick
[email protected]
John M. Martin
[email protected]
Jennifer Puja
[email protected]
Victoria Presser
[email protected]