“Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.”

It’s the birthday of the first president of the United States, George Washington, born in the Colony of Virginia (1732). Washington’s own father, Augustine, was a tobacco farmer, landowner, and slaveholder. Augustine had inherited much of the family’s estate from his grandfather, John, who had emigrated from England to Virginia in 1656. Augustine died suddenly of illness when George was just 11 years old, but George’s mother, Mary, remained influential in his life and lived to see her son elected as president. George traveled 50 miles to Mount Vernon to see his mother the day after he was elected, where he found her on her deathbed with breast cancer. Washington told her that he was going to decline the office, but she insisted that he “go and fulfill the high destiny which Heaven has foreordained you to fill.” Washington served as president for eight years. In his Farewell Address to the nation, he warned that his greatest fear for the new country was that forces would try to divide Americans and undermine the country’s principles. He argued that its citizens should come together to resist those people: “Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.”