former US ambassador and author of a number of books including the universal hunger for Liberty which was published by basic books in 2004 and the best-selling the spirit of democratic capitalism he has served on the faculties of Harvard University and Stanford University among others and currently holds the George Frederick jwi chair in religion philosophy and public policy at the American Enterprise Institute and with his family in Washington DC Jana Novak is also a published writer and a poet she received a degree in political science from Duke University and has held editorial positions at a number
of magazines including the Washingtonian crisis and Rising tide she spent a decade as a speech writer communications director and advisor to several prominent National politicians including members of the US House and Senate three speakers of the House of Representatives and Senators K Bailey Hutchinson of Texas and Senator Brownback of Kansas both she and Mr Novak come to us tonight to discuss their latest book which they have co-authored Washington's God religion Liberty and the father of our country ladies and Gentlemen please join me in welcoming Michael and Yana Novak [Applause] thank you sorry just getting my
watch out um Washington's God the beneficent author of all the good that was that is or that will be the shot rang out suddenly with no warning whistling across the bright clearing are you shot called out the young man worried about his only companion no came the answer within moments the two men were upon the Indian who with gun dropped could only struggle under their weight although Breathing heavily young George Washington was unscathed how different our history would have been without this critical personality on our national stage indeed Washington almost died three times during his
trips to the Ohio Valley Wilderness when he was in his 20s after the first such time when all the other officers were shot and killed yet he somehow survived he wrote to his brother Jack I take this early opportunity of assuring you that I now exist and appear in the land of the living by the miraculous care of Providence that protected me beyond all human expectation I had four bullets through my coat and two horses shot under me and yet escaped unhe hurt through his experiences on the mananga haa Washington learned invaluable lessons about the
military the Indians the British and about the character of men and the nature of God these experiences proved to him that an intervening force was at work in American history and in his life and that knowledge sustained him let me illustrate through another story when Washington was unanimously elected commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in May 1775 the battle for Boston right here was the first major battle he was involved in and his first resounding success yet were it not for the singular interposition of Providence hitherto as representative John Witherspoon of the Continental Congress tartly noted
it could have been a humiliating defeat the first bit of providential news arrived when a privateer sent out by Washington captured a British Supply ship weighted down with war material Washington immediately wrote we must be thankful as I truly am for this instance of divine favor for nothing surely ever came more apropo yet the American situation remained desperate enlistments for many soldiers had ended and men were leaving in droves and taking with them their arms which were desperately needed by the remaining Army hundreds more were ill powder was in very short supply Washington wrote to
his secretary Joseph Reed if I shall be able to rise Superior to these and many other difficulties I shall most religious ly believe that the finger of providence is in it to Blind the eyes of our enemies for surely if we get well through this month it must be for want of their knowing the disadvantages we labor under dismal news the American Army's attempt to take Quebec had been badly defeated was lightened by good news Colonel Henry Knox had retrieved the guns at Fort taand deroga and brought them during an arduous month-long trk Overland to
just outside of Boston this feat was quite herculan since the heavy guns which were said to Total more than 120,000 lb had to be pulled hundreds of miles in a nasty winter across Lakes mountains and barely passable roads heartened Washington developed a bold plan the Americans would seize the hill of Dorchester Heights overlooking Boston Harbor as you know and lure the enemy into attacking them then as the enemy attacked the Americans would flank them and cross over into Boston seizing the town the key was that the Americans would take the Heights in a single night
without alerting the British with a frozen steep Hilltop as you know how tall that is getting the guns on the Heights and building defensive fortifications seemed full hearty and impossible the date for the surprise maneuver was the night of March 4th 177 76 the next morning March 5th 220 years ago this week the British were stunned to awaken to thousands of Americans and 20 guns staring down at them shock and awe indeed British General William how had no choice but to attack he spent the day readying his troops at nightfall a furious storm blew up
pounding the area through the next day American Brigadier General William Heath concluded that kind Heaven had stepped in to intervene meanwhile General how who took the providential opportunity to cancel his assault retreated and the Americans after occupying the city and gazing out at its intricate inner defenses recognized that their attack could not have succeeded without immense Carnage truly a kind Heaven unfortunately the rest of the war did not prove to be so easy it required immense patience and determination this was a time of testing it brought out the tough inscrutable side of Providence during this
time Washington offered much evidence about his beliefs he never doubted that God Favored the cause of Liberty this general order from him is one of many the colonels or commanding officers of each regiment are directed to procure chaplain accordingly to see that all inferior officers and soldiers pay them a suitable respect and attend carefully upon religious EX exercises the blessing and protection of Heaven are at all times necessary but especially so in times of public distress and danger the general hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor so to live and act as
becomes a Christian Soldier defending the dearest rights and Liberties of his country Washington's life was filled with more events and decisions to be made than the average person's life and while he was by no means a perfect man certainly he was not above Stark ambition impatience anger and even arrogance he more often than not made the right decision the question is why what led him on this path of doing the right thing not for himself necessarily and not just for the good of the nation though certainly it was but in and of itself for example
his decision to free his slaves after his death the only founding father to do so in fact his heirs supported all the freed men who needed help not just the old and infirm with their last payment recorded in 1833 in such matters Washington always gave first credit to the almighty ruler of the universe to Divine Providence as he so succinctly stated in the midst of the war for independence no man has a more perfect Reliance on the all- wise and Powerful dispensations of the Supreme Being than I have nor thinks his Aid more necessary clearly
Washington was not afraid to make plain his dependence upon God in his private letters and in his public statements and not merely public but official statements uttered in the role of commanderin-chief and later President Washington seldom missed an opportunity to give praise to Providence and to beg God to continue favoring this nation his behavior especially as a P public official would certainly have sorely displeased today's ACLU but the truth is that Washington and the other Founders were simply far more religious than is deemed acceptable today and it was those sentiments that allowed them to be
the men that they were and to achieve what they did thank you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you all very much I can't tell you how happy I am to be back in Boston where I first came as a very young man in 1951 had never been this far east before and uh where I then stayed for some nine years in a row uh living here in at the Hub of the universe uh and uh thoroughly thoroughly enjoying it and I can't tell you how grateful I am for this institution because I was able to come
and do some re research here that was just invaluable only for a couple of days because of the Washington collection which is just spectacular uh as you know the athum purchased the Washington library what is was about to be sold of all things to the British and such a humiliation they weren't willing to endure and I have to tell you that they did it in the American way they didn't turn to the government they had a voluntary subscription among themselves and put this place up that's what they meant by self-government and it was quite an
astonishing it is a miraculous achievement I think so I commend all of you very very dearly for this it's so wonderful to open those books with the gloves that you're forced to where having removed from your mouth the cham which you intended to carry over your thirst while you were working on it um the the dear Librarians were on my case on just about everything I did I think uh quite properly and no pencils with erasers and you know things like that but it was quite wonderful to be there with books that Washington had had
in his hands and that in fact sometimes he had made that is his favorite sermons he had collected in uh at least two volumes and it was also really interesting to see little marks on the page I can't prove they were his but they seem to me I'm no expert they seem to me not different from the inscriptions of his name on the front and seemed to me the same ink and so forth uh but more than that they sometimes marked there was one sermon in particular uh which he heard no he he received U
two or three days after it was given from the preacher um and he then wrote a letter commending the argument on Providence that the preacher had made and there are little marks in the in the printed version of the sermon which he must have received later um near some of those passages again I can't prove anything by it but it was just stunning to me to see that and there are all kinds of pamphlets that one I didn't even imagine existed including the pamphlet of the meeting of the Masons in New York City uh 50
years after Washington had joined the Masons um and the most extraordinary thing is it began with a prayer uh which concluded in the name of Jesus Christ um the roster LED full of names like Higgins and ohanlan and and uh the meeting was conducted rather like a meeting of the Knights of Columbus it seemed to me with 5,000 people there the Masons in this country was certainly a bit different from the Masons in Europe it was it was obvious um it was a sermon and a and a long lecture now Yana is already getting nervous
because one reason we wrote These out is she knows her father and knew the only way to keep me within confines was to have a script so I will now try to be more U obedient the need for this book stems from the lack of interest in religion on the part of most biographers of Washington especially since World War II um and indeed as Gordon Wood agreed with most historians particularly the last 50 years are much less interest in religion and religion of the founding than the historians of the preceding 150 years the occasion for
this book was a magnificent outdoor candlelight dinner on The Veranda of Mount Vernon three years ago at which the executive director James Reese asked me if I would write a book on Washington's religion more than a million visitors come to Mount Vernon each year he said at at the bookstore the book they most request is a book on Washington's religion which they do not have there's no book they want to hand out and he wanted someone who he thought would be sympathetic both to reason and common sense in the M and to religion I had
done an earlier book which he he liked in that respect called on two wings I had a theory that Washington was more religious than most people thought but I was basing this only on his public official statements as general and president I would not have been surprised if more research showed that he was actually not much more than religious than Thomas Jefferson probably the least religious of the founders by Common consent Jefferson for instance refused to be Godfather to children who were which he was invited to sponsor on the ground that that would be hypocritical
of him he couldn't be in charge of their religious education if he didn't believe it and uh Washington by contrast uh accepted eight times and was quite serious in buying Bibles or prayer books for them sending for them in London and embossed with their name and and uh following up with friendship for for these youngsters I would never have done the book at Mount Vernon if Jana hadn't decided to take a year off from politics that tired of the 7 o'clock in the morning meetings in the 10:00 in even in the evening meetings and not
even time to walk the dog let alone to have a have a life and um the government our government chews up these young people uh for 10 years of their lives and sometimes more uh but she was free and she was willing to give a year to help me research I could not possibly have done it now since a large percentage of Washington's writings are now available online research is infinitely easier than it used to be moreover immense generosity was shown Us by the Mount Vernon historical researcher Mary Thompson who has been working on her
own marvelous book on the religion of the Washington family over several Generations a book that I trust will be published very soon Washington's personal library of some 900 plus volumes was also made available to us both by the second copies collected at Mount Vernon and by The Originals owned and beautifully maintained by the AUM where we presently are gathered and Washington's God there's no doubt that Washington was a lifelong Anglican as his ancestors had been and as his progyny through Martha's children were to be because of a clergy shortage Washington's local Parish church had services
on average twice a month he attended a little more than once a month much more often in later years than in earlier he was an active active vestman that is he attended the majority of the meetings um and during his service over 16 years and church Warden giving the power is both his time and his financial help and actually doing so for another Parish in Alexandria simultaneously his Pastor cherished him as an unusually helpful parishioner Yana and I however were able to find only a few clear confessional statements in which Washington openly declared his faith
as a Christian it's iffy from his the written record to what an extent he was a Christian that he was a religious man no doubt and one needs to investigate what kind of religion what kind of God um but he he avoided confessional statements as much as possible the example of his life is actually clearer than his words from his 20s on as a major in the Virginia militia he you know it's pretty amazing but it's not so amazing we have young men and women in Iraq who are about the same age he's only 2
2 23 24 and he's a leader of three or 400 men in the field
