Tag: george washington

War Powers: The True History of George Washington and the Indian Tribes

Supporters of unilateral executive war power want you to believe presidents can make all kinds of decisions about war and peace because, as they tell the story, George Washington engaged in military conflicts with Native Americans without getting authorization from Congress. 

They’re either ignorant or lying – or both.

The Constitution delegates the power to “declare war” to Congress. Many people think this power is limited to issuing some kind of proclamation or document, but declaring war is a much broader concept. During the founding era, it was understood as the power to change the condition of things from peace to war.

The Constitution delegated this power to Congress because the founding generation didn’t want a single individual making such a significant decision. James Madison explained it this way:

“The separation of the power of declaring war, from that of conducting it, is wisely contrived, to exclude the danger of its being declared for the sake of its being conducted.”

But according to most people on both the left and the right today, the Constitution leaves all kinds of wiggle room for the president to take military action on his own authority. To support this narrative, they claim George Washington unilaterally engaged in military action against American Indian tribes without any congressional authorization.

This narrative doesn’t stand up to the facts. Not even close.

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Historians uncover 18th-century bottles with mysterious liquid at George Washington’s Mt. Vernon

Archaeologists recently discovered two glass bottles filled with a mysterious liquid at George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate in Virginia.

The archaeologist who found the bottles, Nick Beard, told FOX 5 DC that he was digging in the mansion’s cellar as part of a revitalization project.

Beard found the top of a bottle, and then the whole bottle, before noticing a second bottle. Astoundingly, the bottles contained a liquid that had miraculously survived the past three centuries.

“Just the fact that there was liquid at all. That, right there, sets off alarm bells,” Beard said. “If there’s water, or liquid, pooling in there like that, that means it’s very intact, it’s in very good shape.”

Experts believe that the bottles were originally filled with cherries. The glass bottles were placed in the ground between 1758 and 1776 to refrigerate food.

“For whatever reason, these were left behind and they were in pristine condition, and that’s why this is such an extraordinary find because you just don’t find 18th-century food remains, intact, outside of things like animal bones, which are pretty durable,” Mount Vernon principal archaeologist Jason Boroughs told FOX 5.

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Washington Post Opinion Piece Says George Washington University’s Name Is Racist

Apparently The Washington Post doesn’t have enough writers on staff because it turned to a university student to write an opinion piece.

“George Washington University needs a new name,” reads the headline of the piece, written by Caleb Francois, a senior at the university in Washington, D.C.

“Racism has always been a problem at GW. At the university’s founding in 1821, enrollment was restricted to White men. In 1954, then-university president Marvin employed numerous efforts to preserve segregation, arguing for a ‘homogenous’ group of White students,” Francois wrote, adding that “systemic racism and inequality [are] still present on campus.”

“In 1987, Black students organized to demand more visibility in a predominantly Black city where Black students were outnumbered by huge majorities. Today, with Black enrollment at about 10 percent, Black students on campus continue to struggle for community. Despite alleged efforts by administration to enhance diversity, the admissions office continues to fail to ensure a student body with adequate minority representation.”

Francois notes that the university has never had a black president and says “European studies and White perspectives are favored over Black perspectives.”

“These problems are rooted in systemic racism, institutional inequality and white supremacy. There are at least four ways the university could achieve progress: Decolonized university curriculum, increased Black enrollment, the renaming of the university and the selection of an African American President,” Francois wrote.

The writer finally gets around to George Washington, the first president of the United States. “Just blocks from the main campus is the Mount Vernon Campus, named for George Washington’s former slave plantation. Every day, hundreds of Black students walk on a campus named after an enslaver of men and study at a site named after dark parts of history. Such sites, among other locations and buildings, are touted as glorified mementos here at GW.”

Francois then takes aim at Winston Churchill, prime minister of Britain during World War II.

“The controversial Winston Churchill Library must go. The university’s contentious colonial moniker must go. Even the university’s name, mascot and motto — ‘Hail Thee George Washington’ — must be replaced. The hypocrisy of GW in not addressing these issues is an example of how Black voices and Black grievances go ignored and highlights the importance of strong Black leadership.”

But Francois never targets the paper in which his opinion piece appeared — The Washington Post.

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