Three quotations for President’s Day

Tomorrow we celebrate George Washington's birthday approximately - on the third Monday in February rather than on the 22nd day. Thus it’s time for some quotes, none of which are as they seem.

One often seen in books, like page 799 of the Yale Book of Quotations (Yale University Press, 2006), comes from his lengthy 1796 Farewell Address:

“....Avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.”

When I looked at that document (probably written for him by Alexander Hamilton) I found that quote didn’t even begin at the start of a sentence. The full paragraph reads (previous quote in italics):

“While, then, every part of our country thus feels an immediate and particular interest in union, all the parts combined cannot fail to find in the united mass of means and efforts greater strength, greater resource, proportionably greater security from external danger, a less frequent interruption of their peace by foreign nations; and, what is of inestimable value, they must derive from union an exemption from those broils and wars between themselves, which so frequently afflict neighboring countries not tied together by the same governments, which their own rival ships alone would be sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and intrigues would stimulate and embitter. Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty. In this sense it is that your union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other.”

Another in that same book comes from his 1790 Letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport and says that:

“....Happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.”

When I looked at that letter I found again the quote didn’t begin at the start of a sentence. The full one -sentence paragraph reads (previous quote in italics):

“It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.”

A third is some of his last words, which were:

“....I die hard, but I am not afraid to go.”

Yet again, that sentence may have instead began with the missing word Doctor, and also may have been followed by more words. Did George’s words inspire the use of Die Hard as a movie title?

Also, we don’t merely have sales on President’s Day - we more grandly call them Savings Events.