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NOTE: This work is not the complete book, the parts done are
complete in themselves.
Mr. Franklin Steiner, the author of the present work, was engaged for over two years in writing it. He has been a student of the subject for over 40 years. This book is thoroughly documented, and is a straight-forward, trustworthy account of "the religious beliefs of our Presidents.
First, I wish to thank my friend Mr. Rupert Hughes, historian and dramatist, for his kindness in reading the manuscript and offering his criticisms and suggestions. This was a valuable aid, which I appreciate and am pleased to acknowledge. To Mrs. S.C. Yoemans, a surviving sister, to Mrs. Edith Roosevelt, widow of Theodore Roosevelt, to Mrs. Edith Bolling-Wilson, widow of Woodrow Wilson, thanks are due for the facts about the church membership of Presidents, Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt and Wilson. To Mr. Louis M.H. Howe, his private secretary, I owe my thanks for the facts of the religious belief of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. To Professor Roy F. Nichols, of the Department of History, University of Pennsylvania, I am indebted for knowledge of the religous views of President Franklin Pierce. Among others whose help and advice must be acknowledged are Mr. Richard J. Cooney, Chicago, Ill., Mr. George E. Macdonald, the veteran editor of New York City, Mr. Otis G. Hammond, of the Historical Department of the State of New Hampshire, Edward Tuck, Esq., Paris, France, Mr. William Morrow, of the publishing firm of Wm. Morrow & Co., New York City; to Dr. Charles A. Beard, of Columbia University, for permission to use on the title page a quotation from his invaluable history, and other friends throughout the United States too numerous to mention. To the attendants of the Milwaukee, Wis., public library, one of the best in the United States (in which city most of this book was written), who not only placed before me the treasures of its shelves, but treated me with the highest consideration and took an interest in the progress of the work, I am deeply grateful.
Among all others, I must acknowledge the great aid I received from an old friend who died years ago, John Eleazer Remsburg (born 1848, died 1919), author, editor, lecturer, educator. For years Mr. Remsburg collected information regarding the religious views of Abraham Lincoln. He searched every book where reliable facts could be obtained. Many A persons were then living, in sound health and memory, who had personally known Lincoln. Mr. Remsburg visited some of these, and wrote down their depositions. With others he corresponded. He presents the evidence of private citizens, as well as of public men who knew the great President and were familiar with his religious views. In 1893 he published the result of his investigations in a book entitled, Abraham Lincoln: Was He a Christian? It is a work of 360 pages, and contains more information upon both sides of the controversy than can be found in any other book. In 1906 Mr. Remsburg incorporated this into a larger one, entitled, Six Historic Americans, to which he added the facts of the religious opinions of Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Paine, and Grant. This book is still in print, and, so far as I know, no one has ever called into question any of the statements it contains. Its opponents have cautiously ignored it.
I first met Mr. Remsburg when I was a youth in high school, in 1889. I knew him until his death in 1919, knew his irreproachable integrity, and invariable accuracy, yet I have not followed him blindly. I have, when practicable, gone to the original sources and verified his quotations. Then I have added the result of my own investigations, giving evidence of which Mr. Ramsburg was unaware. In one way I have followed his plan of giving the statements of both sides, of those who claimed that Lincoln was an orthodox believer, and of those who denied it; though I have been obliged to resort to condensation, giving only the testimony of the most important witnesses on both sides of the controversy.
In an appendix I have given the evidence of Lincoln's law- partner of 22 years, Mr. William H. Herndon, who, all agree, knew the real Lincoln better than anyone else. In another appendix I have dealt with the famous "Bateman Interview" of Dr. Holland, the cause of the bitter dispute which I have described. Concerning Washington, I have added, in an appendix, the conflicting statement's of his private secretary, Tobias Lear, and of the Rev. Mason L. Weems, as to his deathbed scene; as well as an appendix from Sparks's 'Life of Washington,' with my own comments. In the bibliography I have given an alphabetical index of the standard histories and biographies I have consulted in the general preparation of this work.
Some may say, as I have heard others say, "Well, even if all that is here said be true, it should not be published. We should be permitted to hold intact our traditions and ideals of these men." With this view I cannot agree. History and biography, if written at all, should be written truthfully.
Franklin Steiner
Milwaukee, Wis., July 30, 1936.
While this is more accurate than most of the other tables seen, it contains a number of errors. If a member of the Episcopal Church is supposed to be a communicant, Washington and William Henry Harrison were not Episcopalians; and there is no evidence Madison, Monroe, Taylor, Tyler and Arthur were. The lumping together of so many Presidents as Episcopalians is due to the fact that St. John's Church of that denomination, in Washington, is now located, as it was a hundred years ago, only 3,00 yards from the Whit House, on Lafayette Square. St. John's has always been an aristocratic exclusive church, and required certificates of social standing from those who applied for membership. Once a young man approached President Lincoln for an office. He brought recommendations from the "bests people" in Washington and elsewhere. After giving him the appointment, the President handed his references back. The young man, surprised, remarked, "Mr. President, I thought you kept recommendation and put them on file." "We generally do," said Lincoln, "but I though yours might be of value to you in case you ever want to join St. John' Church." This church, being so near the White House, was attended by, a number of Presidents, regardless of their own Church affiliations or lack of them, which is the reason some writers have classified them a Episcopalians. For instance, President Van Buren attended here, though at home, in Kinderhook, N.Y., he worshiped in the Dutch Reform Church, the one in which he had been reared. Webster, Clay and other great statesmen of the first half of the 19th Century attended here because it was the fashionable church; though Clay was not baptist until three years before he died, and Webster while he lived in New Hampshire was a Congregationalist, and in Boston, a Unitarian.
Jackson, Polk and Buchanan all joined the Presbyterian Church after their terms in the White House had expired, as did Pierce the Episcopal Church, although none of these three Presidents had previously been members of any Church. Grant, Johnson and Hays were not Methodists, though their wives were, which has been the excuse for counting them as members of that Church.
The religious beliefs and Church preferences of our Presidents have always been a topic of public interest. Yet no writer, as far as I know, has ever investigated the subject thoroughly and given accurate information. [NOTE: One writer, John E. Remsburg, in his Six Historic Americans, has given the religious views of four Presidents, Washington, Grant, Lincoln and Jefferson, which is the only attempt I know of to do justice to the subject.] They have all taken certain affiliations and beliefs for granted and have given too much attention to rumor. Prejudice and self-interest have, with many writers, taken the place of facts. Nearly 40 years ago I became interested in the subject, and this work is the result of what I can at least claim to be a conscientious investigation.
Two broad principles have guided me in seeking information about the religious opinions of public men. First, when such a man has in fact been religious, he has almost always made it known, either by joining some Church representing his views or by expressing them in other ways. When he has done neither, and his biographer has had little or nothing to say of his religion, it can be safely assumed that he had none that was strong or pronounced,
A man with religious convictions, particularly if they are of the orthodox, popular type, has no hesitancy in proclaiming them; in fact, such public profession is often to his advantage. If he has none, or holds some that are unpopular, it is good policy to say nothing about them. Both conditions have prevailed among public men in the past and present.
My second rule leads me to conclude that where a noted man has in fact been of a certain belief or a member of a certain Church, the fact has never been disputed. For instance, no one has ever denied that Gladstone was a communicant in the Church of England, McKinley of the Methodist Church, Benjamin Harrison, Cleveland and Wilson, of the Presbyterian Church. But in other cases, as those of Washington and Lincoln, where there have been controversies, the mass of evidence tends to prove the negative. In such cases, I intend to give the evidence, pro and con (allowing the reader to decide for himself), expressing no opinion, except where there could be no other reasonable view. That the reader may have all the information obtainable regarding the religious views of Washington, I have placed in an appendix the account of his last sickness and death, as minutely described by his secretary, Tobias Lear, who was constantly present. In the same section I have given the view of his biographer, Jared Sparks, who argues that Washington was an orthodox believer. Regarding Lincoln, I have given the statements of the friends who knew him intimately in Illinois, and who certify that while he lived in that State he was a Freethinker of the type of Thomas Paine, adding the assertions of ministers and others who claim he was converted to orthodoxy in Washington.
In speaking of these two, the greatest of our Presidents, I am aware that I shall make statements which will arouse criticism in some quarters and hostility in others. This must be expected by any writer unless he writes to be read only by a certain class of people or to sustain set popular opinions. No writer of the present day, if, he professes to write truthfully, can afford to ignore the mythology that has entwined itself around the careers of great men. In fact, some of them are better known by what they were not than by what they were. Yet when a writer does paint them in their true colors in history, he runs Counter to public prejudice. His consolation and his vindication lie in the great number of the myths of history which have been thoroughly exposed and are now considered fable instead of fact. William Tell, Barhara Frietchie, General Lee surrendering his sword to General Grant, John Brown kissing the Negro child while on his way to the scaffold, Washington praying in the snow, Lincoln and his cabinet on their knees in prayer, are well-known instances of "The Myths of History." As in all other departments of knowledge, the scientific historical method must take the place of all those old traditions which have not met the test of truth.
Many men, and particularly public men, are assigned to membership in certain Churches because they sometimes accompany their wives to divine services. Then others, whether they attend church or not, are considered as believers and members because at the proper time they write their checks for the church budget. Every minister of standing will admit that neither of these acts is evidence of religious belief, though some ministers will claim such men as Christians as a means, of advertising their Churches, if they are distinguished citizens of good, repute. It must also be remembered that many men of prominence, politically, socially and commercially, give a conventional adherence to the Church for fear they might be suspected of "infidelity," which many of them regard as a most dire accusation.
I do not evaluate the church preferences of the Presidents by any of these criterions; but before I have called one of them a Methodist, a Presbyterian, an Episcopalian, or a member of any other Church, I have tried to satisfy myself by asking these questions: Was he a believer in the creed of the particular Church? Did he make a public profession? Did he observe the sacraments of the Church and conform to its rules? These methods are observed in judging the affiliations of other people, and why should it be unfair to apply them to a consideration of the religious beliefs of our Presidents?
At election time, the religious beliefs of the candidates considered, perhaps more so today than in the past. In the election of 1928 they were the chief issue. Yet in the face of this, it is a strange fact that prior to the election of Benjamin Harrison, in 1888, there had not been one President who was unquestionably a member of an orthodox Church at the time of his election. Those who are familiar with Ben. Perley Poor's 'Reminiscences of 60 Years in the National Metropolis,' published in 1886, will he impressed by the fact that our statesmen of a century ago, including our Presidents, gave more attention to the punch bowl than to the communion cup. Under the Volstead regime the chief effort of our Congressmen was to compel the people to keep sober, in which work they were backed by the ministers, who, a hundred years ago, were so busy seeking the salvation of souls from perdition that they had no time to frame political platforms or select candidates for office, to say nothing of keeping a card index telling of the opinions and doings of Congressmen. Now all is changed. The Church of today is in politics, sometimes more so than it is in religion. It is said that 90 percent of our present Congressmen are church members. It would be interesting, if it were possible, to know what the writers a century hence will say of the Congressmen of our day. It is to be hope they will tell how we took great strides in all the other virtues, as well as in piety and sobriety; and that they will point with pride to our Websters, Clays, Calhouns and Bentons, as quite as great men as were those of the 1830's, but chastened by grace, while those of old were not.
Since this work was finished, but before its publication, a book was published in Boston which enables us to call attention to the methods of some writers who in the past have written upon this subject. It is entitled, 'The Religious Background of the White House.' It is obviously more a book of religious propaganda than a work of biography and history. It magnificently camouflages the Presidents by stories of the Piety of their wives, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, uncles and aunts. To say nothing of its minor inaccuracies, it abounds in many statements now known to be untrue, besides in many instances not giving well-known facts that would place the Presidents in an entirely different light.
Speaking of Washington and Lincoln, this writer says (p. 330):
"Our first President was an habitual church attendant from his
earliest Years. He heads the list of Presidential communicants." Of
Lincoln (p. 346): "Abraham Lincoln, long regarded by many as an
Atheist [and who ever said that he was an Atheist? This writer
holds the very crude notion that every one who does not believe in
Christianity is an Atheist] and always cataloged with the
Presidents who never united with the church, appears from evidence
I herewith submit to have united with the Presbyterian Church three
months before his assassination."
As further proof that this writer is superficial in his knowledge of the subject, and careless in his presentation, I refer to certain statements regarding Presidents Monroe and Tyler. Of President Monroe, he says (p. 212): "The Liberalism of Paine religiously did not finally affect Monroe, however, for he continued to worship according to the Episcopal ritual. That he left the Paris mission to return to the United States may be attributed as a reason why the Paine doctrines did not 'take'." And again (p. 213): "Monroe's messages and state papers do not reflect the deep religious fervor which has actuated many of our chief executives. He has far fewer allusions to dependence on the divine creator than other executives whom we are disposed to consider less religious, and his correspondence fails to show any great religious experience."
This writer is unfortunate in his dearth of knowledge both of Paine and Monroe, and such ignorance is lamentable in one who assumes to instruct the public. It is well known that Monroe left Paris because he was recalled, and that neither the Liberalism of Paine nor of anyone else had anything to do with it. The Supposition is that he was recalled because of his too great sympathy with the principles of the French Revolution, in which case we can scarcely say that the Liberalism did not "take."
Of two other important facts the writer seems to be unaware, and if he is aware of them he is guilty of the "sin of omission." He does not state that as soon as possible after arriving in Paris, Monroe had Paine released from the Luxembourg prison, and that the former United States minister, Gouverneur Morris, refused to use his influence to effect Paine's release. Then he does not tell, as an impartial historian should, that after Paine's release from prison Monroe took him to his own house, where he gave him a home for a year. One of the brightest chapters in the career of James Monroe was his courage in coming to the rescue of this greatly hated and persecuted man, hated and persecuted because he had dared to defy aristocracy and priestcraft.
Further, the writer of 'The Religious Background of the White House' seems to be ignorant of another important fact, that Monroe was returned to France 10 years later by President Jefferson, when, in cooperation with Robert R. Livingston, he negotiated the treaty that made the Louisiana Purchase possible.
The latter part of the writer's statement, that Monroe has "fewer allusions to dependence on the divine creator than other executives," and that "his correspondence fails to show any great religious experience," seems to nullify his first assertion, for which there is no evidence, that Monroe continued to worship according to the Episcopal ritual.
In speaking of President Van Buren, the writer says (p. 360,): "Martin Van Buren has always been classed as an attendant upon the services of the Dutch Reformed denomination, and such was the case most of his life. No biographer has claimed for him membership in that body or in any other. He is always included in the group of Presidents who never joined the church. The writer of this, however, browsing throughout the records and data of Columbia County, New York, has discovered evidence of Van Buren's church membership."
I have searched every book I could find that might give evidence of President Van Buren's church membership, including his Autobiography, published by authority of the United States government, a biography by Mr. Edward M. Shepard, and a more recent biography by Denis Tilden Lynch. I have found no such evidence. If the writer of 'The Religious Background of the White House' was so fortunate as to discover it, "in the records and historical, data of Columbia County, New York," he would have done searchers after truth a great service had he told them in what "document," or volume and page he found it. This he has failed to do. He admits that President Van Buren did not join any church in Washington, or in his home town of Kinderhook, N.Y., but would have us believe, without giving his authority, that he did join a church in Hudson, N.Y.
This reminds us of his other assertion, that Lincoln did not join the New York Avenue Presbyterian church, which he attended when he attended any church, and whose pastor, Rev. Dr. Gurley, was a friend of his family; but did join another Presbyterian church in Washington "three months before his assassination." It is extremely improbable that Lincoln, "three months before his assassination," amidst the pressing cares of state, at a time when the war situation was most acute, would find time to wander among the different Washington churches to find one that he cared to join. No one has the right to ask us to believe this without the best of evidence. It is on a par with the silly yarns that Lincoln traveled in disguise to Brooklyn during the war to consult Henry Ward Beecher, for whom he had no use, and in the same manner was smuggled into Washington for the inauguration. It is like another story our writer tells of Washington begging the communion of a Presbyterian minister, when he never took it in the Episcopal churches he was in the habit of attending -- which yarn he tells without the slightest thought that when an investigation was made no one would be able to find a word of evidence that it ever occurred.
But the evidence given by our writer for Lincoln joining a church "three months before his assassination," which would make it happen in January, 1865, is so curious that my readers may be pleased to inspect it, as a matter of amusement. An utterly unknown man, one Reiper, appears to have written ex-President James Buchanan that Lincoln had "joined the church." Mr. Buchanan replied in a brief letter, on February 24, 1865, in which he said he was glad to hear it and hoped be had done so in sincerity. This letter is to be found in the 'Life and Letters of James Buchanan' (vol. xi, p. 380).
We need ask but three questions and this story annihilates itself. What were Mr. Reaper's means of knowing this to be a fact? If he had learned it from reliable sources, why did he impart the information solely to Mr. Buchanan? How does it happen that he knew of it, and no one else was ever informed of its occurrence? It seems to have been the secret of one man. When Calvin Coolidge, a much lesser man than Abraham Lincoln, joined a church in Washington, we were told which church it was, and the newspapers telegraphed the fact throughout the country. Who has the temerity to assert that Abraham Lincoln joined a church in the capital to the knowledge of but one man, and he, so far as is known, told of it to but one other man? With these comments we can dismiss the story.
Of Julia Gardner Tyler, the second wife of President Tyler, and his widow, the writer of 'The Religious Background of the White House' says (p. 296): "Julia Gardner Tyler died in the Exchange Hotel, Richmond, July 10, 1889, in her, 70th year, in a home-like room which was opposite that in which her distinguished husband died more than 17 years before." The writer did not appear to know that President Tyler died in the Exchange Hotel, more than 27 years before, on January 18, 1862.
This work was not written for the purpose of upholding any Church or any religion, nor is it intended to promote irreligion. It merely endeavors to tell the truth, so far as it is to be found, regarding the views held of time and eternity, by the 31 men who, from the foundation of our government, have sat in its executive chair. It will be seen that in some cases their opinions widely differed, which is a noble tribute to the American principles of religious liberty and separation of Church and state.
The,first 'Life of Washington,' and the one that has had the largest circulation, was written by the Rev. Mason L. Weems, and first published in 1800. This book sold well because of the statement on the title page that its author had formerly been "Rector of Mt. Vernon Parish." It passed through 80 editions, and more people have known Washington and known him exclusively by means of it, than through any other book. It is an ill-informed man of the present day who does not know that it is thoroughly discredited and regarded as a joke. Houoghton, Mifflin &,Co., the Boston publishers, have issued 'The literature of American History,' a practical anthology upon the subject. This states that if the "f" had been left out of the "life," making the title of Weems' book, 'The Lie of Washington,' its real character would be aptly described. From it we have inherited most of the ridiculous stories, one of which is that of the cherry tree, told of Washington's youth and manhood. In 1927, a new edition was published as a literary curiosity. The editor, Mark Van Doren, speaks of its merits as follows:
"Parson Weems' celebration of George Washington first
appeared in 1800, and ran through as many as 70 editions
before it died a natural and deserved death. It died because
it had done its work with complete effectiveness. Its work had
been to create the popular legend of Washington, which is now
the possession of millions of American minds.
"Weems was neither a 'Parson,' nor 'formerly rector of
Mt. Vernon parish,' but a professional writer of tracts and
biographies. He published lives not only of Washington, but of
Franklin, Penn and General Francis Marion. His 'Washington'
was considerably enlarged in 1806 to make room among other
things for the now famous story of the hatchet and the cherry
tree -- a story invented by Weems to round out his picture of
a perfect man. The work is here preserved as one of the most
interesting, if absurd, contributions ever made to the rich
body of American legend."
"Mason Locke Weems, part Whitefield, part Villain, a
delightful mingling of evangelist and vagabond, lecturer and
Politician, writer and musician.
"Weems, 'Life of Washington' still enjoys a good sale. It
has been one of the most widely purchased and read books in
our history, and has Profoundly influenced the American
conception of Washington. To it we owe the grotesque and
wholly imaginary stories of the cherry tree, the planting of
the lettuce by his father to prove to the boy the designs of
providence and the anecdotes that make the intensely human
founder of the American nation an impossible and intolerable
prig."
Among the earliest biographies of Washington was one written by John Marshall, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, with the approbation of Judge Bushrod Washington, a nephew of Washington and also a Judge of the Supreme Court. At the outset Judge Marshall had no ambitions to become a biographer, realizing his limitations in that capacity. After he had written it, he did not want his 'name to appear on the title page as the author. The book was a ponderous literary monstrosity. It tells little of the private or personal life of Washington, mentions his name but twice in the first volume, but combines with his biography a history of the United States. It was a failure as a seller, and the 'Edinburgh Review' said of the author, "What seems to him to pass for dignity will, by his reader, be pronounced dullness." [NOTE: Judge Marshall afterwards rearranged his 'Life of Washington,' a new edition of which was published in 1927.] (See Beveridge's Life of Marshall (vol. 3, PP. 223-273).
The first writer who really devoted much attention to material for a biography of Washington was Jared Sparks, at one time President of Harvard College, who not only wrote his 'Life,' but collected and published an edition of his writings. In doing this, as well as in his other efforts in American history, Dr. Sparks has placed future generations under great obligation. He was a pioneer in historical investigation. Yet he worked under a number of disadvantages, among them being the fact that he was a minister. Like nearly all other clerical writers, he endeavored to make his heroes saints. He corrected Washington's spelling and grammar, well known to have been poor. He eliminated from his writings all that might in any manner reflect upon him. Instead of a man of flesh and blood, Dr. Sparks gives us a beautifully chiseled statue. More conscientious and careful than his predecessor Weems, he yet follows him in some of his errors.
Considering that both Weems and Sparks, who place Washington in such an unenviable light, were clergymen, it was with some pertinency that William Roscoe Thayer said, "Well might the Father of his Country pray to be delivered from the parsons."
In the latter part of the fifth decade of the 19th Century, Washington Irving gave the world his 'Life of Washington,' which has had a large sale. Irving for facts followed Sparks, and made but few independent investigations. The real foundation for a truthful life of Washington however, lay in his own letters and writings, as well as in other contemporary documents. Sparks did a great service to American history in bringing some of these to light, even though he was prejudiced in his ideas, and imperfect in his method. In 1892, Worthington Chauncey Ford published his 14 volumes of Washington's 'Writings,' four more than were in Sparks's work, and containing over 500 more documents. Speaking of Sparks's methods of depicting Washington, Mr, Ford says:
"In spite, however, of all that can be said in praise of Mr.
Sparks's work, it must be admitted that his zeal led him into a
serious error of judgment, so common to hero-worshipers, not only
doing his own reputation, as an editor, an injury, but what is of
greater moment, conveying a distorted idea of Washington's personal
character and abilities -- an idea that was, rapidly developing
into a cult, from which it is still difficult to break away, and in
which it is dangerous to express unbelief. Not only did the editor
omit sentences, words, proper names, and even paragraphs without
notice to the reader', but he materially altered the sense and
application of important portions of the letters. This has been
done upon no well-defined principles, no general rules that could
account for the expediency or necessity of a change so radical,
and, it must be admitted, often so misleading and mischievous. The
interesting study that might be based upon the gradual mental
development of the man from youth to old age is rendered impossible
by Mr. Sparks's methods of treating the written record, and
consequently the real character of Washington as a man is as little
known today as it was to the generation that followed him."
(preface to Writings of George Washington, vol. 1, pp. 18 and 19.)
Washington in character and manner was reserved. He kept his own counsel, and few had his confidence. He expressed himself only when he thought it necessary to do so. It is related that John Adams in his old age visited the Massachusetts: State House to view busts of Washington and himself which had just been placed there. Pointing to the compressed lips on the face of Washington, he said, "There was a man who had sense enough to keep his mouth shut." Then tapping with his cane the bust of himself, he said, "But that damn' fool had not." Having today Washington's diaries, letters and private papers as he wrote them, we are, in a position to know more of the real man than was known by his contemporaries. To them he was an enigma.
Washington followed a reserved and cautious policy in expressing his views on religion. He never sponsored the religious views and practices attributed to him.
It has been vigorously asserted, for the greater part by those who have had an interest in doing so, that George Washington was a very religious man, and a devout member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, of which he was also vestryman. They say:
That he was one of the most regular of church attendants; that no contingency could arise which would keep him from the house of God on the Sabbath; that if he had company he would go regardless, and invite his visitors to accompany him.
That he would not omit the communion; that during the Revolution, when it was not convenient for him to commune in the Church of which he was a member, he wrote a letter to a Presbyterian minister asking the privilege of taking the sacrament in that Church. [NOTE: According to one story, he wrote a letter. According to another, he made a verbal request.] That he was a man of prayer, and was often found at his private devotions.
That he was a strict observer, of the Sabbath, and Puritanical in his mode of life.
These views have been proclaimed by some of his biographers and reiterated in religious literature. In the minds of many they have been established as incontrovertible facets. Yet Washington had not been dead a third of a century before all these Statements were as Strongly contested by some as they were affirmed by others. Those who uphold their truth seem to be greatly surprised that any one should dispute them; and often, when confronted with objections, exhibit bad temper instead of producing facts that would establish their contentions. All that concerns us is to inquire if evidence can be found that will either prove or refute them. Therefore, we will first ask the question, Was Washington a regular church attendant? The Rev. Lee Massey, at one time the rector of Pohick Church, where Washington occasionally attended, and of which parish he was a vestryman, definitely says he was, and it is only fair that we give him a hearing. Says Mr. Massey:
"I never knew so constant an attendant in church as
Washington. And his behavior in the house of God was ever so
deeply reverential that it produced the happiest effect on my
congregation, and greatly assisted me in my pulpit labors. No
company ever withheld him from church. I have often been at
Mt. Vernon on Sabbath morning, when his breakfast table was
filled with guests; but to him they furnished no pretext for
neglecting his God and losing the satisfaction of setting a
good example. For instead of staying at home, out of false
complaisance to them, he used constantly to invite them to
accompany him." (Quoted in The True George Washington, by Paul
Leicester Ford, pp. 77-78.)
We will divide the Diary into four periods, using only such years as are complete. First, before the Revolution; second, after the Revolution; third, while he was President, and fourth, after his second term as ended. During the Revolution he discontinued the Diary. We find in 1768 that he went to church 15 times, in 1769, 10 times, in 1770, nine times, in 1771, six times, and the same number in 1772. In 1773, he went five times, while in 1774 he went 18 times, his banner year outside of the Presidency. During this year he was two months at the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia, where he was in church six times, three times to the Episcopal, once to Romish high mass, once to a Quaker meeting and once to a Presbyterian. In 1784, after the Revolution, he was in the West a long time looking after his land interests, so we will omit this year. In 1785 he attended church just once, but spent many of his Sundays in wholly "secular" pursuits. In 1786 he went once.
These last two year's he was so busy with the work on his farm and other business affairs that he seems to have forgotten the Church almost entirely. In 1787 he went three times. This was the year he was present at and presided over the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. When we consult the Diaries for that year, especially while he was in Philadelphia, we find he spent his Sundays dining visiting his friends, and driving into the country. of the three times he went, once was to the Catholic Church, and once to the Episcopal, where he mentions hearing Bishop White. In 1788, he attended church once. The Diaries deal many hard blows to the mythical Washington, above all to the myth that he went regularly to church.
In 1789, he became President, during which time the Diary is incomplete, and it is impossible to account for all the Sundays. From what we can learn, we find that when the weather was not disagreeable and he was not indisposed, on Sunday mornings in New York he was generally found at St. Paul's Chapel or Trinity. In Philadelphia he attended either Christ Church, presided over by Bishop White, or St. Peter's, where the Rev. Dr. Abercrombie officiated. This was to be expected. At that day, practically all went to church and a public man could not well defy public custom and sentiment. Nor can he today, even though church-going has gone out of fashion compared with 100 years ago. Washington spent his Sunday afternoons while President writing private letters and attending to his own business affairs. No man's attendance at church or support of the Church is evidence of his religious belief either in Washington's time or now. Any honest minister will admit this. After Washington retired from the Presidency his own master, and free from criticism, he went to church as few times as possible, for in 1797 he attended four times, in 1798, once, and in 1799, the year of his death, twice. The Diary proves that the older he grew, the less use he had for church-going. And only twice in the Diary does he ever comment upon the sermon; once, when he called it "a lame discourse," and again when he said it was in German and he could not understand it. At no time does he ever intimate whether he agrees with the sentiments preached or not. This is significant.
We are compelled to agree with the comment of Mr. Paul Leicester Ford, who, in speaking of the Rev. Mr. Massey's [NOTE: Bishop Meade says the Rev. Mr. Massey was originally a lawyer.] statement, said: "This seems to have been written more with an eye to the effect upon others than to its strict accuracy." Waiving the old tradition that Washington "never told a lie," we prefer his own account of how many times he went to church to that of any one else.
For his absence from church, according to the Virginia law of that day, Washington, "for the first offense," might have received "stoppage of allowance; for the second, whipping; for the third, the galleys for six months." Law enforcement at this time was evidently very lax.
That Washington was a vestryman has no special significance religiously. In Virginia, this office was also political. The vestry managed the civil affairs of the parish, among others, the assessment of taxes. Being the largest property holder in the parish, Washington could hardly afford not to be a vestryman, which office he would have to hold before he could become a member of the House of Burgesses. Thomas Jefferson, a pronounced unbeliever, was also a vestryman, and for the same reasons. General A.W. Greeley once said, in 'The Ladies Home Journal,' that in that day "it required no more religion to be a vestryman than it did to sail a ship." It is remarkable, after the civil functions of the vestry were abolished in Virginia, in 1780, how few times Washington attended church. He no longer had a business reason for going. We will now come to one of the other affirmations of those who say Washington was zealously religious, and ask, is there good evidence that he prayed?
In the fall of 1925 I was on a visit to New York City after an absence of some years. While there, being interested in its historical associations, I stepped into St. Paul's Chapel, located on the corner of Broadway and Vesey Street. I took a look at the pew in this old church, erected in 1776, in which it is said George Washington sat when he attended services while President of the United States, when the seat of government was located in New York City. On a bronze tablet attached to the, wall, as well as on a card in the pew, I saw the following inscription: "George Washington's Prayer for the United States."
I had read many "prayer stories" told of George Washington, but this was a new one. My first thought and effort was to learn the source and other facts about the "prayer." I wrote the vicar of St. Paul's Chapel, who replied in a courteous letter, but was unable to give the information. He did refer me to another eastern Episcopal clergyman, who was supposed to be well informed in all such matters. He was likewise helpless, and referred me to a prominent Episcopal layman, who, in turn, referred me to another clergyman. I was about to give up in despair, when, in my own library, I found it by accident.
In 1783, shortly before Washington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief, a financial stringency, accompanied by anarchy and riots, swept the country. The soldiers demanded their pay, which Congress was unable to provide. Something had to be done to alleviate the distress and discontent. Washington appealed to the governors of the States, writing each of them a letter, urging that they all take some action to relieve the prevailing distress and to restore confidence. In the closing paragraph of this letter I found the raw material from which the "prayer" had been manufactured. I quote them here, capitalizing in the "prayer" those words the prayer-makers have interpolated, and in the original, the words they have omitted.
ALMIGHTY GOD, WE MAKE OUR EARNEST PRAYER THAT THOU WILT KEEP
THESE UNITED STATES in THY holy protection, that THOU wilt incline
the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination
and obedience to government; to entertain a brotherly affection and
love for one another and for their fellow citizens of the United
States at large, And finally that THOU wilt most graciously be
pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy and to
demean ourselves with that charity, humility and pacific temper of
mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our
blessed religion, and without an humble imitation of Whose example
in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation. GRANT OUR
SUPPLICATION, WE BESEECH THEE, THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD. AMEN.
"I NOW MAKE IT MY EARNEST PRAYER, THAT GOD WOULD HAVE YOU, AND
THE STATE OVER WHICH YOU PRESIDE, in HIS holy protection; that HE
would incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of
subordination and obedience to government; to entertain a brotherly
affection and love for one another, for their fellow-citizens of
the United States at large, AND PARTICULARLY FOR THEIR BRETHREN WHO
HAVE SERVED IN THE FIELD; and finally, that HE would most
graciously be pleased to dispose us all to justice, to love mercy,
and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility and pacific
temper of mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author
of our blessed religion, and without an humble imitation of whose
examples in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation.
"I HAVE THE HONOR TO BE, WITH MUCH ESTEEM AND RESPECT, SIR,
YOUR EXCELLENCY'S MOST OBEDIENT AND MOST HUMBLE SERVANT. -- G.
WASHINGTON."
In making a prayer from this last paragraph of a letter to civil magistrates the prayer promoters have committed sins both of omission and commission:
Instead of "sir," with which Washington begins his letter to the governors, they have written, "Almighty God, we make our earnest prayer, etc." Washington in the original speaks in the first person, singular. He does not speak directly to God, but he makes an earnest prayer, or wish that God will do a certain thing. The prayer makers use the first person plural and speak to God directly. They have omitted "and the state over which you preside," and "for their brethren who have served in the field." Instead of Washington's closing, "I have the honor to be, sir, etc.," they have substituted, "Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
That they should add this last phrase, with which all the prayers in the Episcopal prayer book terminate, was unfortunate when we consider that nowhere in Washington's writings does he mention directly or by name Jesus Christ. When he was a boy of 13, he wrote in a copy book,
It must be conceded, that this "prayer" closely approaches the definition of forgery. As evidence of how fictions will circulate, and become more powerful as they go, 'The New York World Almanac,' for 1930, P. 906, says: "This prayer, it is said, was made by Washington at St. Paul's Church, following his inauguration in the old Federal Building on the North side of Wall Street, facing Broad Street." It was probably hoped that those not familiar with the history of the prayer, Which means the majority, would assume this to be an accepted fact.
Washington must have been "powerful in prayer" if we are to believe two other stories told of his attempts to reach the "throne of grace." Some 30 years ago it was proclaimed that in his youth he composed a prayer book for his own use, containing a prayer for five days, beginning with Sunday and ending with Thursday. The manuscript of this prayer book was said to have been found among the contents of an old trunk. It was printed and facsimiles published. Clergymen read it from the altar, one of them saying it contained so much "spirituality" that he had to stop, as he could not control his emotions while reading it.
Yet, while this prayer book was vociferously proclaimed to have been written by Washington, there was not an iota of evidence that he ever had anything to do with it, or that it even ever belonged to him. A little investigation soon pricked the bubble. Worthington C. Ford, who had handled more of Washington's manuscripts than any other man except Washington himself, declared that the penmanship was not that of washington. Rupert Hughes (Washington, vol. 1, p. 658) gives facsimile specimens of the handwriting in the prayer book side by side with known specimens of Washington's penmanship at the time the prayer book was supposed to have been written. A glance proves that they are not by the same hand.
Then in the prayer book manuscript all of the words are spelled correctly, while Washington was a notoriously poor speller. But the greatest blow it received was when the Smithsonian Institute refused to accept it as a genuine Washington relic. That Washington did not compose it was proved by Dr. W.A. Croffutt, a newspaper correspondent of the Capital, who traced the source of some of the prayers to an old prayer brook in the Congressional Library printed, in the reign of James the First.
Even the Rev. W. Herbert Burk, rector of the Episcopal Church of Valley Forge, although a firm believer in Washington's religiosity, thus speaks of these prayers: "At present, the question is an open one, and its settlement will depend on the discovery of the originals, or upon the demonstration that they are the work of Washington."
While the "Washington Prayer Book" was thoroughly discredited, there is another prayer yarn told of him that will not die so easily. United States histories, Sunday School papers and religious tracts have sustained its life. The United States government has emblazoned it in bronze on the front of the Subtreasury building in New York City. In 1928, the Postmaster-General issued $2,000,000. in postage stamps to commemorate it. When he was informed that it was a fiction and the real facts presented to him, he replied that he was too busy to correct the mistakes of history. As a romance it is always worth telling. The scene was laid in Valley Forge, in the winter of 1777-78, while Washington's army was in winter quarters, suffering from hunger, nakedness and cold, when many had abandoned all hope of success. There, Isaac Potts, a Quaker, at whose house Washington is said to have had his headquarters, when walking in the woods on a cold winter day, saw Washington on his knees in the snow engaged in prayer, his hat off and his horse tied to a sapling.
This story was first told by our old acquaintance, Weems, the great protagonist of Washington mythology, He does not give his authority for telling it, but others have added to the account. We can clear Isaac Potts of all complicity in foisting it upon the world, as he never told it or certified to its truth. The nearest we can approach him is that some old person said he had told it. The Rev. E.C. M'Guire, in a book entitled 'The Religious Opinions and Character of Washington,' published in 1836, quotes a man 80 years old, one Devault Beaver, who claims he received the story from Potts and his family.
In 1862, James Ross Snowden wrote a letter to the Rev. T.W.J. Wylie, minister of the First Reformed Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, in which he said his father. N.R. Snowden, had heard the incident from Potts. He said he could not find his father's papers, in which it is claimed he wrote an account of it. He admits that Weems told the story in a different manner from his father's version, but insists that his father told it correctly. As in all of these fables, when evidence is sought, some link in the chain is lost. The character of the proof is shady. The word of very old men is always to be taken with a grain of allowance, especially when uncorroborated. I once talked with an old man of 87 who claimed that he had seen Lafayette, Charles Carron, of Carronton, and Martha Washington. Upon an investigation, I found it possible that he had seen the first two, but as his birth record showed him to have been born in 1802, the year Martha Washington died, it is certain that he never saw her.
We sometimes speak of incredible stories as "old wives' tales," not thinking that similar stories told by old men are in the same category. This payer story is told with variations. According to Weems, Potts accidentally finds Washington at prayer. Being attracted by a sound in "a venerable grove," he looks into it and finds him pouring forth his soul to God, his countenance being of "angelic serenity," these two expressions being added to give a dramatic and romantic effect. Weems makes Potts a patriot, who, after watching Washington's struggle with the Almighty, rushes into his house with great glee, and shouts to his wife, "Sarah! My dear Sarah! all's well! all's well! George Washington will yet prevail!" telling her what he had seen. According to the story as told by the Rev. Mr. M'Guire, Potts was a Tory, as most Quakers were, and he makes him say to his wife, not calling her by any Christian name, "Our cause is lost." He seemed to think the revolutionary conflict would be settled by Washington's prayer. Instead of Potts's coming upon Washington suddenly, hearing a sound in the grove, and upon investigating finding the Commander-in-Chief at his orisons, as told by Weems, M'Guire makes him follow the General for some time to see where he was going and what he was going to do, when, lo, he saw him get down on his knees in the snow and pray. According to the Snowden account, Potts's wife's name was not Sarah, but Betty. He represents him as now willing to support the cause of America, does not tell what his views were previously. The prayer causing the Quaker to change from a Tory to a patriot was no doubt the work of some later artist who wished the fable to be more effective.
The Rev. M.J. Savage says:
"The pictures that represent him on his knees in the
winter forest at Valley Forge are even silly caricatures.
Washington was at least not sentimental, and he had nothing
about him of the Pharisee that displays his religion at street
corners or out in the woods in the sight of observers, of
observers, or where his portrait could be taken by 'our
special artist!'"
Bishop White, whose church he attended on and off for 25 years in Philadelphia, says he never saw him on his knees in church. This ought to settle the question. If he did not kneel in church, who will believe that he did so on the ground, covered with snow, with his hat off, when the thermometer, was probably below zero?
As further proof that the story is fictitious, there is reason to believe that Isaac Potts did not live in Valley Forge at the time Washington's army was there, in the winter of 1777-1778. Mr. Myers of the Valley Forge Park Commission, recently admitted this.
That Potts did not own the house at the time is established by Washington's account book, where it is proved that the rent for headquarters was paid to Mrs. Deborah Hawes, and the receipts were made out in her name. Potts bought the house when the war was over.
There is yet another story of Washington's praying in the bushes at Princeton, which we will not dilate upon now. But Valley Forge was the most prolific in legends. During the same winter that Potts caught Washington praying in the snow, the Rev. John Gano, Baptist preacher, is said to have cut the ice in the river, and baptized the commander-in-chief by immersion in the presence of 42 people, all sworn to secrecy! And this has been confirmed by a grandson of the Rev. Gano in an affidavit made at the age of 83 years! But the entire story is discredited by the fact that the Rev. Gano was not at Valley Forge, and that he served with Clinton's, and not with Washington's, army. For proof, see 'Biographical Memoirs of the Rev. John Gano,' also Headingly's 'Chaplains of the Revolution.'
Thwarted in their attempts to find evidence that Washington was publicly a pious man, those interested have tried to prove that he was privately devout, and prayed clandestinely. If any were in a position to know of this it would be his own family. His adopted daughter, and step-granddaughter, Nellie Custis, wrote Mr. Sparks in 1833, when Washington's alleged piety was called into question and it was necessary to find evidence to prove it, "I never witnessed his private devotions. I never inquired about them." (See Sparks's Washington, p. 522.) She professes to think he was a believer, and mentions persons having told her they had seen him pray years ago, but all of the evidence is of this character -- always second hand. It will be necessary to show what interest Washington had in making the public think he was not religious, when in fact he was in private. In this he would be as much of a deceiver as those who are religious in public and not in private. And a really religious man believes in "letting his light shine." If, like Washington, he is not a religious man, and at the same time honest, not wishing to offend his friends who are religious, he will take a non-committal attitude. The more we know of the real character of George Washington, the more we find him to have been a man who refrained from subterfuge.
George Washington Parke Custis, a step-grandson and adopted son of Washington, wrote, from time to time, a series of articles for newspapers. giving his recollections of his adopted father. He was but 18 when Washington died, in 1799, and his own death occurred in 1857. His articles were, after his death, collected and edited by B.J. Lossing and published in book form. His, statements vary greatly when compares with those of others who knew Washington. In fact, he, as a mythologist, is assigned next place to Weems. He says that Washington, standing, was in the habit of asking the blessing at the table. Of the hundreds who had dined with Washington, no one confirms this. But it is interesting to read the statement of one who did dine with him and thought he was asking the blessing but found for it no confirmation.
Commissary-General Claude Blanchard dined with Washington, and gives in his Journal the following account:
"There was a clergyman at this dinner who blessed the
food and said grace after they had done eating and had brought
in the wine. I was told that General Washington said grace
when there was no clergyman at the table, as fathers of a
family do in America. The first time that I dined with him
there was no clergyman and I did not perceive that he made
this prayer, yet I remember that, on taking his place at the
table, he made a gesture and said a ward, which I took for a
piece of politeness, and which was perhaps a religious action.
In this case his prayer must have been short; the clergyman
made use of more forms. We remained a very long time at the
table. They drank 12 or 15 healths with Madeira wine, In the
course of the meal beer was served and grum, rum mixed with
water."
Those who think they find in Washington's praying in the snow at Valley Forge an evidence of the effteacy of prayer will find that a long time elapsed between the time he besought God, and the realization. During the remainder of his life he was not without trials and tribulations. After the battle of Monmouth, in 1778, he did not fight another battle for three years, chiefly because of want of guns, clothing and ammunition for his men. In the meantime the British raided the coast of Connecticut, burning and destroying. Arnold's treason almost succeeded, in which case, all would have been lost. The British invaded and conquered Georgia and the Carolinas. They subdued the inhabitants with great cruelty, and were about to subject Virginia to the same fate. Whether prayer was responsible for it or not, the real Providence of Washington and the country manifested itself in the form of French assistance, At Yorktown, in 1781, Washington, with 9,000 of his own troops, General Rochambeau with 7,000 French soldiers, Admiral De Grasse with 42 French ships of the line and 19,000 French seamen, surrounded Lord Cornwallis, who had an inferior force, and compelled him to surrender. This would not have been possible had Thomas Paine and John Laurens not journeyed to France in February, 1781, and on August 25 returned to Boston with a shipload of clothing, arms and ammunition, and 2,500,000, livres of silver, to clothe Washington's ragged and unpaid soldiers and place in their hands arms fit to use in battle.
But it is not likely that the Valley Forge prayer story will die soon. It is too good a "property" to abandon, for the Rev. W. Herbert Burk, the Valley Forge rector, is working hard to erect a million dollar church to commemorate it. He also stands sponsor for the prayer in St. Paul's Chapel in New York City. Bishop Warburton once said: "A lie has no legs and cannot stand, but it has wings and can fly far and wide."
Was Washington a Communicant? Here we must also enter the realm of myth before looking at homely facts. While the Episcopal Church has nursed the myths of Washington's praying, in the Presbyterian Church are embalmed those asserting that he took communion. Strange to say, the Episcopal Church, while claiming him as a member and believer, seldom claims him as a communicant. The evidence of clergymen who knew Washington and whose churches he attended is very destructive to this myth.
In the Philadelphia Presbyterian Hospital is a large painting of Washington taking the communion at an out-door service, supposed have been held under the apple trees in Morristown, N.J. Those who hold that this picture represents an historical incident are agreed as to the place, but they differ as to the date. One says it happened in 1777, while another says 1780. As the story is generally told, Washington addressed a letter to a Presbyterian minister, the Rev. Dr. Johnes, asking him if he would admit to the communion a member of another Church. The clergyman replied, "Certainly. this is not a Presbyterian table, but the Lord's table," as Jared Sparks relates it in the chapter in his 'Life of Washington' which is devoted to the first President's religious opinions and habits. Accordingly, we are told, Washington attended the meeting and partook of the sacrament. sparks gives as his authority Dr. Hosacks' 'life of De Witt Clinton.' Dr. Hosack's authority was the Rev. Samuel H. Cox, who tells us he had it "from unquestionable authority ... a venerable clergyman, who had it from Dr. Johnes himself." But he thinks that "to all Christians, and to all Americans, it cannot fail to be acceptable." (Sparks's 'Washington,' pp. 523, 524.) As in other cases, a link in the chain of evidence is missing, and we are asked to accept the story on our faith as Christians and our patriotism as Americans. But in 1836, Asa C. Colton could find no evidence that it was a fact. He found a son of the Rev. Dr. Johne:s, who had no recollection of the alleged event, and could give no testimony. His wife was more accommodating, but all she could say was that it was "an unquestioned family tradition," which it might have been, though "tradition" is always suspicious. A report was then circulated that the Rev. Dr. Richards, of the Auburn Theological Seminary, had in his possession the letter of Washington to Dr. Johnes. When appealed to, he denied that he had it or had aver seen it, though he said the story was "universally current," and "never contradicted," which is about as weak as evidence can be made.
Fortunately for the truth of history, we are not obliged to rely upon the word of unnamed "venerable clergymen," or "universally current traditions" to prove that George Washington was not a communicant. We can produce well known men of character and truthfulness, ministers of the gospel whose churches he attended for years and who had his personal confidence, who not only say he did not take the sacraments, but they had no evidence that he was a believing Christian. If he did not accept the communion in the churches he regularly attended, is it probable that he, would beg that privilege of another minister in another church? This is not in accordance with common sense, and therefore not good argument. Moreover, these clergymen who are in a position to know whereof they speak, have left us written statements, recorded in reliable histories.
One of the most honored clergymen of the Episcopal Church in the latter part of the 18th Century and the early part of the 19th, was the Rev. Dr. James Abercrombie, rector of St. Peter's Church, in Philadelphia. Here Washington sometimes attended while he was President. Dr. Abercrombie was a scholar and at one time a correspondent of Samuel Johnson. Sprague's 'Annals of the American Pulpit,' vol. 5, p. 394, says: "One incident in Dr. Abercrombie's experience as a clergyman, In connection with the father of his country, is especially worthy of record: and the following account of it was given by the doctor himself in a letter to a friend, in 1833, shortly after there had been some public allusion to it." Then follows Dr. Abercrombie's letter:
"With respect to the inquiry you make, I can only state
the following facts: that as pastor of the Episcopal Church,
observing that, on sacramental Sundays George Washington,
immediately after the desk and pulpit services, went out with
the greater part of the congregation -- always leaving Mrs.
Washington with the other communicants -- she invariably being
one -- I considered it my duty, in a sermon on public worship,
to state the unhappy tendency of example, particularly of
those in elevated stations, who uniformly-turned their backs
on the Lord's Supper. I acknowledge the remark was intended
for the President; and as such he received it. A few days
after, in conversation, I believe, with a Senator of the
United States, he told me he had dined the day before with the
President, who, in the course of conversation at the table,
said that, on the previous Sunday, he had received a very just
rebuke from the pulpit for always leaving the church before
the administration of the sacrament; that he honored the
preacher for his integrity and candor; that he had never
sufficiently considered the influence of his example, and that
he would not again give cause for the repetition of the
reproof; and that, as he had never been a communicant, were he
to become one then, it would be imputed to an ostentatious
display of religious zeal, arising altogether from his
elevated station. Accordingly, he never afterwards came an the
morning of sacrament Sunday, though at other times he was a
constant attendant in the morning."
"When Congress sat in Philadelphia, President Washington
attended the Episcopal Church, The rector, Dr. Abercrombie,
told me that on the days when the sacrament of the Lord's
Supper was to he administered, Washington's custom was to
arise just before the ceremony commenced, and walk out of the
church. This became a subject of remark in the congregation,
as setting a bad example. At length the Doctor undertook to
speak of it, with a direct allusion to the President.
Washington was heard afterwards to remark that this was the
first time a clergyman had thus preached to him, and he should
henceforth neither trouble the Doctor or his congregation on
such occasions; and ever after that, upon communion days, 'he
absented himself altogether from church.'"
"I called last evening on Dr. Wilson, as I told you I
should, and I have seldom derived more pleasure from a short
interview with anyone. Unless my discernment of character has
been grievously at fault, I met an honest man and a sincere
Christian. But you shall have the particulars. A gentleman of
this city accompanied me to the Doctor's residence. We were very
courteously received. I found him a tall, commanding figure, with
a countenance of much benevolence, and a brow indicative of deep
thought, apparently 50 year's of age. I opened the interview by
stating that though personally a stranger to him, I had taken the
liberty of calling in consequence of having perused an interesting
sermon of his, which had been reported in the 'Daily Advertiser' of
this city, and regarding which, as he probably knew, a variety of
opinions prevailed. In a discussion, in which I had taken part,
some of the facts as there reported had been questioned; and I
wished to know from him whether the reporter had fairly given his
words or not. I then read to him from a copy of the 'Daily
Advertiser' the paragraph which regards Washington, beginning,
'Washington was a man" etc., and ending 'absented himself
altogether from church.' 'I endorse,' said Dr. Wilson with
emphasis, 'every word of that. Nay, I do not wish to conceal from
you any part of the truth, even what I have not given to the
public. Dr . Abercrombie said more than I have repeated. At the
close of our conversation on the subject his emphatic expression
was -- for I well remember the very words -- "Sir, Washington was
a Deist."
"I have diligently perused every line that Washington
ever gave to the public, and I do not find one expression in
which he pledges Himself as a believer in Christianity. I
think anyone who will candidly do as I have done, will come to
the conclusion that he was a Deist and nothing more."
Our next witness will be "a venerable clergyman," but not unknown and unnamed -- the Rt. Rev. William White, the first bishop of Sylvania, one of the most distinguished men in the history of the American episcopacy, a man of intellect, high character and honor. He was one of the few Anglican ministers who did not take the side of England during the Revolution. Washington attended his church, Christ's, in Philadelphia, for about 25 years when he happened to be in that city. The two men, the prelate and the soldier and statesman, were personal friends. I recently visited this church, and the verger told me that Bishop White is yet the biggest part of the church. His episcopal chair still stands by the side of the altar, while his body rests beneath it. On August 13, 1835, Colonel Mercer, of Fredericksburg, Va., wrote Bishop White this letter:
"I have a desire, my dear sir, to know whether General
Washington was a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, or
whether he occasionally went to the communion only, or if he
ever did so at all. No authority can be so authentic and
complete as yours on this point."
"Philadelphia, Aug. 15, 1935.
"In regard to the subject of your inquiry, truth requires
me to say that General Washington never received the communion
in the churches of which I am the parochial minister. Mrs.
Washington was an habitual communicant. I have been written to
by many on that point, and have been obliged to answer them as
I now do you,. I am respectfully,
"Your humble servant,
"William White"
The Rev. Bird Wilson, in the 'Memoir of Bishop White,' p. 188,
says: "Though the General attended the churches in which Dr.
White officiated, whenever he was in Philadelphia during the
Revolutionary War, and afterwards while President of the
United States, he was never a communicant in them."
"His behavior in church was always serious and attentive,
but as your letter seems to intend an inquiry on the point of
kneeling during the service, I owe it to the truth to declare
that I never saw him in the said attitude. ... Although I was
often in the company of this great man, and had the honor of
often dining at his table, I never heard anything from him
which could manifest his opinions on the subject of religion.
... Within a few days of his leaving the Presidential chair
our vestry waited on him with an address prepared and
delivered by me. In his answer he was pleased to express
himself gratified by what he had heard from our pulpit; but
there was nothing that committed him relatively to religious
theory." (Memoir of Bishop White, pp, 189-191.)
"I do not believe that any degree of recollection will
bring to my mind any fact which would prove General Washington
to have been a believer in the Christian revelation further
than as may be hoped from his constant attendance upon
Christian worship, in connection with the general reserve of
his character." (Memoir of Bishop White, p. 193.)
It was early in the 1830's that the supposed piety of Washington was called into question and evidence of its being a fact demanded. This accounts for the letters we have quoted being written during that decade. The Rev. Dr. Abercrombie wrote the letter I have quoted, in 1831; the Rev. Bird Wilson preached his sermon on the religious beliefs of the founders of the republic in the same year; Bishop White wrote his letter to the Rev. B.C.C. Parker in 1932, and I his letter to Colonel Mercer in 1835. Jared Sparks wrote to Nellie Custis for evidence of Washington's taking the communion in 1833. The Rev. Mr M'Guire in 1836, made fruitless inquiries about Washington's Presbyterian communion. We have observed that no evidence could be found, except unsupported tradition, that Washington Prayed, communed, or in any way gave outward indication of being a religious man, except that he attended church sometimes; while Bishop White and the Rev. Drs. Abercromble and Wilson positively say that he was not religious.
In 1831, Mr. Robert Dale Owen, afterwards a member of Congress where he introduced the bill establishing the Smithsonian Institute, and who later was Minister to Naples, held a newspaper debate with the Rev. Origen Bacherer, which was afterwards published in book form and had a large circulation. Mr. Bacheler insisted that Washington was a communicant and appealed to the Rev. William Jackson, rector of Alexandria, Va., for evidence. Mr. Jackson eagerly sought it, but failed to find it and wrote Mr. Bacheler, "I find no one who ever communed with him." (Bacheler- Owen Debate, vol. 2, p. 262.)
Still Mr. Bacheler, was not satisfied, and begged Mr. Jackson to seek further. After trying again, be wrote, "I am sorry, after so long a delay in replying to your last, that it is not in my power to communicate something definite in reference to General Washington's church membership," and in the same letter he says, "Nor can I find and old person who ever communed with him." (Bacheler-Owen Debate, quoted in John E. Remsburg's Six Historic Americans, pp. 110-111.)
In the fall of 1928 I visited Pohick Church, which Washington occasionally attended and in which he was a vestryman. I asked the caretaker if there was any evidence in the parish records that Washington took communion. At first he evaded my inquiry by saying that in the Episcopal Church no one took communion unless he was confirmed, and there being no bishops in this country at the time, confirmation was impossible. I then asked if Episcopalians dispensed with the communion in this country until they had bishops. He again evaded a direct answer, but, pointing to the pews of Washington, George Mason and George William Fairfax, who, like Washington, were vestrymen, said "There is no evidence that any of these men communed." Nearly all well-informed Episcopal clergymen know Washington was not a communicant, but they find it very inconvenient to admit it. To a Christian believer the communion is the most sacred rite. All of them take it when they feel themselves worthy. Some do not take it when they feel they are unworthy. To say Washington was a Christian in the orthodox sense and never partook of it -- and so far as we know this is true -- cannot be a compliment to him.
I have cited four churches which Washington attended. The ministers of two of them say emphatically that he did not commune. One of them says just as emphatically that he was not a believer, only a Deist. The other says he had no evidence of his Christian belief other than that he attended church, which is no evidence at all. In the other two, in both of which he was a vestryman, no evidence could be found that he ever stood at the Lord's table.
On January 20, 1833, Mr. Sparks wrote to Nellie Custis, then Mrs. Lewis, for evidence that her step-grandfather communed. She answered, on February 20, 1833, as follows: "On communion Sundays, he left the Church with me after the blessing, and returned home, and we sent the carriage back after my grandmother." (Sparks's 'Washington,' p. 521.) Sparks himself, on p. 523, expresses his regrets at this in these words:
"The circumstance of his withdrawing himself from the
communion service, at a certain period of his life, has been
remarked as singular. This may be admitted and regretted, both
on account of his example, and the value of his opinion as to
the importance and practical tendency of the rite."
Myths about Washington compared with kindred myths. When we read these various stories about Washington and compare them with other myths of American history, now conceded to be nothing but myths, we will perceive that they are all cut from the same cloth. In Watson's 'Annals of Philadelphia,' p. 422, we read of the following incidents at a session of the first Continental Congress:
"It was on this occasion that General Washington, then a
member from Virginia, was observed to be the only member to
kneel, when Bishop White first offered his prayer to the -
throne of grace -- as if he were early impressed with a sense
of his and their dependence on the God of battles."
We Have been told that John Brown, while on his way to the scaffold, stopped and kissed a Negro child. This has been written in United States history, with a touching engraving attached. Andrew Hunter, who prosecuted Brown, has firmly denied it, saying that a cordon of soldiers surrounded him; that no one, particularly no Negro, was permitted to get near him. Oswald Garrison Villard, in his 'Life of John Brown Fifty Years After' (p. 554), says: "No little slave child was held up for the benison of his lips, for none but soldiery was near and the street was full of marching men."
The story of General Lee surrendering his sword to General Grant has likewise been popular in histories, and Grant has been eulogized for his great "magnanimity" in returning it. General Grant, in his 'Memoirs,' thus disposes of the story: "The much talked of surrendering of Lee's sword and my handing it back, this, and much more that has been said about it, is the purest fiction." (Vol. 2, p. 494.)
The 'Western Christian Advocate' published a story about Lincoln, which, though it was copied in a score of Lincoln biographies, was without the slightest basis in fact. It was to the effect that upon the reception of the news of Lee's surrender, Lincoln and all his cabinet got down upon their knees in prayer. In 1891, Hugh McCullough, Lincoln's last Secretary of the Treasury, was yet living. Through an old acquaintance, Mr. N.P. Stockbridge, of Fort Wayne, Ind., he was approached, and this is what he had to say:
"The description of what occurred at the Executive
Mansion, when the intelligence was received of the surrender
of the Confederate forces, which you quote from the 'Western
Christian Advocate,' is not only absolutely groundless but
absurd. After I became Secretary of the Treasury I was present
at every cabinet meeting, and I never saw Mr. Lincoln or any
of his ministers upon his knees or in tears." (See Remsburg's
'Six Historic Americans,' Lincoln section, p. 83.)
For the persistence with which myths are accepted as facts, even when they are admitted to be myths, we can find no better illustration than Edward Everett Hale's 'Man Without a Country.' It was written in 1862, to stimulate patriotism during the rebellion. The story was of Philip Nolan, a young lieutenant in the United States Army, who, at the time of Aaron Burr's alleged treason, was heard to remark. "Damn the United States! I wish I may never hear of the United States again!" For this he was tried by a court- martial and sentenced to imprisonment for life on a United States man-of-war that would never make an American port, and whose officers were told to see that he would never hear the name of his country again. Such a man as Philip Nolan never lived, the story is wholly fictitious, and Dr. Hale published it as such. Yet there were people who were willing to vouch for the truth of the narrative. Dr. hale said, in a late edition of the book:
"The story having once been published, it passed out of
my hands. From that moment it has gradually acquired different
accessories for which I am not responsible. Thus I have heard
it said that at one bureau of the Navy Department they say
that Nolan was pardoned in fact, and returned home to die. At
another bureau, I am told, the answer to questions is that
though it is true that an officer was kept abroad all of his
life, his name was not Nolan. The Hon. James Savage, who
discredited all tradition, still recollected this 'Nolan
court-martial.' One of the most accurate of my younger friends
had noticed Nolan's death in the newspaper, but recollected
that it was in September and not in August. A lady in
Baltimore wrote me in good faith that Nolan had two widowed
sisters living in that neighborhood. A writer in the New
Orleans 'Picayune,' in a careful historical paper, explained
at length that I had been mistaken all through; that Philip
Nolan never went to sea but to Texas; that there he was shot
in battle, March 21, 1801; and by orders from Spain every
fifth man of his party was to be shot, had they not died in
prison. Fortunately, however, he left his papers and maps,
which fell into the hands of a friend of the 'Picayune's'
correspondent.
"With all these suggestions the reader need not occupy
himself. I can only repeat that my Philip Nolan is pure
fiction. I cannot send his scrap-book to my friend who asks
for it, because I have it not to send." (Edition of 1917, pp.
103-104.)
The well-known historian, Henry C. Lea, in an address upon "The Ethical Values of History," published in the 'American Historical Review,' for January, 1904, said:
"History is not to be written as a Sunday-school tale for
children of a larger growth. It is, or should be, a serious
attempt to ascertain the severest truth as to the past and to
set it forth without fear or favor. It may, and it generally
will, convey a moral, but that moral should educe itself from
facts."
Was Washington a Sabbath Keeper and a Puritan? Some who have endeavored to prove that George Washington was sound in his theological views and in the practices pertaining to them have also declared that he was sound in his personal conduct, from the Puritan standpoint. I say Puritan standpoint advisedly, lest I inadvertently cast a reflection upon Washington; knowing that all good men do not endorse this standpoint.
We are told that he was a strict observer of the Sabbath, and we are sometimes referred to an incident in Connecticut, when he would not travel on Sunday. The entry in his Diary telling of this is dated Sunday, November 8, 1789, and reads as follows: "It being contrary to law and disagreeable to the people of this State (Connecticut) to travel on the Sabbath day -- and my horses, after passing through such intolerable roads, wanting rest, I stayed at Perkins' tavern (which, by the bye, is not a good one) -- all day -- and a meeting house being a few rods from the door, I attended morning and evening services, and heard a lame discourse from a Mr. Pond." (Diaries, vol. 4, p. 50.)
Yet when we read Washington's own account of his later trip through the southern States. We find he continually traveled on Sunday, and seldom attended church. On Sunday, September 19, he was on a trip inspecting his lands. He did not call upon his tenants for their rent, because he says they were "APPARENTLY very religious," and "it was thought best to postpone going among them until tomorrow." The italics (capitals) are Washington's own. In both of these cases he was aiming not to offend other persons' conscientious scruples, not carrying out his own.
It has been said Washington did not receive visitors on Sunday. So far as his home in Mt. Vernon was concerned, a glance at the 'Diaries' will prove this to be untrue. When he had no guests there on the first day of the week, he made it a subject of special comment. While he was President he did not receive visitors on Sunday for the very good and practical reason that he wanted the day to himself to attend to his own private business. Let us look at a few instances, typical of many:
Sunday. February 14, 1790. "At home all day writing letters to Virginia." (Ibid, P. 87.)
Sunday. October 11, 1789. "At home all day writing private letters." (ibid, p. 19.)
Sunday June 27. 1790. "Went to Trinity church in the morning -- employed myself in writing business in the afternoon." (Ibid. p. 130.)
Sunday. May 2, 1790. "Went to Trinity church in the forenoon -- writing letters on private business in the afternoon." (Ibid, 'D. 126.)
Sunday, April 18, 1790. "At borne all day -- the weather being stormy and bad, wrote private letters." (Ibid, T). 116.)
Sunday, March 21. 1790. "Went to St. Paul's chapel in the forenoon -- wrote private letters in the afternoon. Received Mr. Jefferson, Minister of State, about one o'clock," (ibid, p. 106,)
We find that he was engaged in many "secular" pursuits on Sunday. Mr. Ford adds: "He entertained company, closed land purchases, sold wheat, and, while a Virginia planter, went fox- hunting on Sunday." (Ibid, p. 79.) A few specific, instances of this will be given. on Sunday, March 31, 1771, he was engaged "on the arbitration between Dr. Ross and Company and Mr. Semple." (Diaries, vol. 2, p. 12.) Sunday, October 13, 1771, he spent his time "plotting and measuring the surveys which Capt. Crawford made for the officers and soldiers." On Sunday, December 25, of the same year, he "agreed to raise Christopher Shadels wages to 2,0, pounds per annum." one week prior to this, December 18, he "went to Doeg Run and carried the dogs with me, who found and run a deer to the, water." (Diaries, vol. 2, pp. 45 and 46.) On Sunday, October 25, 1772, he was "assisting Crawford with his surveys" (ibid, p. 840), while on Sunday, November 4, be "set off for the Annapolis rases." (Ibid, p. 82.)
Washington danced, and the 'Diaries' are full of instances of his going to assemblies and balls. During the Revolution he, with Generals Greene, Knox, Wilkinson and others, signed a subscription Paper to pay the sums set beside their names "in the promotion and support of a dancing assembly." Once he danced for three hours with Mrs. Greene without sitting down. once the entire party danced all night. At Newport General Rochambeau gave a ball and Washington danced the first figure, while the French officers took the instruments from the musicians and furnished the music. He frequently traveled to Alexandria to attend balls, and danced until he was 64 years old. (See The True George Washington, pp. 1,83, 184.)
The theater was the bane of our Puritan ancestors. As late as 1792 a performance of Sheridan's 'School for Scandal' was stopped by the sheriff in Boston. New York was about the only city in the northern colonies where performance of plays was permitted. Pennsylvania passed an act prohibiting theaters in 1700. In 1759 this law was evaded by the creation of a theater outside the limits of Philadelphia. The ministers petitioned the legislature to suppress it and were successful, but the King and Council in London vetoed the act. There was peace until 1779, when, taking advantage of the fact that Pennsylvania was independent of England, the ministers were successful in having passed a law imposing a fine of 500 pounds on anyone who erected a theater. The law was reenacted in 1786, but the penalty was reduced to 200 pounds. On March 2, 1789, this law was repealed on petition of leading citizens of Philadelphia. Theaters were now permitted.
All his life, Washington's 'Diaries' prove, he attended the theater whenever an opportunity offered. In Philadelphia he did not hesitate to defy the stern puritanical element that opposed the theater, and for this he was criticized. On January 9, 1797, he records: "Went to the theater for the first time this season. The Child of Nature and the Lock and Key were performed." (Diaries, vol. 4, p. 248.) On the 24th of the same month he attended the Pantheon. There bareback and fancy riding were the attraction. On January 26, Washington sold the proprietor a fine white horse, named Jack, for $150. On February 27, five days before his term as President expired, he "went to the Theater in the evening." The play on the boards this time was 'The Way to get Married,' followed by a comic ballet entitled, 'Dermot and Kathleen, or Animal Magnetism.'
Bishop Meade has denied that Washington went fox-hunting, attended theaters, or that he would stoop to cards or dice. (Old Churches, Ministers and Families of Virginia, vol. 2, pp. 242,-55.) We can only say the good Bishop was mistaken. His father, who was a member of Washington's staff during the Revolution, ought to have told him better. cards and dice were a favorite amusement with Virginia gentlemen. Washington partook of them. He did not play for heavy stakes, but in a carefully kept ledger is to be found an account of his losses and gains. In his "Ledger B," [NOTE: See vol. 2, of Rupert Hughes' Washington, pp. 208, 209, in which the ledger pages are reproduced.] 1772-1774, his net loss was six pounds, three shillings and three pence, not bad for two years, and 63 games, of which he lost 36 and won 27.
What would shock our modern Puritans more than all things else is the well-known fact that he not only drank liquor, wine and beer, but manufactured and sold them. When Congress passed the first excise law in 1794, placing a tax on distilled spirits, it caused a rebellion in western Pennsylvania. Washington himself regarded this law as an incentive to make money, so he installed a distillery at Mt. Vernon, and made whisky, "from rye chiefly and Indian corn in a certain proportion."
Mr. Ford says: "In 1798, the profit from the distillery was 344 pounds, 12 shillings, and seven and three quarter pence, with a stock carried over of 756 1/4 gallons." (The True George Washington, p. 123.)
Yet we must remember that the Puritans of Washington's day did not take umbrage at the manufacture of rum, as their descendants do today. In New England it was the leading industry. While Washington was careful not to give offense to his pious countrymen in things pertaining to doctrine, all his life he set his face against their puritanical practices. But those who still believe that Washington was a Puritan can console themselves with the fact that while he was a big grower of tobacco, he did not personally use it.
While he is usually looked upon as a grave, solemn man, Washington was fully capable of both making and enjoying a joke. He was popular with women, but there is no record of any improprieties. Far from being the walking manikin some would have us believe he was, we find him a real man of flesh and blood. The excellence of Washington's character did not consist in loud Professions of superior righteousness, and in giving attention to forms; but we find him a superior man because at all times he was honest, honorable, reliable, recognized the rights of others, was patient under difficulties and disappointments, always exercising that uncommon thing known as common sense. These are the reasons why his contemporaries esteemed him and had confidence in him, and why, with all of the light shown upon his career, he yet holds his place in history.
The Public Attitude of Washington toward the Church and Religion. The public attitude of Washington toward the Church as an institution, and religion in general, is interesting, but it has no bearing on his private opinions, which he never expressed. To "Lafayette, on August 15, 1787, he wrote:
"I am not less ardent in my wish that you may succeed in
your plan of toleration in religious matters. Being no bigot
myself, I am disposed to indulge the professors of
Christianity in the church that road to heaven which to them
shall seem the most direct, plainest, easiest and least liable
to exception." To Sir Edward Newenham, he wrote on October 20,
1792:
"Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind,
those which are caused by difference of sentiment in religion
appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought
most to be deprecated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and
liberal policy which has marked the present age would at least
have reconciled Christians of every denotation, so far that we
should never again see their religious disputes carried to
such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society."
"While all men within our territories are protected in
worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of their
consciences, it is rational to be expected from them in
return, that they will all be emulous of evincing the sanctity
of their professions by the innocence of their' lives and the
beneficence of their actions; for no man, who is profligate in
his morals, or a bad member of the civil community, can
possibly be a true Christian, or a credit to his own religious
society." (To the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church,
May, 1789.)
"If I could have entertained the slightest apprehension
that the Constitution framed in the convention, where I had
the honor to preside, might possibly endanger the religious
rights of any religious society, certainly I would never have
placed my signature to it; and, if I could now conceive that
the general government might ever be administered as to render
liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded
that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish
effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny,
and every species of religious persecution." (To the General
Committee Representing the United Baptist Churches of
Virginia.)
"The liberty enjoyed by the people of these States, of
worshipping Almighty God agreeably to their conscience, is not
only among the choicest of their blessings, but also of their
rights. While men perform their social duties faithfully, they
do all that society or the state can with propriety demand or
expect; and remain responsible to their Maker for the religion
or modes of faith which they may prefer or express." (To the
Quakers, 1789.)
"As mankind becomes more liberal they will be more apt to
allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members
of the community, are equally entitled to the protection of
civil government. I hope ever to see America among the
foremost nations in examples of justice and liberality. I
rejoice that a spirit of liberality and philanthropy is much
more prevalent among the enlightened nations of the earth, and
that your brethren will benefit thereby in proportion as it
shall become still more extensive." (To the Hebrew
Congregation of Savannah, May, 1790.)
"On this occasion, it would ill become me to conceal the
joy I have felt in perceiving the fraternal affection, which
appears to increase every day among the friends of genuine
religion. It affords edifying prospects, indeed, to see
Christians of different denominations dwell together in more
charity, and conduct themselves in respect to each other with,
a more Christian-like spirit than ever they have done in any
former age, or in any other nation." (To the Episcopalians,
August 19, 1789.)
"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to
political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable
supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of
patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of
human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and
citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man,
ought to respect and cherish them. A volume could not trace
all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it
simply be asked, Where is the security for property, for
reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation
desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation
in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the
supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.
Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education
on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both
forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in
exclusion of religious principle. It is substantially true
that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular
government."' (From the Farewell Address.) [NOTE: All these
answers to the addresses of the Churches will be found in the
Washington section, pp. 151-157. of Harpers 'Encyclopedia of
United States History,' and Mr. Ford's 'Writings of
Washington.']
There have been few Clemenceaus, Bradlaughs, Berts and Gambettas in public life who openly opposed the Church. These did so under extraordinary circumstances. Had Washington been as firm an Agnostic as Ingersoll, it would have been to his advantage to remain silent on the subject. He is careful to refer to religion in general, not to any particular belief or Church. He says nice things to them all, but commits himself to none. His use of the word "Christian" at times means nothing definite. Christianity might mean Roman Catholicism or Unitarianism, or "mere morality," just as its user prefers. Of course every man must give special homage to the religion of the country in which he lives. In the "Farewell Address," he often refers to "religion morality." This might mean any religion, and the, other excerpts confirm us in thinking that he meant all religions and none in particular.
Thousands of men today hold that religious institutions should be upheld because of the prop they give to morality. They support Church for that reason, while they are indifferent to its theological teaching. They believe, as did Draper: "The tranquility of society depends so much on the stability of its religious convictions, that no one can be justified in wantonly disturbing them." They think religion is necessary for other people, while not needed by themselves. It will also be noticed that Washington, while he sometimes couples morality and religion, stresses the former, and ends by saying that "virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government."
Among the addresses sent to Washington when he became President was one from the First Presbytery of the Eastward, which objected to the new Constitution because it did not recognize God and the Christian religion, in these words: "We should not have been alone in rejoicing to have seen some explicit acknowledgement of the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent, inserted somewhere in the Magna Charta of our country." To this, Washington replied:
"The path of true piety is so plain as to require but
little political direction. ... In the progress of morality
and science, to which our government will give every
furtherance, we may confidently expect the advancement of true
religion and the completion of our happiness."
Washington knew, at the same time, as did Madison, that religion, legally united with the state, is no aid either to "virtue or morality." For that reason he said, in the treaty with Tripoli, made in 1796, and, ratified by the Senate in 1797: "The Government of the United states of America is not, in any sense, founded upon the Christian religion." He was too shrewd to oppose the orthodoxy of his time, and equally shrewd in not committing himself to its teachings. Socially, he conformed to the religious customs of his day, just enough to maintain the good will of religious people.
What Was Washington's Belief? It is said that some one asked of Lord Beaconsfield his religion. He replied, "The religion of wise men." Thereupon, his interlocutor again ask, "What religion is that," and my Lord answered, Wise men never tell." Washington was a wise man and never told.
In classifying these Presidents, placing them in one Church or another, whenever they actually were believers in the doctrines of that Church, I have had no difficulty in securing indubitable evidence, except in the case of President Pierce, whose religious affiliations it required some effort to learn. The proofs have been culled when possible from the spoken or written words of the Presidents themselves, combined with their public attitudes, In which I could make no mistake.
Washington never made a statement of his belief, while his actions rather prove that if he was not a positive unbeliever, he was at best an indifferentist. We have seen that he was not a regular attendant at church services -- rather an irregular one. I have examined 14 years of his complete Dairies, 13 of them when he was at home, with two Episcopal churches within eight or 10, miles. One of these years, 1774, was his banner year for church attendance, when he went 18 times. Yet we find, in these 14 years, his average attendance to have been about six times a year -- not a very good record.
That Washington did not commune is established beyond all doubt by reputable witnesses. The evidence of Bishop White, the Rev. Dr. Abercrombie and the Rev. Dr. Wilson certainly outweighs the very shady assertion that he once took communion in a Presbyterian church, which rests upon questionable and anonymous evidence, to say nothing of its utter improbability.
Bishop White says Washington did not kneel in prayer. Nellie Custis says he stood during the devotional service. She also admits that she never saw him pray, but that someone long dead had told her that he had seen him praying many years before. The Valley Forge prayer is a myth of even a weaker type, than the Presbyterian communion story. The "Prayer for the United, States" is a demonstrated fabrication. These fictions would not be necessary were there true evidence that Washington was religious. During the Revolution, forged letters were published in London attacking his personal moral character. It has been said that letters written by Washington were in existence that cast reflections upon him, but no one has ever been able to produce them. Between the fictions, forgeries and falsehoods told to make Washington either a plaster saint or a rake, it is difficult to say which would have disgusted him the more.
Jared Sparks says:
"After a long and minute examination of the writings of
Washington, Public and private, in print and in manuscript, I
can affirm, that I have never seen a single hint, or
expression, from which it could be inferred, that he had any
doubt of the Christian revelation, or that he thought with
indifference or unconcern of that subject. On the contrary,
wherever he approaches it, and indeed wherever he alludes in
any manner to religion, it is done with seriousness and
reverence." (Life of 'Washington,' p. 525.)
Most important of all, there stands out the fact that while in Washington's writings there is nothing affirming or denying the truth of Christian revelation, there is also nothing inconsistent with Deism. Deists of the time believed in God and his Providence. They accepted all of moral value in the Christian Bible and in all other sacred books, holding it to be a part of natural religion. They held in high esteem the moral teachings and character of Jesus. Even the orthodox never tire of quoting complimentary things said about him by Paine and Rousseau. Many Deists prayed and believed in prayer.
Nor can Dr. Sparks find anything in the writings of Washington tending to prove that he believed in Jesus as the Christ and the son of God. Nor will he find anything which will prove that a future existence had any firm place in his calculations, though Deists, as a rule, hope for "happiness beyond this life." During Washington's sickness and death religion was not mentioned. No minister was called in, though three doctors were present.
Dr. Moncure D. Conway says:
"When the end was near, Washington said to a physician
present -- an ancestor of the writer of these notes -- 'I am
not afraid to go.' With his right fingers on his left wrist,
he counted his own pulses, which beat his funeral march to the
grave. 'He bore his distress with astonishing fortitude, and
conscious as he declared, several hours before his death, of
his approaching dissolution, he resigned his breath with the
greatest composure, having the full possession of his reason
to the last moment,' so next day wrote one present. [NOTE: See
Appendix for the account of Washington's sickness and death as
written by his secretary, Tobias Lear, from whom Dr. Conway
quotes.] Mrs. Washington knelt beside his bed, but no word
passed on religious matters. With the sublime taciturnity
which marked his life he passed out of existence, leaving no
word or act which can be turned to the service of
superstition, cant or bigotry."
In his letters to young people, particularly to his adopted children, he urges upon them truth, character, honesty, but in no case does he advise going to church, reading the Bible, belief in Christ, or any other item of religious faith or practice, once he wanted mechanics for his estate. He did not demand that they be Christians, but he wrote to his agent, "If they be good workmen, they may be from Asia, Africa, or Europe; they may be Mohammedans, Jews, or Christians of any sect, or they may be Atheists."
Except the legal phrase, "In the name of God, Amen," there are no religious references in Washington's will, something unusual in wills made at that time. While he liberally recognizes his relatives