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A certain remark of Washington's poses a problem of psycho-analytic interest. In the course of a letter to Governor Morris, dated December 22, 1795, Washington wrote, 'for sure I am, if this country is preserved in tranquillity twenty years longer, it may bid defiance in a just cause to any power whatever; such in that time will be its population, wealth, and resources'. Straightway the question as to the origin of Washington's conviction that if the United States were unmolested 'twenty years longer, it may bid defiance … to any power whatever'; arises, and recourse to psycho-analytic principles permits us answer it.
On the death of his father, young George was placed under the care of Lawrence, his older half-brother. Lawrence, however, died of consumption in 1752, and to Washington fell the guardianship of Lawrence's daughter and the management of his estate. Here an interesting fact emerges. In 1752, when George Washington undertook the rôle of father (e.g. the charge of a child), he was twenty years old!
We may conclude then that Washington identified the United States with himself and assumed that just as he, at twenty, could successfully fill the rôle of father, so America could after twenty years do the same, i.e. successfully defy any other power. Incidentally, this identification shews the way in which narcissism may be transformed into patriotism.
An extract from a letter written to Benjamin Harrison on January 18, 1784, throws into high relief the indicated identification. Washington observed, 'That the prospect before us is, …, fair, none can deny, but, like a young heir11hellip;' come a little prematurely to a large inheritance, we shall wanton and run riot …, and then like him1…'