Gordon Wood, one of the nation’s most eminent historians of early America, called Washington an unlikely hero, and so he was. He did not have the education of many of the other founding fathers and was self-conscious about it. He did not have the grace of expression that so easily flowed from Jefferson’s pen. Yet, Franklin called him “one of the greatest captains of the age.”
General George Washington lost more battles than he won. Yet, he knew the value of retreat. He kept an army together when supplies were short, victories few and funds from the Continental Congress almost nonexistent.
As president of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, he played no role in the drafting of the new constitution’s provisions. He held his council and did not even speak on them. Yet, he was the glue that bound 13 disparate states together in one union, rectifying as they did the shortcomings of the earlier Articles of Confederation. He was the one man all could trust and respect.
One of the great dangers in the reading of history is the unavoidable tendency to assume the historical actors knew what we know – that they could see how it all would turn out. Not so, of course. No one had ever seen a republic of this size work as a form of government. For Washington, the challenges were real and the outcome terribly uncertain.
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While Washington hadn’t the grace of expression of Jefferson, while he lost more battles than he won, and while he played no role in the drafting of the new constitution, he nevertheless was the glue that bound 13 disparate states together in one union.
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Madison’s notes from the Constitutional Convention quote Franklin, who mused about the sun decoration on Washington’s chair as head of the convention. Franklin said that throughout the often-contentious proceedings that he could not decide if the sun was rising or setting. As the constitution came to the end of its work, Franklin comforted himself, saying, “I have the happiness to know that it is a rising sun.”
Washington led 13 often quarreling colonies against the greatest empire of its day. He gained an international reputation. As the war was won in 1783, the painter Benjamin West told King George III that General Washington would now retire to Mt. Vernon. George replied, “If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.”
Washington did exactly that. He also did his part to ensure the army disbanded peacefully. At Newburgh, just north of West Point, a meeting of officers threatened a coup if their grievances were not met, grievances that included a lack of pay, food and pensions. Washington came to address the officers. As he approached the podium, he paused, probably deliberately, to reach into his coat for the spectacles sent to him by David Rittenhouse, of Philadelphia.
“Gentlemen you will permit me to put on my spectacles,” he said, “for I have not only grown gray, but also almost blind in the service of my country.”
What history has come to call the Newburgh Conspiracy ended with his words.
Washington never served any of his two terms of office in the city that would be named for him. He took his first oath of office in New York and the second in Philadelphia. The cornerstones of both the White House and the Capitol were laid while he was president. Three new states joined the union – Vermont, Kentucky and Tennessee.
In France, a Parisian mob stormed the Bastille. As war spread in Europe, Washington issued his Neutrality Proclamation, a policy which triggered a fierce reaction from those who saw America abandoning an ally in France, worse turning its back on the principles that animated its own revolution. Washington held firm and may have been the only man who had the stature to do so.
Washington had become symbol as well as man. He was Cincinnatus, called from his plow in the interest of his country, not seeking power and willing to surrender it when the time came. The French traveler Jacque-Pierre Brissot de Warville said “the comparison is doubtless just.” He is remembered as a hero because of his moral character. As James Monroe said to Thomas Jefferson, “Be assured his influence carried this government.”
Washington made the presidency the national office it became. He had no precedents, no historical guide for his actions.
In some respects, slavery has marred his reputation. It was an issue the country would wrestle with, eventually fighting a great war over. Washington avoided the subject of slavery, believing that bitter debates over the issue would tear apart a still fragile union.
Throughout all the great challenges of war, unification and the forming of a government,Washington knew he was engaged in something larger than himself, a self-awareness many individuals in power lack.
We can say as we celebrate this man’s birthday that there would not have been a union for Lincoln to save had it not been for George Washington. An unlikely hero indeed.
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From the Bible:
Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity and dignity. From Titus 2:7
