This indeed is truly alarming, and of so serious a nature that every other effort is in vain unless something can be done to restore its credit.
..
Where this has been the policy (in Connecticut for instance) the prices of every article have fallen and the money consequently is in demand; but in the other States you can scarce get a single thing for it, and yet it is with-held from the public by speculators, while every thing that can be useful to the public is engrossed by this tribe of black gentry, who work more effectually against us that the enemys Arms; and are a hundd. times more dangerous to our liberties and the great cause we are engaged in." - Meaning and context.">
Nov. 1, 1779 (the original was previously in the Library of Congress's online service}
 • later misquoted against jews
“

… but I am under no apprehension of a capital injury from any other source than that of the continual depreciation of our Money.
This indeed is truly alarming, and of so serious a nature that every other effort is in vain unless something can be done to restore its credit.
..
Where this has been the policy (in Connecticut for instance) the prices of every article have fallen and the money consequently is in demand; but in the other States you can scarce get a single thing for it, and yet it is with-held from the public by speculators, while every thing that can be useful to the public is engrossed by this tribe of black gentry, who work more effectually against us that the enemys Arms; and are a hundd. times more dangerous to our liberties and the great cause we are engaged in.

— George Washington

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "… but I am under no apprehension of a capital injury from any other source than that of the continual depreciation of our Money.
This indeed is truly alarming, and of so serious a nature that every other effort is in vain unless something can be done to restore its credit.
..
Where this has been the policy (in Connecticut for instance) the prices of every article have fallen and the money consequently is in demand; but in the other States you can scarce get a single thing for it, and yet it is with-held from the public by speculators, while every thing that can be useful to the public is engrossed by this tribe of black gentry, who work more effectually against us that the enemys Arms; and are a hundd. times more dangerous to our liberties and the great cause we are engaged in." in the context of "Nov. 1, 1779 (the original was previously in the Library of Congress's online service}
 • later misquoted against jews" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Quote Image
Source: Wikiquote: "George Washington" (Quotes, 1770s, Letter to Edmund Pendleton (1779)) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed February 05, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

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George Washington

About George Washington

George Washington (22 February 1732 – 14 December 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Second Continental Congress as commander of the Continental Army in June 1775, Washington led Patriot forces to victory in the American Revolutionary War and then served as president of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which drafted and ratified the Constitution of the United States and established the American federal government. Washington has thus been called the "Father of his Country".