Editorial |
Denty Cheatham
George Washington, The Founding Member On one of the vacation trips my wife, Rose, and I have taken to New England, touring antique shops, I once spotted a framed document that interested me so much I had to purchase it. It is an 1875 reproduction of the certificate given “George Washington Esquire” by the “United Colonies,” appointing him “General and Commander in Chief of the Army of the United Colonies and of all the forces raised or to be raised by them and of all others who shall voluntarily offer their services and join the said army for the defense of American liberty and for repelling every hostile invasion thereof.” It is dated “Philadelphia June 19, 1775,” and carries John Hancock’s large signature as president of the Congress.1 I reflected on the fact that, even though it was signed more than a year before the “United Colonies” declared their independence, already George Washington had received the title of “Commander in Chief.” It is difficult to understand Washington apart from the role he played as the founder of our nation. As Garry Wills has said: “Washington already stood for an entire people, before some observers even suspected there was a people. Before there was a nation—before there was any symbol of that nation (a flag, a Constitution, a national seal)—there was Washington.”2
As Wills has also said, Washington’s life “verged on legend, even as he lived it, because he had models he was trying to live up to.” However, there were “three great moments” that seemed to sum up his life: “the resignation of his commission as Commander in Chief, his sponsorship of the New Constitution in 1787, and his surrender of the presidency by a farewell address.”3 The first—and last—of these events are probably the ones that inspired the greatest fame and admiration, then and now. For in almost all the revolutions in world history, the heroic leader did not surrender his powers and authority and return to private citizenship, as did the Roman Cincinnatus. Yet Washington did this twice, once after the war for independence was won, and again after a national government was formed and he had twice been elected to serve as its chief executive. It was this unique restraint that led him to become a sort of secular god (if that is possible) and be revered as the greatest of all Americans. To focus solely on these events, however, should not cause us to underrate what he accomplished as commander in chief in the American Revolution. His role in this cannot be fully ap(continued on page 28)
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