George Washington and the Essence of Fatherhood

---

“A father is a man who follows through. This is why it was particularly appropriate that Washington came to be known as the father of his country, for he was the founder, above all others, who followed through.” - Richard Brookhiser, Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington

As we celebrate Father’s Day, those wise words from historian Richard Brookhiser come to mind. The notion of fatherhood is indeed one of the most important elements that define the life and legacy of George Washington. Only eleven years old when his own father died, Washington had to step up at a young age and bear heavy burdens in order to help support his mother, who never remarried, and his four younger siblings. That sense of duty and responsibility stayed with Washington for the rest of his life.

Although he never had any biological children of his own, Washington accepted the role of a father when it came to serving his family, his community, and above all, his fellow countrymen. By the time he had settled into adulthood as one of the most prominent planters in all of Virginia, it would have been easy for Washington to live out his days in relative peace at his beloved home of Mount Vernon. Yet, like a true father, he willingly dedicated the prime years of his life to serving those who had placed their trust in him. As Brookhiser puts it, “Washington was the most important man in America, whether he was onstage or off, for twenty-four years; for seventeen of those years, he was front and center. It is a record unmatched in our history, scarcely matched in the history of modern democracies.” Washington’s many sacrifices as the commander in chief of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, president of the Constitutional Convention, and the first president of the United States ultimately secured America’s place as an independent republic in a world ruled by kings.

George Washington also earned the title “Father of His Country” by always keeping an eye toward the future. He was very mindful that everything he fought and struggled for was not only to build a better world for his contemporaries, but also for the “fate of unborn millions.” In that way, he has been and remains a father to every succeeding generation of American citizens who have made a home out of the nation he gave life to.

The final word on Washington’s role as a father belongs to his stepson, John “Jacky” Parke Custis. During the Revolutionary War in June 1776, as General Washington was busy preparing to defend New York against an imminent British invasion, Jacky wrote a beautiful letter to his stepfather. He thanked him for the “parental care which on all occasions you have shown me.” Despite losing his own father at a young age, he also thanked God for “sending me so good a guardian as you Sir.” In the end, Jacky concluded, “He best deserves the name of father who acts the part of one.” That last statement is applicable to George Washington’s life as a whole. He deserves the name “Father of His Country” because he acted the part of one on the battlefield and beyond, sacrificing more than any other person to establish America as a free and independent nation.

This article was inspired by my reading of Richard Brookhiser’s Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington. Following the tradition of the ancient Greek historian Plutarch, Brookhiser’s volume is a moral biography. As he explains, its dual purposes are “to explain its subject, and to shape the minds and hearts of those who read it . . . by showing how a great man navigated politics and a life as a public figure.” Brookhiser does this extremely well, creating a thoughtful, concise, and well-researched book that has the power to enlighten and encourage anyone who picks it up. After all, as Brookhiser says so well, “[Washington’s] life still has the power to inspire anyone who studies it.”

Bibliography:

Brookhiser, Richard. Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington. Simon & Schuster, 1997.

Chernow, Ron. Washington: A Life. Penguin Books, 2011.