Found in a child's scrapbook, compiled 180 years ago at the time our nation marked the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

The letter from George Washington is pasted between poetry and party invitations, stuffed into a dusty scrapbook amid jokes and cutouts of handsome men, and all the highlights of a lucky little girlÂ’s life.

It was written in May 1787 and addressed to Jacob Morris, grandfather of Julia Kean, the precocious 10-year-old who started the brown leather scrapbook in 1826 and put the letter under a portrait of the nationÂ’s first president.

The letter is just 111 words long, a scant two paragraphs, but it mentions a rival of Washington, Horatio Gates, and includes enough hints of intrigue to whet the appetite of scholars. They learned of the letterÂ’s discovery only recently, after it was found among the private papers of one of New JerseyÂ’s most prominent families.

What a neat treasure to find -- and the words of the letter are significant, written during the Constitutional Convention over which George Washington presided.

“The happiness of this Country depend much upon the deliberations of the federal Convention which is now sitting,” reads the second paragraph of the quill-and-ink letter. “It, however, can only lay the foundation — the community at large must raise the edifice.”

Indeed -- the Constitution is mere paper unless We, the People, build and maintain the structure it designs. Have we lived up to that responsibility in the 220 years since that great man wrote those words?

Posted by: Greg at 11:00 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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