I received the following from the mother of a school-aged child. She went with her child on a field trip to Mount Vernon.
The Patriarch of Liberty
Dear Tom,
Yesterday my youngest child’s class visited Mount Vernon. In the main hallway in the Mansion hangs a key with an old drawing of some ruined building. I had no clue what they were about, and felt compelled to share with you what I learned.
As I’m sure you know, the French were our close allies during the Revolution. Kids in school are taught that the assistance provided to us was primarily because the French were at war with England and helping us helped them fight England, rather than some shared belief in Liberty. France, after all, was a monarchy at the time.
The monarchy in France, however, fell shortly after the American Revolution ended. One of the first battles of the French Revolution was the battle of the Bastille, a notorious French prison. As the battle began a number of French soldiers abandoned their posts in the prison and joined the revolutionaries. The battle was won by the revolutionaries and the monarchy fell sometime thereafter. Bastille Day is celebrated in France as the day the monarchy fell.
What does this have to do with Mount Vernon, you might wonder? The key which hangs in the hallway at Mount Vernon was from the Bastille. The hand drawn picture is of the Bastille, shortly after it was destroyed.
The key was presented to General Washington by General Lafayette in 1790. In his letter which accompanied the key, General Lafayette said, “Give me leave, my dear general, to present you with a picture of the Bastille, just as it looked a few days after I ordered its demolition, the main key of the fortress of despotism. It is a tribute which I owe as a son to my adoptive father – as an aide-de-camp to my general – as a missionary of liberty to its patriarch.”
The key was given to Thomas Paine to present to General Washington. Paine also drafted a letter which he gave to Washington along with the key. The letter read, “I feel myself happy in being the person through whom the Marquis has conveyed this early trophy of the spoils of despotism, and the first ripe fruits of American principles transplanted into Europe, to his great master and patron. ….That the principles of America opened the Bastille is not to be doubted, and therefore the key comes to the right place.”
The key and hand drawn picture, according to the guides at Mount Vernon, were hung by General Washington in the main hallway of his home where every person who enters would see them. They still hang in the same spots today.
Washington and the other founders knew that what they’d created here in America was unique – that it was radical and would change the face of the world. The French Revolution was our first, and perhaps best, export.
I don’t know why that hit me so hard yesterday, as I watched my six year old and his classmates romp around Mount Vernon. Our founders created something absolutely amazing, and they knew it.
I tried explaining why this was so important to my son, but he’s six and seeing who could run up and down the hill behind the mansion was a million times more interesting. I thought you might appreciate the story a bit more than they did.
Thanks for listening.
Because it does not understand the example its Founders left us, the world has not found the American Revolution easily imitated. When the Bastille fell, the hope was there. Unlike the Americans, however, the French based their revolution upon the powers of human reason, not upon rights endowed by God. So their revolution proved more fragile and a for a time withered. What immediately followed became a Reign of Terror. Thereafter, the prideful tyrant Napoleon Bonaparte seized control. Then he began his conquest of Europe, and more suffered and died in the wars that followed.
Eventually, neighboring states defeated Napoleon. Then the French slowly established a democracy. Thus, the battle over Bastille is now looked upon as the beginning. Yet, we should also look upon it as a lesson. Our wisdom and our reason are not enough. Unless we ask for His blessing and follow His example, our endeavors cannot long succeed.
So what should this mother tell her child? Perhaps there is nothing she can say. Regardless of what we say, it is not our words our children hear; it is our example that they see. What each generation must do is save and pass on the heritage of this nation. It is from our example, our struggle to be worthy of God’s blessing, that our children will learn what is necessary. Without that example, we will fail them.
