Recently, the
value of America’s word was placed in doubt.
And now the question has been raised:
How can it be restored? But there
is no mystery. The answer was provided
long ago.
George Washington
was with his troops at Valley Forge, and that made a difference. For during the Battle of Monmouth, the
Continentals were in disarray. They had
turned their backs and were running away, stepping into the moment where armies
are destroyed. But, upon arrival,
Washington rode over to the field commander and dressed him down so forcefully
that Lafayette thought the leaves were going to fall off the trees. Then he rode over to the soldiers and
demanded their best efforts. They
reformed their ranks and fought the finest army in the world to a standstill.
The man who
had been Commander in Chief of the Continental Forces presided over the writing
of the Constitution.
Once signed, Alexander Hamilton, a former artillery officer who later
became his aide de camp, pushed for its ratification. When approved, President Washington had
Secretary of War Henry Knox, a former artillery officer, send a report to
Congress, foreshadowed by Hamilton in The Federalist Papers, in support
of Universal National Service. And the
report made it clear that “the common defense” did not mean only the common
people would be doing the defending: “All
being bound, none can complain of injustice, on being obliged to perform his
equal proportion.” (Emphasis added)
An early draft
of the Constitution said the Commander in Chief was not to assume command in
person. Yet the offending phrase was removed. The American Presidency was to be a position for those who are profiles in courage. Cowards need not apply. Thus, Washington
made it possible for a future Commander in Chief to be in the field with the
troops, so that the relationship he had established with them—to insure the
life of the Republic—could endure throughout the ages. Furthermore, much is required of those who
aspire to leadership, as the Knox Report reminds us: “Therefore, it ought to be a permanent rule,
that those who in youth decline or refuse to subject themselves to the course
of military education, established by the laws, should be considered as
unworthy of public trust or public honors, and be excluded therefrom
accordingly.”
Character is
the union of thought, word, and deed directed toward a noble end. And the rebellion against the King was
animated by the Spirit of ’76—the pledge of “our lives, our fortunes, and our
sacred honor.” George Washington,
Alexander Hamilton, and Henry Knox showed how America’s word was to be
kept. For credibility is not an abstraction—an
intellectual proposition—when your word means your life. And so, it is not time to play but to
tell the truth: Will the real
Americans—those who know that citizenship consists of rights and
duties—please stand up?
May God bless
all the members of the Armed Forces, the Intelligence Community, and the
Diplomatic Corps. And may God
bless the United States of America.
(c)2019 Marvin D. Jones.
All rights reserved.
