An Empire Over One's Self
It is true that women were not in attendance at The Constitutional Convention, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t exercise some influence behind the scenes. Philadelphia society allowed for women from prominent families to exercise some influence. One important example is a person about whom a story is often told, but whose name is not familiar to us: Elizabeth Willing Powel.
At the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention, as legend has it, Benjamin Franklin was walking the streets of Philadelphia when he was approached by Mrs. Powel who asked him what sort of government they had bequeathed to the young nation. “A republic, if you can keep it,” he reportedly replied. (She later denied any memory of the event.)
A daughter of a wealthy and politically powerful Philadelphia family, she married Samuel Powel, also a member of Philadelphia’s upper class. Their home was a center of social activity in the early days of the American Revolution and beyond.
Her most consequential political impact was her and her husband’s close friendship with George and Martha Washington. Readers are undoubtedly aware that Washington was a reluctant president and even more reluctant to serve a second term. Fortunately for the young republic, he was persuaded to continue in the office, and one of the most remarkable efforts came from the pen of Mrs. Powel.
The letter is quite ingenious, for while she repeatedly assures Washington he is immune to flattery, she also tells him that he is indispensable for the future of the country. As to the former claim:
That you have obtained the Love, Respect and Confidence of the Citizens of the United States is a Fact as well substantiated as any that we are in Possession of; and, be assured, that I am as superior to the Meanness of Adulation as you are incapable of receiving it with Pleasure. Your honest Mind is not a Soil for it to take Root in, nor are your Ears attuned to listen, with Delight to the Syren Song of Flattery … You have shewn that you are not to be intoxicated by Power or misled by Flattery.But she nonetheless appeals to his vanity, his concern for his reputation, by pointing out that if he doesn’t run for office again he will be the subject of widespread criticism, rumour-mongering, and attacks on his character; and she knew right well how jealous was concerning the reputation of his character.
She also – rightly – recognizes Washington’s indispensable status to prevent America from devolving into either licentious anarchy or tyranny.
They made no Oblation on the Altar of Idolatry or Vanity; their Offering was the Effect of Gratitude, Respect, Affection and Confidence to the Man that had, materially, assisted them in rearing and establishing the glorious Fabric of Liberty. Will you withdraw your Aid from a Structure that certainly wants your Assistance to support it? Can you, with Fortitude, see it crumble to decay? or, what is still worse behold the Monster Licentiousness, with all his horrid Attendants, exalted on its Ruins? I know you cannot you will not. But you will say that there are Abilities and Virtues in other Characters equall to the Task; admitting the Fact, it does not prove the Expediency of the Inference you have drawn from it, If there is not a Confidence in those Abilities and that Integrity they cannot be beneficially applied. I will venture to assert that, at this Time, you are the only Man in America that dares to do right on all public Occasions. You are called to watch over the Welfare of a great People at a Period of Life when Man is capable of sustaining the Weight of Government. In what I think is the most important thought of the letter, she says that Washington is uniquely positioned to be president, for
You have a feeling Heart, and the long Necessity of behaving with Circumspection must have tempered that native Benevolence which otherwise might make you too compliant, the Soundness of your Judgement has been evinced on many and trying Occasions, and you have frequently demonstrated that you possess an Empire over yourself.It's too bad the Constitution doesn’t offer that sentence as a qualification for office. “You possess an Empire over yourself.” Only a man capable of governing himself is capable of governing others and governing a nation.
And may you, till the extremest old age, enjoy the pure Felicity of having employed your whole Faculties for the Prosperity of the People for whose Happiness you are responsible, for to you their Happiness is intrusted.
Director of the Ford Leadership Forum, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation
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