The United States has been fortunate enough to have a very diverse cast of characters serve in the government's top job, the presidency. Men from all over the country, representing different ideals, professions, and backgrounds have assumed the post. Of the 44 different men (not 45! Remember that Cleveland served twice) who have occupied the position, some are hailed as visionary statesmen, others as incredibly ineffective and incompetent do-nothings who led corrupt or sclerotic governments, and most are largely forgotten by the general public.
Opinions on which man we should confer the title "greatest president" vary widely. In the poll I included some of the most common contenders, specifically this ranking, though my list excludes Truman and Jackson in favor of adding a Reagan and Other option to keep things interesting. The top choices usually come around to George Washington (America's first president), Abraham Lincoln (president during the Civil War who issued the Emancipation Proclamation) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (president who steered the country during the Great Depression and Second World War).
So, in your opinion, which president do you think has left the greatest positive impact on the American nation? Tell us why you think so.
Born in Virginia and trained as a surveyor, George Washington rose to prominence for his feats in the French and Indian War, a theatre of the Seven Years' War. Washington was selected as one of Virginia's representatives to the Continental Congress, where he supported the colonists' cause for independence. When the Continental Army was created, Washington was made its commander-in-chief.
As a military leader, Washington was not particularly noteworthy in his own right. He never showed Napoleon's tactical and strategic brilliance, and his greatest victory, defeating Cornwallis at Yorktown, can be attributed more accurately to superior logistics than mastery over the art of war. Nevertheless, Washington was an exceptionally formidable commander, leading a plucky, rag-tag and poorly-equipped army against what was then the greatest military power in the world, famously crossing the Delaware River in the heart of winter and dealing impressive defeats against the British in the battles of Trenton and Princeton. Washington's genius also lay in the men he chose as his subordinates, particularly John Knox and Alexander Hamilton, and his cultivation of America's first spy network, the Culper Ring.
Out of all of Washington's military achievements, none are quite as impressive as the respect that his men gave to him. One of my favorite stories from all of history is Washington's suppression of the Newburgh Conspiracy. Patriot soldiers who were dissatisfied with their lack of pay circulated plans for a coup against the Confederation Congress. Washington, who caught wind of the plot, showed up at Newburgh unannounced and read a speech, now known as the Newburgh Address, attacking the attempted coup and defending republicanism. After he finished the speech, the tired and aging Washington took out his glasses, which few ever saw him wear, and said, "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." At once, Washington's words moved many of the men in the room to tears, and quickly put to rest any talk of conspiracy. Although Napoleon was the greater general, no man has ever so embodied the principles he preached as Washington.
Following the Thirteen Colonies' victory over the British, it was natural for many to expect that Washington, the leader of the victorious army, would swiftly move to seize power and wrest control of the new nation from the Congress. He did not. Instead, in what artist John Trumbull described as "one of the highest moral lessons ever given to the world", George Washington voluntarily resigned his commission, returned to his beloved Mount Vernon, and left the country in the hands of the Congress. This move greatly shocked many in Europe. George III, the British monarch during the American Revolution, remarked that Washington's decision to resign his commission made him "the greatest character of the age." Washington's decision to resign, to go away, and not to take power is arguably the most pivotal development in the history of modern democracy.
Shay's Rebellion convinced Washington that the political order ordained by the Articles of Confederation could not last, and he went to Philadelphia to serve as the chairman of the Constitution Convention. Soon after the American Constitution was ratified, Washington was elected America's first president, a post he would hold for the next eight years. His presidency saw the development of America's core cabinet institutions, the creation of the First National Bank, rapprochement with Britain with the signing of Jay's Treaty and improved relations with Spain through Pinckney's Treaty, and suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion. Following two successful terms in office, Washington decided to recede from political life forever, issuing his Farewell Address, which warned the nation's future leaders against foreign entanglements and the emergence of new political parties. Washington set the precedent of American presidents serving no more than two terms, a tradition that was only broken by FDR. Washington once more gave up what could have been absolute power, retiring to Mount Vernon where he would die a few years later.
Washington also embodied many of the virtues and values for which the United States is often celebrated. Speaking about refugees, Washington said, “I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable asylum to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong.” In a letter to the Jewish community of Newport R.I., Washington wrote, "For happily the Government of the United States gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support." Washington was the only slaveholding president to free all of his slaves on the occasion of his death.
In summary view, I think Washington's decision to voluntarily cede power not once, but twice and deny the crown already makes him one of history's most virtuous statesmen, and that does not even consider the rest of his monumental achievements. Washington's status as an icon of republicanism is well deserved. John Locke created liberal democracy, but Washington's valour and virtue ensured that it survived to the present day. You only have to look at the history of South America or Africa to see how horribly common it is for post-revolutionary leaders to seize power for themselves and betray the very principles around which they organised their revolution. What if America had a leader like Rupert Mugabe as its revolutionary leader? The history of the country, of democracy, and of the world would be much darker for it. In all of recorded human history we can find very few examples of leaders who, faced with the temptation of amassing total power in their own person, instead decline it and remit their authority into the hands of others. Washington could have been king, and he would have probably been a very good one, but he decided not to be, and he's the greater man for it.
Napoleon himself once said, "Posterity will talk of Washington as the founder of a great empire, when my name shall be lost in the vortex of revolution." Lincoln freed the slaves and FDR established the American welfare state. But Washington, he is for all time.
