Mount Vernon, removed in Time by Causes beyond my Comprehension,

The Year denominated 2025

My Dear Sir,

By an extraordinary Conveyance, which I ascribe only to Providence, I find myself among a later Generation of Americans, possessed of immense Wealth and Power, yet disturbed in Mind and Manners. Slavery, that troublesome Inheritance of our Age, is wholly abolished, and the Negro is declared equal before the Law. This Event, though long foreseen, presents Consequences which demand sober Reflection rather than Celebration.

I observe the Negro People now free in Person, yet many are left without the Habits of Industry, Property, or Discipline which Liberty requires for its Preservation. The Fault is not wholly their own. Long Oppression has enfeebled Character, and sudden Elevation, unaccompanied by Instruction, has produced Confusion rather than Stability. Public Charity supplies Want, but too often weakens Endeavor, and Compassion, when ungoverned by Prudence, becomes another Species of Injury.

Among some I perceive Ambition without Preparation, and among others a Resentment encouraged by Men who profit from Disorder. Equality proclaimed by Law has not been matched by Equality of Condition, and this Disparity agitates the Republic more than any foreign Threat.

What alarms me most is that Moral Improvement, once thought essential to Citizenship, is now treated as optional, while Rights are asserted without Regard to Duties. A Republic cannot subsist upon Claims alone.

I feared, even in our Day, that the Removal of an Evil would be mistaken for the Completion of Virtue. Time has confirmed the Fear.

I remain, Sir, with unaltered Solicitude for the Experiment we commenced,

Your obedient Servant,

G. Washington

P.S.: By a Contrivance of Mechanick Arts, which I can scarce comprehend, there exists a vast Invisible Forum, wherein Men and Women, separated by Mountains, Seas, and Time itself, may proclaim their Thoughts, their Claims, and their Affairs instantaneously, without Letters or Messengers, and with a Swiftness that mocks the Speed of the Lightning. This Apparatus, which they term the Internet, is at once a Library, a Town Hall, and a Market, all unbounded by Walls, and yet entirely composed of Words and Images, appearing to all who seek, and yet subject to none’s Inspection save by voluntary Gaze.

I observe with Curiosity that many declare their own Stature unbidden, boasting in a manner which would have been deemed Indecorous in my Day. Yielding to the Example, I have ventured to declare my own Height, which in bare Feet I find to be Six Foot Two and a Half, and in Boots, Six Foot Three. This Confession has met with Applause, and in Truth it pleases me to see that even in a Century so distant, Men respect the Truth of Physique when frankly acknowledged.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5814868&forum_id=2Vannesa#49545333)