George Washington wrote his Rules of Civility & Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation
as a school exercise sometime before he reached the age of sixteen. His handwriting on the manuscript is boyish and his grammar and spelling inferior, but what is of far greater importance is that this was the code of conduct that molded his character and helped him assume the leadership of his country. The importance of this document cannot be denied; it influenced our first president and therefore an entire nation.The origin of Washington’s rules is said to have been a 17th-century book of etiquette called Youths Behaviour, or Decency in Conversation Amongst Men,by Francis Hawkins. The young Hawkins had, at the age of eight, translated into English a 16th-century set of behavior rules compiled by French Jesuits. The code of conduct in Hawkins’ book was simplified and arranged for the schoolboy, Washington, by an unknown instructor, and the future president carefully copied the rules into his exercise book, now preserved at the Library of Congress.To read more about Rules of Civility: www.gwleadershiplessons.org
