John Parke CustisMartha Parke CustisFrances CustisDaniel Parke Custis, Jr.

PhiladelphiaVirginiaNew York

Mount Vernon

Martha was born on June 2, 1731, making her 8 months older than George Washington.

Who Was Martha Washington? Martha Washington married a wealthy plantation owner before becoming a widow and inheriting his estate. She wed Colonel George Washington in 1759 and became the first U.S. first lady upon his eventual ascendancy to the presidency.

For her part, Martha must have believed that in George she had found someone she could trust as well as love. On January 6, 1759, Martha Dandridge Custis married George Washington at her home in New Kent County. For both Martha and for George, a new era had dawned.

Before she died, Martha Washington purposefully burned the letters from her husband, to keep their relationship private. Two letters from Washington to his wife were found in a desk that Martha gave one of her granddaughters.

Washington was a military hero with a promising career in politics. The marriage allowed Washington to increase his slaveholdings nine times over, adding 266 slaves to the 30 he already owned. In addition, he gained control of 17,000 acres of farmland, placing him among the ten wealthiest planters in Virginia.

Immediately on resigning his commission, Washington was married (January 6, 1759) to Martha Dandridge, the widow of Daniel Parke Custis. The wedding of George Washington and Martha Dandridge Custis.

When Washington’s father Augustine died in 1743, George Washington became a slave owner at the early age of eleven. In his will, Augustine left his son the 280 acre family farm near Fredericksburg, Virginia. In addition, Washington was willed ten slaves.

On July 30, 1956, two years after pushing to have the phrase “under God” inserted into the pledge of allegiance, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a law officially declaring “In God We Trust” to be the nation’s official motto.

When we say “one nation under God,” what do we mean? Putting aside the theology of our different religions and what we subscribe to in our beliefs about God, the point here is a blending of America’s spiritual heritage with the political aspects of our God-given and Constitution-decreed freedoms.

Kevin Kruse’s

United States Congress) brought by an atheist father objecting to the Pledge being taught in his daughter’s school, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled the addition of “under God” an unconstitutional endorsement of monotheism.

Eisenhower

Jehovah’s Witnesses refused to salute flag and pledge.