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ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - The handwritten speech George Washington held as he resigned from the Continental Army in 1783 was unveiled during a special Presidents Day ceremony celebrating Maryland's acquisition of the document.
Washington's personal copy of the speech — considered a landmark in American history for establishing military subservience to civil authority — was acquired by the state from the family that has held it since it was given.
"Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great theatre of action — and bidding an affectionate farewell to this August body under whose orders I have so long acted, I here offer my Commission, and take my leave of all the employments of public life," Washington wrote.
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