As religion plays its now nearly routine role in American politics during this silly season, we recall the words of the man who would become our first President, General George Washington. John Marshall (1755-1835), who served in the Continental Army and went on to become Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, completed the first serious biography of George Washington eight years after Washington died. Marshall's five-volume work has been described as "the only comprehensive account by a great statesman of the full founding of the United States-of the founding of an independent people as well as of its government." The executor of Washington's estate chose Marshall to write the biography and granted him access to Washington's papers. In Volume IV is found a 4,000-words letter dated June 8, 1783 that Washington wrote to the governors of various states. The occasion was his complete retirement, he assumed at the time, from public service.  Here were his last three paragraphs: I...(Read Full Post)