It is sobering to realize that when he gave the nation’s first-ever State of the Union address on January 8, 1790, George Washington offered 1,089 words, about as many as I used yesterday to discuss Millard Fillmore, the remarkably undistinguished 13th president of the United States.

To honor his brevity and wisdom, today’s #stampoftheday is one of the earliest of the many stamps that have portrayed Washington over the years – a one-cent stamp, issued sometime in the 1850s (probably 1857, which was 10 years after the US had issued its first postage stamps).

Washington covered a lot of ground in his brief remarks, which are still the shortest-ever statement any president has made or submitted in compliance with the Constitution’s requirement that the President “shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” (Both Presidents Clinton and Trump delivered addresses that included almost 10,000 words and lasted more than 1 hour and 20 minutes.)

Despite his brevity, Washington covered an amazing amount of ground (much of it still timely) in relatively few words.

He began by welcoming North Carolina to the union, which it had refused to join until the Constitution was amended to include the Bill of Rights.

He hailed “the rising credit and respectability of our Country-the general and increasing good will towards the Government of the Union-and the concord, peace and plenty, with which we are blessed.”

He called for establishing a standing army, a controversial idea but one that he felt was greatly important.

He argued that Congress should fund and support efforts to protect the interests of the United States in foreign affairs.

He encouraged Congress to consider key domestic issues including immigration, the establishment of a national currency and standard of weights and measures, and the establishment of a post office.

And then, in words that strike me as particularly resonant today, he called on Congress to support science and literature not only because “knowledge is…the surest basis of public happiness” but also because education “contributes in various ways” to “the security of a free Constitution.”

He continued by explaining that supporting education would protect the Constitution “by convincing those, who are entrusted with the public administration, that every valuable end of Government is best answered by the enlightened confidence of the people.”

And, he further asserted, supporting education would also protect the new Republic “by teaching the people themselves to know and to value their own rights…to distinguish between oppression and the necessary exercise of lawful authority….to distinguish between burthens proceeding from a disregard to their convenience and those resulting from the inevitable exigencies of Society…[and] to discriminate the spirit of liberty from that of licentiousness.”

Read that paragraph again.

Here’s the first president of the United States telling Congress that they have to trust the American people. And then he tells Congress that they need to support an education system that will give people the tools they need to

• “Know and value their own rights,”
• “Distinguish between oppression and the necessary exercise of lawful authority” and
• “Discriminate the spirit of liberty from that of licentiousness.”

In short, he was calling for everything that was missing on Wednesday when power-hungry officials fueled what can only be called an ignorant mob that “threatened the concord, peace and plenty, with which we are blessed.”

I could write much more. But in the spirit of Washington’s brevity, I won’t and will instead pause, having used 629 words to make my points about his 1,089-word address.

Be well, stay safe, “discriminate the spirit of liberty from that of licentiousness,” fight for justice, and work for peace.