|
|
 |
|
 |
 |
Book of Etiquette 1747
The most famous story of George Washington's boyhood in rural Virginia is of his cutting down a cherry tree and finding himself unable to lie about it. This story first appeared in print in a biography of Washington written by Rev. Mason L. Weems shortly after Washington's death, and was in all likelihood a fabrication. But even if fabricated, it proved insightful in suggesting youthful origins of the extraordinary rectitude for which Washington was universally noted by his contemporaries.
Washington's concern for morality can be dated back at least to a list of “Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior” that he copied into his school writing book when he was 16. Most of these 110 rules, which have been traced to a late-16th century French etiquette manual, concern manners in both speech ("Mock not nor jest at anything of importance") and deed ("When in company, put not your hands to any part of the body not usually discovered"). But several address also the habits of the mind ("Be not hasty to believe flying reports to the disparagement of any"). The last rule reads: "Labor to keep alive in your breast the little spark of celestial fire called conscience." Conscience here refers to man's innate grasp of, or ability to reason about, moral right and wrong. When the American Founders would later declare independence from Great Britain in 1776, it was by virtue of this "spark of celestial fire" that they would establish the principles of human equality, unalienable rights, and government by consent as the foundations of American constitutional government.
Rule 58 insists that "in all cases of passion, [we should] permit reason to rule." Man's passions will overthrow his conscience if he does not subject them to reason. This will lead a free man to dissolution or lawlessness. Socially and politically, untempered passions will cause a free people to become slavish or tyrannical. Perhaps foremost among the rules copied into his school book by the young Washington, No. 58 suggests the key to his future ability to exemplify the well-ordered life of freedom in a way to inspire the nation to do the same.
|
|
 |
 |
|
