The Father of Our Country Was a Child of ‘Cato’

The Father of Our Country Was a Child of ‘Cato’
George Washington reading with his family in the living room. "Washington at Home," circa 1911, by E. Percy Moran. Photomechanical print of original painting. Library of Congress. Public Domain
Jeff Minick
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Throughout the ages, heroic men and women—real and mythological—have roused the spirits of those who hear or read about their exploits. Achilles, Hector, Antigone, Aeneas, and other Greco-Roman figures galvanized entire cultures. In story and song, the Middle Ages celebrated Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, Charlemagne, Richard the Lionheart, Joan of Arc, and scores of other dames and knights.

Americans, too, have their pantheon of heroes. Abigail Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Wilbur and Orville Wright, and Theodore Roosevelt are only a few of the names inscribed in that hall of champions. They were extraordinary human beings whose words and deeds have inspired their fellow citizens.

Jeff Minick
Jeff Minick
Author
Jeff Minick has four children and a growing platoon of grandchildren. For 20 years, he taught history, literature, and Latin to seminars of homeschooling students in Asheville, N.C. He is the author of two novels, “Amanda Bell” and “Dust on Their Wings,” and two works of nonfiction, “Learning as I Go” and “Movies Make the Man.” Today, he lives and writes in Front Royal, Va.
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