Happy birthday to ‘the greatest character of the age’

(Note: George Washington's birthday, February 22, is celebrated unofficially on the third Monday of February as Presidents' Day. Others have argued, and I concur, that Washington deserves his own holiday and that we should dedicate a day to remembering his life as a whole and not just the office he held.)

George Washington, as a subject of historical analysis, is almost unassailable.

Almost.

The man, the myth, the American legend towers above his fellow inductees in the illustrious American pantheon like the marble obelisk that bears his name. We know a lot about him. But the question remains: from whence did his greatness arise? Washington's whole life embodied a certain magnificent luster — how can we unravel its essence?

By the Founders’ own calculations — rooted in the Enlightenment observation about the corrupting influence of power on man — no mere mortal could do what Washington did. The entire American system of government was predicated on that one truth: there would be no Cincinnatus for America.

Maybe so. But there would be a Washington.

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We know that the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army rejected multiple bids at undue power. We forget just how forcefully he rebuffed them.

“With a mixture of great surprise & astonishment,” Washington examined his officer Lewis Nicola’s scheme to grant the beloved general the title of king. He was revolted: “Be assured, Sir, no occurrence in the course of the War, has given me more painful sensations than your information of there being such ideas existing in the Army as you have expressed, & I must view [them] with abhorrence, and reprehend with severity.”

“Let me [conjure] you then,” he concluded, “if you have any regard for your Country, concern for your self or posterity—or respect for me, to banish these thoughts from your Mind, & never communicate, as from yourself, or any one else, a sentiment of the like nature.”

The idea seemed hardly to tempt him; indeed, he hated it. Without hesitation, Washington trampled the proposition underfoot like the foul head of a serpent, determined to suffocate the outrageous idea and bury its corpse.

No wonder King George III purportedly quipped Washington may be “the greatest character of the age.”

On another occasion, Washington doubled down, this time in contempt of the 1783 Newburgh Conspiracy, which sought to pit the Continental Army and Washington himself against Congress: “And let me conjure you, in the name of our common Country—as you value your own sacred honor—as you respect the rights of humanity, & as you regard the Military & national character of America, to express your utmost horror & detestation of the Man who wishes, under any specious pretences, to overturn the liberties of our Country, & who wickedly attempts to open the flood Gates of Civil discord, & deluge our rising Empire in Blood.”

It was yet another example of Washington’s uncanny ability to rise, at crucial, historical junctures, above his own humanity. Providence, it would seem, exempted him from the many typical confines of human nature.

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But, of course, Washington was, somehow, just a man. A mere mortal, after all.

Indeed, it was Washington’s humanity that elevated him to the generational status of Role Model in Chief. Despite his many superhuman strengths, America's first president was not a god. He was a real man with real human shortcomings and limitations. Future presidents could emulate him: they, too, could achieve Cincinnatus-like greatness. Washington proved it was possible. His life served as an open letter to his successors, boldly declaring: “This is what you are capable of becoming. This is the potential of the presidency.”

Present-day critics and snobs deny that such unparalleled greatness could have coexisted alongside Washington’s major moral flaw — the great sin of you-know-what. More than a few statues of this man, once held in high regard, now litter America’s streets, defaced with the insults “you’re on native land,” “genocidal colonist,” and “1619.” But only a narrow-minded people could gaze upon a man as distinguished as Washington and perceive only his faults.

We all know he was imperfect. We all know he was wrong about race and slavery. But his contributions to history are simply too profound, too extraordinary to ignore.

In turning away from Washington’s greatness, we’ve lost the myth and the legend that, for generations, inspired patriotism in the hearts of his countrymen. We see a “genocidal colonist” where we should see the father of the freest nation in the history of the world. ’Tis only to our detriment.

In addressing the conspirators behind the Newburgh plot, George Washington presented some of the most poetic words of his career. I submit he unassumingly described himself:

“By thus determining–& thus acting, you,” he said, “will give one more distinguished proof of unexampled patriotism & patient virtue, rising superior to the pressure of the most complicated sufferings; And you will, by the dignity of your Conduct, afford occasion for Posterity to say, when speaking of the glorious example you have exhibited to man kind, ‘had this day been wanting, the World had never seen the last stage of perfection to which human nature is capable of attaining’” [emphasis added].