Mount Vernon: A Photographic Essay
Celebrating George Washington, Part 5
Photography by Scot Facer Proctor
Editor’s Note: To celebrate the 216th anniversary of the Constitution on September 17, Meridian visited Mount Vernon, the home George Washington left behind to attend the convention in Philadelphia.
click photos to enlarge
“In addition, Washington showed exemplary patience and willingness to consider all opinions. For example, Washington permitted the convention to vote 60 times on the method to be used in selecting a president. This eventually led to the creation of the Electoral College to protect the rights of the smaller states from the power of the larger ones.
“A good example of Washington’s desire to be fair was demonstrated when all the other delegates from Virginia, including Madison, wanted both the House and Senate to be organized on the basis of population. Washington felt that way, too. The less populous states objected.
“Eventually, Connecticut delegates proposed their so-called Great Compromise. It would provide a dual system of congressional representation. All states would have the same number of seats in the Senate, but in the House of Representatives, the number of seats would be determined by the population of the state. In 1787, it was a phenomenally unique idea.
“Washington listened carefully to the plan proposed for a compromise: the House would be elected by the people in each state, while the Senators would be selected by the respective state legislatures. When this compromise carried, Washington was not altogether happy with the solution, but he wisely wrote: “To please all is impossible, and to attempt it would be vain. The only way, therefore, is . . . to form such a government as will bear the scrutinizing eye of criticism, and trust it to the good sense and patriotism of the people to carry it into effect.”
“While Washington was a giant among men, perhaps the only person alive who could have lead such a delegation, the real phenomenon of the Constitutional Convention was the intricate web of brilliance that was woven by the many incredibly intelligent and wise men in attendance. That these men should be brought together at just this time in history is beyond coincidence.” [i]
“Washington had seen colonial distrusts and rivalries fade away as men from various regions were thrown together in the army camps during eight years of war. Now the process had to be repeated, but much more quickly—during a few months of stifling summer weather.” [ii]
“At the convivial gatherings Washington was endlessly present, dining at one place, having supper at another, chatting between the acts of plays. He sought always to bring diverse points of view into the open and then together. History will never be able to assess the extent of the contribution Washington made through such personal contacts, but it was surely great.” [iii]
“His years of military service and his hospitality at Mount Vernon had made many of the delegates already his friends or acquaintances; his personal prestige was awesome even with those who had not previously met him; and he, to a superlative degree, had the gift of finding beneath controversy common ground.” [iv]
Ten months after George Washington had signed the Constitution, word came to Mount Vernon that two more states had ratified it, bringing the number to one more than was necessary for ratification.
“As Washington, to the booming of celebrative cannon, stood on his piazza looking down over a Potomac aglow with the lights of boats coming to offer him congratulations, he hailed in his own mind what he later described as “a new phenomenon in the political and moral world, and an astonishing victory gained by enlightened reason over brute force.”
The Doctrine & Covenants teaches, “It is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another. And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose.” (D&C 101:79,80)
When on April 30, 1789, George Washington was sworn in as the first president of the United States, he held up his arm and spontaneously added these words, “So help me God.” He had been helped before.
Upon George Washington’s passing, John Marshall wrote: “Our Washington is no more. The Hero, the Sage, and the Patriot of America – the man on whom in times of danger every eye was turned, and all hopes were placed – lives now only in his own great actions and in the hearts of an affectionate and afflicted people.” [v]
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