 On The Line -- Issue 675 -- February 22, 2008  Online News and Views of Life in San Benito County with Herman Wrede Published by HollisterOnline.com -- Copyright 1995-2008 HollisterOnline.com
|
|
On The Line -- Issue 675 -- February 22, 2008 Online News and Views of Life in San Benito County with Herman Wrede Published by HollisterOnline.com -- Copyright 1995-2008 HollisterOnline.com
|
|
On Presidents' Day, Feb. 18 this year, Chris Matthews spoke of it being George Washington's birthday at least twice on his MSNBC program, "Countdown," in lauding the Father of Our Country.
Presidents' Day became a federal holiday in 1971 and was originally intended to honor Washington, whose birthday was on Feb. 22, 1732 but was soon amended to include Abraham Lincoln's birthday as well, Feb. 12, 1809, on the third Monday of February. Like many federal government enterprises, it was close but can never fall on either actual birthday. The closest in can come to Washington's is when it is on the 21st, and the best it can do for Lincoln is Feb. 15, three days past it. Its real purpose was for a three-day governmental holiday -- no governmental offices open, no mail, no school -- although most Americans do not get the day off. Storeowners like it because it is an excuse for sales. Some states still honor both presidents by making one or both of the days a holiday, while still observing Presidents' Day. That name, incidentally, is confusing to many who write advertisements for it, often writing it as "President's Day," as though it was only for one, rather than properly placing the apostrophe after the final "s" to signify plural possession. (Some ad writers happily skip the apostrophe altogether). Many older people merely shrug while others get upset by what they perceive as diminishment of two Americans who led the country through hazardous eras at great personal sacrifice. Washington was born as a British subject and learned the rules of decent conduct as a country gentleman at the same time becoming a successful farmer. He also acquired military knowledge. As a lieutenant colonel, Washington was the major colonial officer attached to British General Edward Braddock's force when it went on a punitive expedition against the French who had been encroaching on British territory. Braddock ignored the cautionary note of other officers and fell into an ambush in which he was mortally wounded, and the rest of his army either slaughtered or routed by a numerically inferior force of Frenchmen and Indians. Washington's coolness under fire as he commanded the retreat was heralded through the rest of the colonies and in Europe. The battle touched off the seven-year French and Indian War which ended in Great Britain's favor. Washington inherited the plantation his beloved half-brother Lawrence had named Mount Vernon to honor his former naval commander, Lord Vernon. He also married a widow, Martha Custis, who had family stature and money. They loved each other and Washington happily agreed to be a father to her children from her first marriage. They had no children of their own but were fond of being together. His nickname for her was "Patsy." When it became clear that England was not going to extend the same rights to its colonial subjects as it did to those in the British Isles, the colonials began to talk of independence from the mother country. When the Second Continental Congress decided to put an army into the field after shots were exchanged at Lexington and Concord, Mass., Washington was the logical man to head it. Congress appointed him to lead it and for the rest of the decade and into the next he kept the spirit of independent-minded Americans alive. Many Americans remained true to the Crown and fought against their former neighbors. Washington hit and retreated again and again to the dismay of the English generals who lined their troops up in symmetrical rows Americans often employed tactics of the Indians in firing from concealment. Washington repeatedly had to retreat because of the enemy's greater manpower and resources. He also had to discourage desertion from his own ranks where some just got tired of hard times and left for home. Disease and privation took their toll to the point where Washington nearly despaired but somehow kept going. Congress denied him many essential supplies -- shoes, clothing and firearms -- based on opinions of some members that he didn't need them, and he faced the perfidy of some high officers who coveted his role of commander. But he kept on. Finally after France came into the war on the American side the tide slowly turned and in October of 1781 Washington accepted the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia, ending most of the combat. His rest was not for long because a grateful nation called upon him to be its first president. Duty called him again from his beloved wife and plantation and he served two terms as chief executive. When he died in December 1799 it was after he had caught a bad cold that developed into pneumonia after spending the day in the saddle touring Mount Vernon. The nation mourned. Not quite 10 years later Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin in Kentucky, the son of an illiterate farmer and a sickly mother. When she died while he was still a boy, he and his older sister cried beside her bed. The father didn't take much stock in education but his second wife saw in the boy something special and encouraged him to get what education he could. He always referred to her as his "sainted mother," and sought out books in the prairie settlements. The Lincolns moved several times and Abraham - he always called himself by that name although he did not discourage his nickname of "Abe" by family and friends -- found that knowledge was power. He still faithfully completed chares demanded of a youth in the semi-wilderness and won respect for his strength and tenacity. As a young man striking out on his own he surprised other young men who derided him for his quest of knowledge by easily out wrestling them. Lincoln was astounded when he was chosen as captain of a militia company after the governor called for troops to turn Chief Black Hawk back to the land where the government had exiled him and his tribe when the Indians came back to claim their ancestral home. It was during three months of service that the 23-year-old man learned the hardships and duties of a soldier. It was to stand him in good stead 30 years later when he was the commander-in-chief of millions of men. His friends appreciated his sense of humor that usually took form in droll stories. Lincoln determined that he wanted to become a lawyer and cultivated the friendship of members of the legal system. Lincoln became a circuit lawyer in company with many others and further built ties that lasted the rest of his life. He served in the state Legislature, then in the US House of Representatives for one term. His skill as an attorney grew and received the attention of influential men beyond the borders of Illinois. He was persuaded to represent the two-year-old Republican Party in the 1858 race for US Senator against Stephen Douglas, who many persons saw as a future president. Douglas won but Lincoln had gained a national audience. He ran for the presidency in 1860 after getting the Republican nomination against several men whose qualifications seemed better, and won. His election was the final straw for millions of Southerners who were hot for secession from the Union, and five weeks after his inauguration, the United States and the newly formed Confederate States of America were at war. Lincoln's main task for the next four years was to restore the Union. Night after night he haunted the War Office scanning reports of great slaughter on both sides. Many high-ranking officials called upon him to resign or to make peace with the Confederacy. He issued the Emancipation to free the slaves and pursued his intention to restore the Union. Despite the great outcry against the war Lincoln was re-elected to the office in November 1864. Less than a week after General Robert E. Lee of the Confederacy surrendered his armies to General Ulysses S. Grant effectively ending the war, Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. The nation mourned again, even the defeated South because his intention had been to restore it without rancor. For a long time resentment between the former enemies rankled but eventually the nation was united again. So on Presidents' Day it is fitting that we honor or at least give thought to two Americans from different walks of life. The first led us to our independence as a nation, and the other restored the Union when it seemed that it could never be done. |
 |
