University of Virginia Library

1993. DEBATE, Washington and Franklin in.—

I served with General Washington
in the Legislature of Virginia before
the Revolution and, during it, with Dr.
Franklin in Congress. I never heard either
of them speak ten minutes at a time, nor to
any but the main point which was to decide
the question. They laid their shoulders to
the great points, knowing that the little ones
would follow of themselves.—
Autobiography. Washington ed. i, 58. Ford ed., i, 82.
(1821)