# What's The Big Deal About George Washington? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 30, 2022, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-george-washington/958663 "2022-01-30T23:01:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2022, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-george-washington/958663/61 "2022-02-01T19:53:01Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > And _then_ he was elected the first President of the United States. My understanding is that, while the Constitution was being written and argued over and ratified, most of the people had Washington in mind as President, and that the Constitution would have had a harder time being ratified if there hadn’t been someone of Washington’s stature to serve as first POTUS. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2022, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-george-washington/958663/62 "2022-02-01T19:56:23Z")
Well, he kept Jefferson and Hamilton from killing each other. Too bad he didn’t do anything about Aaron Burr. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2022, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-george-washington/958663/63 "2022-02-01T20:03:18Z")
This is quite possibly the funniest thing I’ve read since covid hit! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2022, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-george-washington/958663/64 "2022-02-01T20:46:42Z")
We don’t have Threadspotting any more, do we? Because this thread deserves to be spotted, especially but not only for that particular contribution. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2022, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-george-washington/958663/65 "2022-02-01T22:45:49Z")
Without GW we’d still be eating neeps and tatties, while singing God Save The Queen. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2022, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-george-washington/958663/66 "2022-02-01T22:58:58Z")
…and we’d all be speaking English! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2022, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-george-washington/958663/67 "2022-02-02T14:17:37Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > As also discussed upthread, it was _after_ the defeat of the British that George Washington had what was probably his finest moment. A group of officers were upset over back-pay they were owed, and were plotting mutiny. Some of them probably just wanted to extort payment by threat of force, but others seemed to want an actual coup against the Continental Congress. At that point, Washington could have done what so many generals before and since have done. He could have harnessed those officers to install himself as a military strongman. Or just stood aside and let himself be used as a figurehead for an armed mutiny. > > Instead, Washington addressed the disgruntled officers, and talked them down. He defused the situation, convinced the officers to lay down their arms, disband, and go home, and lead the way by example. > > _“Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray but almost blind in the service of my country.”_ > > > - _George Washington, addressing members of the “Newburgh Conspiracy”_ > > After _that_ , when it became clear that the Articles of Confederation were dysfunctional, and a new Constitutional Convention was called, George Washington was the consensus pick to preside. He doesn’t seem to have been a particularly active presiding officer. But what he did do was vital. Despite being a pretty literal embodiment of the Virginia planter aristocracy, he was widely viewed by the members of the convention from all sections of the country as a fair and capable presiding officer. And there were a _lot_ of deep-seated and _highly_ contentious sectional conflicts in the new country. And a lot of _big_ egos representing those sections. George Washington was probably the only person in the country who both had the stature to wrangle all of those egos and the perceived equanimity and fairness to convince them that their sectional interests were being duly considered. > > And _then_ he was elected the first President of the United States. This. **Little Nemo** mentioned this upthread, but I was going to come in and elaborate on it, only **gdave** has already done so. Washington had already effectively renounced hanging on to power even before the Presidency was set up, and he did so again after his first term, thus setting the precedent we needed. The story is not told as often today, about Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, the 5th century BCE who was called in his old age from working his farm to lead the army and the state against a rebellion, after which he voluntarily relinquished power and returned to his farm. He was a revered idol of the idealized leader during the later Roman Republic, and even more so by the leaders of the Revolutionary War, who established the still-extant Society of the Cincinnati to promote this ideal. They’ve got a nifty headquarters at the Larz Anderson house on Massachusetts Avenue in Washington DC that also functions as a museum. To the Founding Fathers, George Washington, pulled from his family farm at Mount Vernon multiple times – the Revolutionary War, the Constitutional Convention, the Presidency, and even as Commander in Chief organizing the army under president Adams – and returning each time afterwards voluntarily to Mount Vernon, he must have seemed the re-incarnation of Cincinnatus > **[Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_Quinctius_Cincinnatus)** > > Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus (c. 519 – c. 430 BC) was a Roman patrician, statesman, and military leader of the early Roman Republic who became a legendary figure of Roman virtue—particularly civic virtue—by the time of the late Republic. > Cincinnatus was an opponent of the rights of the plebeians (the common citizens) who fell into poverty because of his son Caeso Quinctius's violent opposition to their desire for a written code of equally enforced laws. Despite his relatively old age, he worked ... > **[Society of the Cincinnati](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_the_Cincinnati)** > > The Society of the Cincinnati is a fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of military officers who served in the Continental Army. > The Society has thirteen constituent societies in the United States and one in France. It was founded to perpetuate "the remembrance of this vast event" (the achievement of American Independence), "to preserve inviolate t... > **[George Washington](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington)** > > George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799) was an American Founding Father, military officer, politician and statesman who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Second Continental Congress as commander of the Continental Army in June 1775, Washington led Patriot forces to victory in the American Revolutionary War and then served as president of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which drafted and ratified the Constitution of... I think it’s insufficiently appreciated how much the Founding Fathers practically worshipped the Roman Republic and emulated it as an ideal. Our very idea and name of the upper house as the “Senate” with “Senators” , many of the forms of the organization of our government, and so forth pretty much scream this. And I think that a lot of them read or saw Joseph Addison’s 1712 play **Cato** , about the Roman senator Cato the Younger who opposed the tyranny of Julius Caesar to become (as Wikipedia puts it) “an icon of republicanism, virtue, and liberty” . Many of our much-remember quotations from the Revolution were adapted from that play – “Give me liberty or give me death”, “I regret that I have but one life to give for my country”, etc. > **[Cato, a Tragedy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cato,_a_Tragedy)** > > Cato, a Tragedy is a play written by Joseph Addison in 1712 and first performed on 14 April 1713. It is based on the events of the last days of Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis (better known as Cato the Younger) (95–46 BC), a Stoic whose deeds, rhetoric and resistance to the tyranny of Julius Caesar made him an icon of republicanism, virtue, and liberty. Addison's play deals with many themes such as individual liberty versus government tyranny, republicanism versus monarchism, logic versus emotio... ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2022, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-george-washington/958663/68 "2022-02-02T15:15:45Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > To the Founding Fathers, George Washington, pulled from his family farm at Mount Vernon multiple times – the Revolutionary War, the Constitutional Convention, the Presidency, and even as Commander in Chief organizing the army under president Adams – and returning each time afterwards voluntarily to Mount Vernon, he must have seemed the re-incarnation of Cincinnatus To me, the praiseworthy thing about Washington was not his giving up power, but his taking it on. Being President was an enormous PITA, and he would rather have stayed home, but he served out of a sense of duty. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2022, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-george-washington/958663/69 "2022-02-02T15:55:13Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Many of our much-remember quotations from the Revolution were adapted from that play – “Give me liberty or give me death”, “I regret that I have but one life to give for my country”, etc So the most remembered quotes of the Revolution are just misatributed memes of the day? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2022, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-george-washington/958663/70 "2022-02-02T16:15:13Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > So the most remembered quotes of the Revolution are just misatributed memes of the day? No, it means that the Founding Fathers, just like people today, stole the good lines from Pop Culture. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2022, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-george-washington/958663/71 "2022-02-03T21:59:30Z")
Well, John Adams was obnoxious and disliked. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-george-washington/958663/72 "2022-02-04T12:58:49Z")
Yes I know. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-george-washington/958663/73 "2022-02-04T17:57:10Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > “Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray but almost blind in the service of my country.” > > - George Washington, addressing members of the “Newburgh Conspiracy” Did he actually need glasses or was it theatre? ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-george-washington/958663/74 "2022-02-04T18:12:29Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Did he actually need glasses or was it theatre? As I understand it, both. There are plenty of other accounts of him using reading glasses by that point in his life, and he seems to have genuinely suffered from common age-related decline of visual acuity. I think the “almost blind” part was pretty much pure hyperbole, though. But in an age when reading glasses were a common signifier of old age and encroaching decrepitude, for a strapping man’s man like George Washington to reveal a “weakness” like that was also definitely a bit of (brilliant) theater. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-george-washington/958663/75 "2022-02-04T18:15:50Z")
Interesting! I read about the instance (and the suggestion it was "staged) in [this book](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005012P3E/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i1) which I recommend for the humor if nothing else. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-george-washington/958663/76 "2022-02-04T18:22:37Z")
In school, I wrote a report on a library book about George Washington’s expense report. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-george-washington/958663/77 "2022-02-04T22:21:33Z")
I wonder if “wig powder” was a euphemism for the Incan miracle drug that kept him up for those midnight crossings of the Delaware. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-george-washington/958663/78 "2022-02-04T22:22:23Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](#): > > Well, he kept Jefferson and Hamilton from killing each other. > > Too bad he didn’t do anything about Aaron Burr. In Washington’s defense, he had been dead for five years when Burr shot Hamilton. ---
**Author:** ![lum\_s\_husband](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lum_s_husband/32/3698_2.png) [@lum\_s\_husband](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lum_s_husband)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-george-washington/958663/79 "2022-02-04T23:03:38Z")
No, it’s a “supplement” he got at GNC. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-george-washington/958663/80 "2022-02-04T23:05:20Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I wonder if “wig powder” was a euphemism for the Incan miracle drug that kept him up for those midnight crossings of the Delaware. To be fair, it _would_ kill the lice. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-george-washington/958663.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-big-deal-about-george-washington/958663.md?page=5)