The Great Virginia Triumvirate!

I just finished reading biographies of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison.  What incredible individuals!  All of them certainly deserve to be in the American Pantheon.  The more history I read, after all these years, the fewer and fewer people I think are worth to be there.  Of course, like in many things (even in evaluating myself!), my standards are higher than most.

Washington stands out, of these three and the other Founding Fathers.  This isn't at all to diminish the significance and greatness of the others; not at all.  They, Jefferson and Madison, earned their exalted positions.  But Washington rises above.

I think it was Joseph Ellis who wrote, "Benjamin Franklin was wiser than Washington; Alexander Hamilton was more brilliant; John Adams was better read; Thomas Jefferson was more intellectually sophisticated; James Madison was more politically astute.  Yet each and all of these prominent figures acknowledged that Washington was their unquestioned superior.  He was the Foundingest Father of them all."  Yep......  I think it's important to ask why that was so.

Again, I don't at all diminish the Superstar status of the others.  For instance, Jefferson wrote our American Creed, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable right; that among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."  Those are the words by which we live.  They form the basis for American Exceptionalism.  (Sorry you Obama fans; he's wrong, very wrong.)  Madison was the architect of the US Constitutional System.  Oh, he had some help, but mostly the work is his.

But Washington was their "unquestioned superior."  I think the primary reason for that is something that seems to have gone out of style, if I may put it so tritely, today.  That is, character.  Of course Washington wasn't perfect.  He owned slaves, for one thing (a big thing).  And he wrestled with the contradiction of that vis-a-vis the American Revolution and early nation.  Yet, he refused to emancipate his slaves, until after his and Martha's deaths.  Why was that?

I think his character was acknowledged most during the potential Newburgh Mutiny.  The early nation faced a real challenge, not from the British, but officers in its own Continental Army.  They weren't getting paid and hadn't been getting paid and, if this is what the United States meant, maybe it was time to march on the Confederation Congress and change things, perhaps to a monarchy.  Washington tried to nip the mutiny in the bud.  He first made a speech to his officers, one that likely didn't persuade any of the potential mutineers.  He realized that and then asked the angry and frustrated veterans of war if he could read them a letter.  Never really good as a public speaker, Washington fumbled over the words as he began reading.  He halted and pulled out a pair of glasses.  This startled the officers, grabbing their immediate attention.  Washington had never been seen wearing glass in public!  As he put them on, he apologized (at least an apology of sorts), "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."  According to many accounts, these words, from the bravest man any of them knew!, brought tears and even open crying from these war-hardened officers.  And, the mutiny ended right then and there.  Such was the respect men had for Washington and his character.

Hmmm......  I've never made a complete list of Americans I would put in a Pantheon, but as I noted, there wouldn't be many.  The Pantheon would be for great Americans, not merely pretty good ones.  Those who know me at all realize Abraham Lincoln would be included, the first inductee.  But others.....?  Maybe I can start a list.