Washington’s true legacy
On this Presidents’ Day, as partisanship tears at the fabric of our republic, we can look back to our first president, born on Feb. 22, 1732, for leadership traits that built a nation. As president, George Washington brought the full force of his personality to the enormous task of forming a union from 13 diverse states and a vast frontier territory. There was no national government to serve as a template, and the Constitution was little more than a rough outline. The president, his cabinet and the new federal Congress fleshed out the government by their initial acts, with everyone looking to Washington for leadership.
The results transformed America. Working almost as a team under Washington, the executive, legislative and judicial branches forged a unified republic. The principal policies for doing so came from Alexander Hamilton as Washington’s closest adviser and treasury secretary; Thomas Jefferson as the first secretary of state; and Secretary of War Henry Knox, who doggedly rebuilt the military and orchestrated the fight to secure the West.
Expanding on his wartime contributions as commander-in-chief, Washington established the government’s financial credit, opened the trans-Appalachian frontier for settlement, fostered a robust national market economy and founded the presidency as a powerful office of overarching significance. Most important of all, Washington kept the United States at peace with Europe during a period of widening trans-Atlantic war between America’s mother country, England, and its Revolutionary War ally, France.
Central to his success: Washington did not covet power, and the people knew it. At the Revolution’s end, unlike so many rebel leaders before him, he had voluntarily returned to private life rather than claim political power. No one should serve in public office forever, he believed, least of all himself. Power may corrupt many, but it did not corrupt Washington — and he showed it a second time by voluntarily retiring from the presidency after two terms.
His Farewell Address denounced partisanship, embraced economic nationalism and individual liberty, discouraged permanent foreign alliances, and spoke of the country’s noble destiny. Unity of a people — “citizens by birth or choice,” he called them — and of a nation, rapidly expanding westward, became Washington’s legacy: one out of many.
Speaking to all Americans, Washington wrote, “The unity of Government which constitutes you one people is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; and of that very Liberty which you so highly prize.”
Looking back for leadership traits that stood out then and remain critical today, we see a president with a successful career outside government who never viewed himself primarily as a politician. A natural leader, people trusted him and he trusted others. Washington listened more than he talked, compromised on means to secure ends, relied on fellow public servants, sacrificed for the common good, and never wavered on principle. Shaped by the Enlightenment, he had a progressivist faith that relied on human reason and divine providence rather than traditional ways and established dogmas.
He sought truth and accepted facts. Life could get better, he believed. His did.
As the old order collapsed around him, Washington crafted a better one to replace it — one that has lasted for more than two centuries. He did not see it as perfect and never thought it would last forever. His example shows what individuals can do in times of faction, fracture and failure to address problems and improve the state of affairs. “We will not be driven by fear,” the legendary broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow would later say about Americans, “if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine and remember that we are not descended from fearful men.” Murrow surely had the likes Washington in mind. On this Presidents’ Day, we should too.
Larson is University Professor of History at Pepperdine University and author of 10 books, including “Franklin & Washington: The Founding Partnership.”