George Washington: “It is better to be alone than in bad company.”

I have finally determined to accept the commission of Commander in Chief of the armies of the United States.

To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.

It is with peculiar satisfaction I can say, that prompted by a high sense of duty in my attendance on public worship, I have been gratified by the liberal and interesting discourses delivered in your Churches.

I must not conceal from you my earnest wish that the choice had fallen upon a man less declined in years and better qualified to encounter the usual vicissitudes of war.