The Wonderful Story of Washington / and the Meaning of His Life for the Youth and Patriotism of America
The Wonderful Story of Washington C. M. Stevens
“The ingenuous youth of America will hold up to themselves the bright model of Washington’s example, and study to be what they behold; they will contemplate his character, till all his virtues spread out and display themselves to their delighted vision; as the earliest astronomers, the shepherds on the plains of Babylon, gazed at the stars till they saw them form into clusters and constellations, overpowering at length the eyes of the beholders with the united blaze of a thousand lights.”—Webster.
Inspiration Series of Patriotic Americans
AND THE MEANING OF HIS LIFE FOR THE YOUTH AND PATRIOTISM OF AMERICA
By C. M. STEVENS Author of “ The Wonderful Story of Lincoln ”
NEW YORK CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY
Copyright, 1917, by CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY
WASHINGTON AND AMERICAN LIBERTY
“America for Americans” is a patriotic appeal that has arisen in many a political crisis, and then gone to pieces in the confusions of what we mean by “Americans” and “America.” American Liberty has been a goddess of worship from the beginning, and yet we find ourselves in an endless turmoil concerning what we mean by “American liberty.”
Washington and his associate patriots wrote a great definition in history and established that definition in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, but human meaning, like the skies, seems hard to get clear and to keep clear. To know clearly what the definition of freedom means and to promote it in the right-minded way, is the patriotism that identifies anyone anywhere as being American. The makers of America loved the right-minded way, and their primary test of justice unfailingly required, as a basis, the personal liberty that has been described to us by all as freedom to do the right that wrongs no one. To these “rights of man,” they gave “the last full measure of devotion,” as Lincoln defined patriotism, for “the birth of a new freedom under God.”
C. M. Stevens
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CONTENTS
I. AMERICAN PATRIOTISM AND THE MEANING OF AMERICA
II. WASHINGTON’S EARLY SURROUNDINGS
I. EARLY CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE FIRST AMERICAN HERO 1732
II. A COMMUNITY PROUD OF ITS FAMILY HONOR
III. THE SELF-PITY AND SENTIMENTALISM OF YOUTH
I. GETTING USED TO ROUGHING IT
II. LAND SPECULATION AS THE BEGINNING LEADING TO AMERICAN SELF-GOVERNMENT
III. THE STRUGGLE OF NATIONS FOR THE INDIAN’S HUNTING GROUNDS
I. THE FIRST GREAT PROBLEMS OF THE INDIANS
II. ALARM FOR THE FUTURE
III. INDIFFERENCE TO GREAT INTERESTS
I. ANNOYANCES AND ANTAGONISMS
II. DISHONORS AND DISASTERS
III. WASHINGTON ENTERING THE SCHOOL OF WAR
I. THE SEPARATION BEGINNING BETWEEN THE COLONIES AND ENGLAND
II. LESSONS GATHERED FROM DEFEAT
III. SOME PERSONAL INTERESTS AT HOME
I. FRONTIER FEARS AND PANICS
II. POLITICAL INTRIGUE AND OFFICIAL CONFUSION
III. “A MATTER OF GREAT ADMIRATION”
I. MILITARY VICTORY AND A HAPPY MARRIAGE
II. LIFE FULFILLED AS A VIRGINIA COUNTRY GENTLEMAN
III. THE MOMENTOUS STRUGGLE BETWEEN MIGHT AND RIGHT
I. MOUNT VERNON AT FIRST IN A ZONE OF CALM
II. GIVING THE APPEARANCE AND KEEPING THE SUBSTANCE
III. “SOFT WORDS BUTTER NO PARSNIPS”
I. BLAZING THE WAY TO WAR
II. THE DOUBLE-QUICK MARCH TO REVOLUTION
III. VIOLENCE AND FLATTERY AS METHODS OF MASTERY
I. SUPPRESSING AMERICANS
II. THE BUSINESS OF GETTING READY
III. MANY MEN OF MANY MINDS
I. UNPATRIOTIC CONFUSION OF OPINIONS AND INTERESTS
II. SOMETIMES TOO LATE TO MEND
III. SELECTING THE LEADER OF LIBERTY FOR AMERICA
I. THE FIRST COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF
II. BIG BUSINESS, MONEY-MAKERS AND PATRIOTISM
III. THE STRONG MIND FOR GREAT NEEDS
I. SEEKING RETIREMENT FOR LIFE IN THE PEACE OF A COUNTRY HOME
II. FREEDOM AND THE WRANGLE FOR PERSONAL GAIN
III. LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS OF LIBERTY AND LAW
I. SORROW FOR THE DEPARTED SCENES AROUND MOUNT VERNON
II. CROWNED IN THE FULLNESS OF TIME 1799
III. A LIFE-LIKE SCENE FROM WASHINGTON’S HOME LIFE
I. FOUNDATIONS
II. FREEDOM OF THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE
III. THE LOYALTY OF YOUTH
I. THE WASHINGTON IDEAL AS THE FIRST GREAT AMERICAN IDEAL
II. NOT BIRTH BUT CHARACTER MAKES AMERICANS
III. THE AMERICAN LESSON LEARNED FROM THE GREATEST LEADERS IN THE MAKING OF AMERICA
