Monday, Feb. 22, was George Washington’s birthday. Sadly, there is little recognition for the birth of the “father of our country,” other than President’s Day — a federal holiday that recognizes Washington and Abraham Lincoln’s birth month. If people did not get the day off work and students the week off school, people probably would not even realize there was a President’s Day.
Most probably don’t realize it has anything to do with the birth of our nation’s first president.
In many ways, that is tragic. Although Washington had his personal failings — he was the owner of a plantation worked by slaves — his leadership as president of the United States set the standard. Washington rose above politics and partisan politics and was willing to take responsibility for his actions.
Washington was a great leader in every sense of the word.
No one alive today can imagine a president winning the entire electoral vote — but Washington did just that. Even acknowledging that there were not equal voting rights does not diminish the magnitude of the accomplishment. Washington earned the trust of the American electorate by serving admirably during the Revolutionary War.
In spite of a war that broke out in Europe during his presidency, Washington managed to keep the United States out of it even though his cabinet members urged him to get involved. Washington was decisive; he had conviction and a sense of duty to his nation and could not be pressured to go against his personal convictions — qualities that are almost nonexistent in modern-day politicians.
Moreover, Washington hated political factions. His famed farewell address warned the nation that partisan politics could destroy the nation, and it almost did years later when the Civil War broke out. Rather than compromise, the factions that arose in the early years of the nation drifted apart and many politicians avoided taking a firm stance on issues like slavery because they feared the political backlash. Their waffling and indecisiveness surely prolonged slavery in the United States and resulted in the death of almost 700,000 Americans.
Perhaps if the nation recognized a day for George Washington, he would be more than the guy on the dollar bill. We have holidays that honor our soldiers and our nation’s birth, as well as religious holidays and days to give thanks. The only leader we honor with his own holiday is Martin Luther King Jr. — and I firmly believe he deserves a holiday in his honor.
Nonetheless, an elected leader of our nation that rose above politics certainly deserves a holiday exclusively devoted to his legacy as well. Lincoln may have helped “preserve the union,” but without George Washington’s leadership on the battlefield and as president of the United States, Lincoln may not have had a union to preserve.
In addition, all of us should heed Washington’s warning about the danger of political factions as said in his farewell address to the nation: “However (political parties) may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”
Thom Jennings lives in Albion. For comments, write to holly.toal@journal-register.com. The Real Deal from Orleans County is now available as an audio podcast on iTunes.
Opinion
JENNINGS: Washington deserves a day of his own
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