Okay, this post may not live up to its title.  GW's legacy was immense, and I'm only here to talk about his last will and testament.  You can find a copy of it here.   I was first introduced to it through the work of John A. Warnick at the Purposeful Planning Institute.

Note how the former President did his own version of wealth reception planning, by not just leaving his swords, but couching the bequest in words of wisdom.

"These swords are accompanied with an injunction not to unsheathe them for the purposes of shedding blood, except it be for self defense, or defense of their Country and its rights, and in the latter case, to keep them unsheathed, and prefer falling with them in their hands, to the relinquishment thereof."

George Washington was also a slave owner, and some may question whether that is a stain on his legacy.  In his Will, he freed his slaves, but wanted to make sure that freedom was a blessing and not a burden.  In addition to establishing a trust fund for a school for the children of slaves with $4,000 (must have been a princely sum then), he wrote :

"Upon the decease of my wife, it is my will and desire that all the slaves which I hold in my own right shall receive their freedom. - To emancipate them during life, would tho’ earnestly wished by me, be attended with such insuperable difficulties . . . And whereas among those who will receive freedome according to this devise, there may be some, who from old age or bodily infirmities, and others who on account of their infancy, that will be unable to support themselves; it is my will and desire that all . . . shall be comfortably cloathed and fed by my heirs while they live; - . . .and I do expressly forbid the sale, or transportation out of the said Commonwealth, of any slave I may divest of, under any pretense whatsoever. - And I do most pointedly, and most solemnly enjoin upon my executor. . . to see that this clause respecting slaves . . . be religiously fulfilled."

As we celebrate our nation's Independence Day, we may have some lessons to learn from those who fought for that independence