Washington roamed His Majesty’s colonies at will with an armed force of loyalists. At war’s end and in the absence of any leadership in the known new world, he could have easily declared himself king. No one would have opposed him, a devoted nation loved him, and they knew of nothing else.
From the dawn of time until 1789, the world was ruled by kings, emperors and tyrants; pillagers of wealth and title by might or birthright. Authority was never relinquished. Man lived and died a subject.
But the Philadelphia Convention chartered a bold, new compact: The Presidency – power vested in an office, not the man in the office, to be used by the man while in office, then left to another. A President was to be elected by and servant to citizens, acknowledging a sovereign authority from on High.
Two landslide elections later, President George voluntarily stepped down and retired to Mount Vernon. From then on, the self-imposed two term tradition was faithfully observed by all who followed, showing due honor. A custom broken by FDR in 1940.
His birthday, already a national holiday, was unceremoniously rescheduled by an act of Congress to February’s third Monday (a date which never actually falls on the 22nd), then insultingly consolidated into Presidents’ Day to honor everyone else. Something an unselfish man would not have minded.
Most historians consider the fabled hacking of the cherry tree to be just that – folklore. A made-up story, encouraged by the man’s contemporaries, to lend legend to The Father of his Nation.
The Presidency encompasses a very small circle of great men. But the greatest of them all and for all time is still George Washington.
On the 4th of July
But corruptible absolute power ended with “When in the course of human events… .”
Monumental Robert E. Lee
Perhaps in place of Robert E. Lee they will erect a new statue… a snowflake – a testament to what this nation has become.