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'Tis well
February 17, 2025"I retain an unalterable affection for you, which neither time or distance can change." — George Washington ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ Hey look, a chance to support the newsletter!
Please let me know here if you can't see the ads. Thanks! ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ We should never despair ...Today is Washington's Birthday! But it's not George Washington's birthday, and it never can be. How's that for a riddle? The explanation is that today is in fact a federal holiday called Washington's Birthday, which was originally designed to fall on the actual day of, well, Washington's birthday: February 22. In 1968 however, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, and President Johnson signed it, which moved the observed date of the Washington's birthday holiday to the third Monday of February. However, the third Monday can fall between February 15 and 21 -- but never on Washington's actual birthday. Perhaps as a result -- and combined with the fact that Abraham Lincoln's birthday was also in February -- a movement arose to change the name of the holiday to Presidents Day. According to the website for George Washington's Mount Vernon, the historical site, it really took off in the early 1980s, after car manufacturers started holding Presidents Day sales and saturating the airwaves with ads. Here's another irony: The same Mount Vernon website, which as you can imagine covers all the minutea of Washington's life, has a campaign to restore the name Washington's Birthday. But, they also have a banner across the top of their website saying: "Admission is free on Presidents' Day (Mon., Feb. 17)." I'm going to chalk that up to a copyedit error, and go with the idea of celebrating Washington as opposed to James Polk, Herbert Hoover, Andrew Jackson, or even my favorite mostly forgotten president, Chester Arthur. Since this whole newsletter is designed around inspirational quotes, let me do my small part to suggest we should in fact return to everyone calling it Washington's Birthday, by exploring a few good ones from Washington that people might have heard without knowing the context: "I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is the best policy."This is a good one to start with, although it comes from near the end, so to speak: Washington's Farewell Address from September 19, 1796, which was an essay he wrote two weeks before the 1796 election declining to be nominated for a third term as president.
Facts I learned only while writing this:
James Madison actually ghostwrote this for Washington, and he did so at the end of Washington's first term. However, Washington decided to serve a second term because he thought the rift between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton would rip the country apart if he weren't around to temper them both.
How often have we heard, "Honesty is the best policy," though? This is where it's from.
"We should never despair, our Situation before has been unpromising and has changed for the better, so I trust, it will again."I like looking back at moments in people's lives before they succeeded, and when all seemed lost, but they managed to persevere. This comes from a letter that Washington wrote to one of his subordinate generals in the Revolution, on July 15, 1777 after a defeat at Ticonderoga.
Washington was looking on the bright side here, in that while Colonial forces -- or maybe we should call them American by this point -- had been defeated, they had not been captured and made prisoners by the British.
"I retain an unalterable affection for you, which neither time or distance can change."Awww. This is from a letter Washington wrote to his wife, Martha Washington, on June 23, 1775. They'd been married in 1759. I never realized until researching this that Martha was actually six months older than George, by the way. "Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence—true friendship is a plant of slow growth ..."Washington had no children, but he was close with many nieces and nephews. This advice comes from a letter he sent on January 15, 1783 -- the last year of the Revolution -- to his nephew Bushrod Washington, who was a law student in Philadelphia. Bushrod would become a Supreme Court justice 16 years later.
"Unless some one pops in, unexpectedly, Mrs. Washington and myself will do what I believe has not been [done] within the last twenty years by us, that is to set down to dinner by ourselves."
I like this because it reiterates the idea of Washington as the "American Cincinnatus," meaning an all-powerful person who gives up his power voluntarily and returns to private life, firm in the belief that his society's welfare is more important.
It comes from a letter he wrote to Tobias Lear on July 31, 1797; Lear was Washington's private secretary from 1784 until Washington's death in 1799.
"Tis well."Washington died December 14, 1799; these were his last words, as recorded by Lear.
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Bill Murphy Jr.
Hi. I write the Understandably daily newsletter—no algorithms, no outrage, just an essential daily newsletter trusted by 175,000+ smart people who want to understand the world, one day at a time. Plus bonus ebooks (aka 'Ubooks').
March 3, 2025 "The Lord never tires of forgiving. It is we who tire of asking for forgiveness." — Pope Francis ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ Hey look, a chance to support the newsletter! Sponsored by: FinanceBuzz Stop Throwing Out Money: Pay No Interest Until Nearly 2027 If you have outstanding credit card debt, getting a new 0% intro APR credit card could help ease the pressure while you pay down your balances. Our credit card experts identified top credit cards that are perfect for anyone looking to pay down...
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