George Washington's Rules of Civility

In this listening experience you’ll hear a teenage George Washington’s own handwritten guide to proper conduct. At fourteen or fifteen, the future leader compiled a list of 110 maxims covering everything from the correct use of a fork to the etiquette of deference toward “persons of quality.” Though some lines have been lost to time and even to the gnawing of Mount Vernon mice, the surviving passages still echo the modest, disciplined spirit that would later define the nation’s first president.

The edition is presented by a diligent scholar who transcribes Washington’s original spelling and punctuation without alteration, clearly marking the illegible bits where the manuscript is damaged. Brief historical commentary follows each reading, placing the rules within the boy’s education and the cultural expectations of the 1740s. Listening to the rules read aloud gives a vivid sense of the manners that shaped early American life and the personal aspirations of a future icon.