Morning Philosophy
“Justice, though due to the governed, no less than to the governors themselves, will not be forfeited by either from the disparity in numbers on either side.”
— George Washington, Letter to the Officers of the Army (1783)
Washington wrote this refusing to let armed men extort what grievances alone could not justify—power must never substitute for right. The lesson for a future officer or lawyer is that legitimacy comes from restraint, not from having the means to compel. Today, notice where you hold leverage over someone weaker or subordinate, and choose the harder path of persuasion and fairness instead of simply prevailing. Authority earns trust precisely when it declines to abuse its advantage.