Happy birthday, Washington. Thank you for setting the stage

In the best possible way, George Washington, as a subject of historical analysis, is almost unapproachable.

Almost.

The man, the myth, the American legend transcends simple characterizations, evades even the most serious attempts to understand him, and towers above his fellow inhabitants of the illustrious American pantheon like the marble obelisk that proudly bears his name. To be sure, we know a lot about him. But the question persists: from whence did his greatness come? From what source did his splendor 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.

SEE ALSO: Happy birthday, Lincoln. Thank you for saving the Union

We know that Washington rejected multiple bids at undue power. We often 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 with abhorrence, and reprehend with severity—For the present, the [communication] of them will rest in my own bosom, unless some further agitation of the matter, shall make a disclosure necessary…. Let me [conjure] you then, 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.”

If the letter is any indicator, 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.

On another occasion, he doubled down, this time in contempt of the Newburgh Conspiracy 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.”

Such was one example, out of many, of Washington’s ability to rise, at crucial, historical junctures, above his own humanness. Providence, it would seem, exempted him from many of the typical confines of human nature.

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

And yet, it was Washington’s humanity that elevated him to the status of generational Role Model in Chief, sustaining his legacy of posthumous stardom. That is to say, George Washington wasn’t a myth; he wasn’t a legend; George Washington was a real man with real, human tendencies and weakness, which meant that future presidents could emulate him and aspire to be like him. They could attain his level of greatness. He proved that it was possible. 

SEE ALSO: Happy birthday, Reagan. Thank you for everything you taught us

None have, of course. Only a handful have even come close. But Washington, nevertheless, set the bar. His life was an open letter to every future administration with the bold opening line: “This, oh man, is what you are capable of becoming. This is what the presidency can become.”

The blinding effulgence of Washington’s life has, perhaps, worked against him at times. Present-day critics seem unable to cope with the possibility that such unparalleled greatness might have existed adjacent to Washington’s major moral flaw — the great sin of you-know-what. Whatever the reason, more than a few statues of this man, once held high in esteem, now litter America’s streets and parks, defaced with the insults “you’re on native land,” “genocidal colonist,” and “1619.”

It seems to me only a small-minded people could behold a man so illustrious as Washington and perceive only his faults, however big or small they might have been. But here we are — in denial that Washington is worth celebrating; weirdly obsessed with knowing, understanding, promoting his shortcomings.

We all know he was imperfect. We all know he was wrong about slavery and race. What is far less known is just how great — how unimaginably great — he truly was. Indeed, we’ve turned away from his greatness, and we’ve lost the myth and the legend because of it. 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 own detriment.

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

“By thus determining–& thus acting, you will…. 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].