Good old George Washington made a couple of headlines this week. The first, of course, is a farce, but a very clever one. I'm kind of surprised that they didn't bring out more clearly Washington's isolationist view of foreign policy. In his farewell address, he said:
"The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop...If we remain one people under an efficient government, the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance..."
Washington also made the news up in my home-to-be of Philadelphia. Growing up in Washington, D.C., I always thought of Washington's home as Mount Vernon. But he also lived in Philadelphia when the capital was located there, and apparently the National Park Service is excavating his home. Archaeologists have found "an underground passageway where slaves slipped in and out of the main house, so they wouldn't be seen by Washington's guests." Apparently Adams also lived in this house, and I have to wonder what he would have thought of having slave quarters in his residence. The website for the site has a live webcam of the dig plus a lot of information on slavery at the house.
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