George Washington: The Model of American Leadership

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Character, duty, honor, country, trust, and responsibility.

Those are six of the most important words that define the life and legacy of George Washington.

America’s revolutionary generation knew that the storybook of mankind was replete with examples of ambitious men who took advantage of unique moments in history to seize power for themselves and to never give it up. With the massive popularity and power that he wielded as the commander and chief of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and later as the first president of the United States, George Washington could have been another one of those men.

Although boundless power was his for the taking, Washington was completely devoted to the ideals of the American Revolution and the creation of the American republic. In a world ruled by kings and other types of supreme rulers, Washington was committed to being a different kind of leader. He followed the path of incorruptibility, staying true to the principles that had guided him throughout his life. Character meant everything to Washington and it’s why every action that he undertook was performed with the highest level of integrity. Duty and honor required him to sacrifice and suffer for the greater good of his country. To Washington, the trust that his fellow Americans placed in him was a sacred bond that was never to be betrayed. In a world watching and waiting for the American experiment in self-government to fail, Washington deeply understood that as America’s first president, he shouldered the responsibility of proving the viability of republicanism to all of the crowned heads across the globe. He worked tirelessly to affect that end and to boldly meet that transformative moment in history.

Thomas Jefferson and his contemporaries understood that the American Revolution might have ended very differently without someone as trustworthy as Washington in power. As Jefferson put it, “the moderation and virtue of a single character has probably prevented this revolution from being closed as most others have been, by a subversion of that liberty it was intended to establish.” When Great Britain’s King George III, who had been the most determined enemy of American Independence, learned of Washington’s commitment to surrender his commission as the commander of the American army and return to his farm at the end of the Revolutionary War, he remarked, “If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.” Washington followed through on that promise, and some 13 years later, after he had completed his second presidential term and once again returned home to the life of a private citizen, King George hailed him as “the greatest character of the age.” As Washington’s fellow general from the Revolutionary War, Nathanael Greene, sagely said of his commander in chief, “There never was a man that might be more safely trusted.”

George Washington could have been a king, but he refused to wear a crown. In a world where the vast majority of people were ruled, Washington chose to lead. In the wise words of Washington biographer and scholar John Rhodehamel, “In Europe as well as America, George Washington was widely regarded as the greatest man alive - the shining republican hero. In an age that believed power corrupted its possessors, Washington was the wonder of the age.” George Washington truly was the greatest and most trustworthy leader on the planet. He changed history forever, and for the better. In the performance of his duty, Washington always kept an eye toward the future, fighting and struggling in war and in peace for the “fate of unborn millions.” To this day, we remain the beneficiaries of his selfless, precedent-setting life of public service. As Henry “Light-Horse Harry” Lee famously  eulogized him, Washington was “First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.” May he forever remain first in our hearts and the model of what American leadership is defined by.

Sources

George Washington: The Wonder of the Age by John Rhodehamel

Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow

Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fischer.