Md. celebrates holiday with acquisition

Maryland celebrated Presidents Day with a reading of George Washington's handwritten 1783 resignation from the Continental Army, a document the state recently acquired from private owners.

The speech is considered a milestone in American history for establishing military subservience to civil authority.

Lawmakers and Gov. Martin O'Malley gathered Monday in the rotunda of the State House, just outside the old Senate chamber where Washington read from the document Dec. 23, 1783. The room is kept as it looked in the 1780s.

During the ceremony, a man dressed like Washington read the speech.

"Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great theatre of action _ and bidding an affectionate farewell to this August body under whose orders I have so long acted, I here offer my Commission, and take my leave of all the employments of public life," Washington wrote.

Edward Papenfuse, Maryland's state archivist, who worked on acquiring the speech, described it as "that priceless link on paper to the mind of the man who believed that civilian government and leadership was the only answer to the future of the Republic."

It took state officials about two years to acquire the speech from the family that owned it.

The document is worth an estimated $1.5 million, Papenfuse said, but the state paid $600,000. Two Baltimore philanthropists _ Willard Hackerman and Henry A. Rosenberg _ donated $200,000 each. The owners, who have requested to remain anonymous, donated the rest of the value.

The document includes words scratched out during revision.

For example, Washington initially wrote that he intended to "take my ultimate leave of all the employments of public life," but the word "ultimate" is crossed out. He also crossed out the word "final" before "farewell." They are noteworthy changes, considering he became the nation's first president about five years later, in 1789.

The document of about 350 words will be on display in the State House for several days and will eventually be displayed there permanently after a special case is designed.

The copy acquired by Maryland is Washington's personal copy, written in Annapolis. There are two official copies, one at the National Archives and one in the Library of Congress.

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On the Net:

Maryland State Archives: http://www.msa.md.gov