George Washington, the self-made icon
Josh Marshall has an interesting piece in TPM on George Washington. It’s the second of two commentaries on Presidents Day. Presidents Day was originally celebrated as George Washington’s Birthday. When the effort to declare Abraham Lincoln’s birthday a national holiday failed, due to opposition from white Southern politicians, Presidents Day replaced Washington’s birthday.
In the earlier commentary, Marshall (who has a PhD in American History from Brown University) argues for a separate Lincoln’s Birthday because the consequences of his presidency far outweigh those of Washington. In the second essay, he elaborates further:
“Washington wasn’t terribly creative. He wrote nothing of note. He didn’t have terribly original ideas. He wasn’t even always that good of a general. But the people around him pretty universally held him in a sort of awe. Almost all the craftier and more notable members of the Revolutionary generation had great confidence in his presence, the fact that he was around, the fact that he was commanding what then passed as the United States Army. They felt reassured that he would be the first president.”
And yet . . .
“But you look closely and there really are these repeated moments where his presence, the vision of him and this kind of impassive dependability held everything together. And it wasn’t some native genius in the old sense of the word or some charisma. It was an act of will, a grinding down of all the spontaneity and expressions of one’s inner self — with our torments and our dreams and fears and exuberances — that we today so laud. He made himself into this almost-marble-in-life actor-out of resolve, disinterest, self-denial and republican virtue. And that really did play a crucial role in holding together and then shaping the young republic.”
Being the first president is certainly consequential. And Washington was offered the powers of a king and declined. He stepped down voluntarily after two terms. Contrast that with Trump’s teasing an unconstitutional third term.
George Washington: making of an avatar
it is a pity you start out by seeming to belittle Washington. you come around at the end to recognize what he did. It is probably right that he forced himself to be a paragon of character. but that is what enabled him to both lead the army and to start the Presidncy off with a good example. I can’t see anything wrong with that.
And while I think Lincoln was a saint as well as a genius, i am beginning to think he was wrong about saving the union bt keepint the South from leaving. We would hve been better off without them, in fact i’m thinking of making the an offer they can’t refuse.
Washington and friends creaded not only the United States, but the IDEA of the United States. That was something Lincoln himself recognized as “the last best hope on earth.” Trump is destroying that hope, and we are watching him do it because we do not have the courage of either Washington or Lincoln,
Just posted but it didn’t take. Your new posting format is weird. Text is very tiny and you can’t format the text or add links to text. It’s quite different than your previous system. I’m not sure why you changed, but it discourages posting. Please try to recover my post.
J.P.
AB is currently working well for me. That is odd because most sites don’t work well for me. Type size is oi. Security is not obtrusive compared to other sites. Has a few minor out of place demands like “manage your subscription” which leads to a page “not found.”
Doesn’t mean you are not having problems. I suggest you work with AB to find and fix. but include your own operating system, which can often be where the problem comes from.
Meanwhile don’t add links. This is not a scholarly site. We don’t need to check your honesty or accuracy. If you think people should read more or may want to check something, just give them a verbal lead. If they are not playing games they will find your sources or better ones of their own.
Supporting an edit function would be nice for those of us with many typos.
Now as I am looking at it, type size while commenting could be larger. But the price of ink, you know.
Type size in comment after posted is fine.
@J.P.,
Somehow it ended up in trash. I rescued it.
Thanks, I’m not sure why that happens. I usually type comments in Google Docs or email and then paste into your comment form as “plain text.”
J.P.
Do you not see this when you comment?
@Bill,
FYI, I do.
Thanks
No, that is not there.
Interesting. I will have to ask our tech guy
“Washington wasn’t terribly creative. He wrote nothing of note.” Hard to believe you could have a PhD in American History and make such a statement.
Washington’s Farewell Address to the People of the United States, written in 1796, is one of the most prophetic, visionary looks into America’s future that has ever been put to words.
While he did receive assistance from James Madison earlier on, and later Alexander Hamilton, the final document reflects Washington’s voice and concerns, even if Hamilton supplied much of the wording. Not unlike a modern-day President and speech writer/editor relationship.
The address speaks of factions that may “put in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party.” He warned of the “baneful effects of the spirit of party,” and said it was “inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind.”
He spoke of, ” The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge.” Most notably, he said, ” The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty.”
And he told us all, way back then, “… the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and the duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.”
While this is just a small part of the Farewell Address, how much more important can it get?
“WASHINGTON’S FAREWELL ADDRESS”
J.P.
Thank you so much for this.
Just to mention that Hamilton may have written Washington’s speeches, but aside from being a financial genius Hamilton was one of the worst practitioners of the evils of faction. Unless you get your history from modern operas.