History UsefulNotes / GeorgeWashington

The original Articles of Confederation did not work well. As such, a new Constitution was written in 1787 (with Washington serving as the president of the Constitutional Convention), and Washington was unanimously elected President in 1788 and again in 1792. He remains, to this day, the ''only'' man ''ever'' to be elected American President by unanimous vote.[[note]]James Monroe, the fifth president, would also have been elected unanimously, but one elector changed his vote in order to not step on Washington's legacy.[[/note]] His runner-up, John Adams, served as Vice President because that's how things worked back then. This achievement must be qualified however. For one thing, Washington was running unopposed, and for another, the suffrage was far more limited than it would be for his successors. But nonetheless Washington would have likely won even without these qualifications since he was one of the most famous people in the world in the [=1780s=] and [=1790s=], a global celebrity renowned not only in America, but also in England and Europe. Washington's quiet retirement wasn't quite so peaceful precisely because he was plagued by a never-ending stream of visitors and fans who wanted to meet the great hero of the American Revolution, and these visits were draining his coffers, since as a host he had to accommodate his guests and play nice to them, as per the aristocratic customs of the global intelligentsia. The fallout over the Articles of Confederation also made Washington feel that a more stable form of institutions needed to be put in place, so as to preserve stability, and also to better protect his considerably large estate and great wealth (until the [[UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump 45th President of the United States]], Washington was the richest man to hold the office of President).

It's been argued, by Creator/GoreVidal among others, that Washington, while putting a public face as a reluctant non-partisan statesman, privately sought the office of Presidency as an office to guard and protect his property and interests, and as a sinecure to find a better public role with which he could manage his fame, and the expenses that it brought him. As president, he used a cabinet system of Secretaries (which wasn't mentioned in the Constitution) to oversee and advise him on certain issues, knowing that it would be borderline-impossible for one man to keep check of everything by himself. The tradition has been carried on by all of the succeeding presidents. Washington as President was very keen for putting himself above the fray, and largely presided over the debate of his cabinet and fellow colleagues. This served him well since it prevented his name from being associated with policies that could make him controversial and polarizing to other figures. Washington was quite keen, for both personal reasons and for historical reasons, to be the symbol of all Americans, and he was quite conscious of his status as the Hero of the American Revolution, and to preserve that, he often let his subordinates conduct policies as they saw fit. Washington devoted a lot of attention to what we would call "image politics". He was quite keen that portraits don't present him with his ugly teeth, and publicly he would wear heavy make-up to better preserve his appearance. He was also, for a man of his time, widely traveled. He would travel across the USA to all the states existing at the time, which was the Republican equivalent of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Entry the royal progress]]. At one point, he conducted a grand tour of all the states in the Union. You can find a plaque or exhibit claiming "Washington slept here" at just about every city and inn along the Atlantic coast--especially in Virginia. This impressed upon American citizens the idea and image of the President, not merely as an official and Head of State but as an active politician elected by the people.

Privately, he did support the economic policies of UsefulNotes/AlexanderHamilton, who was his chief-of-staff during the Revolutionary War and his Secretary of the Treasury as President; these policies included the federal government assuming the debt the states gathered as colonies and under the Article of Confederation and the creation of a national bank. He also stopped the Whiskey Rebellion without using the national army (he instead used state militias) and without firing a single shot. On the foreign policy front, he announced that America would not get involved in UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution and all of its resulting conflicts (resulting in a policy of American neutrality in European affairs that lasted for over a century) and oversaw improved relations with Great Britain through peaceful means and the signing of very good trade treaties. He admitted Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee to the Union, the first states that were not former colonies. During his presidency, the District of Columbia (created between Virginia and Maryland) was chosen as the permanent seat of the federal government, though he didn't live long enough to see that happen (he passed just ten and a half months before John Adams became the first President to move in, and a little over a year before the District of Columbia was formally established). Today he's remembered for his warning of the dangers of partisanship in his closing Presidential address, but one must remember that such a stance was not really available or possible to other political figures of his generation, or to those who came after. In the context of the time, it was a thinly veiled TakeThat on UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson and his political campaigns. (Washington had had a personal falling-out with Jefferson because Jefferson had one of his lackeys put a political attack in a newspaper, and then told Washington that the ad was not his. Washington -- a brilliant spymaster and all around [[TheSocialExpert social expert]] -- knew that this was a lie).

He served two terms (refusing a third, ''despite'' popular demand), then retired to live on his plantation at Mount Vernon. This set a tradition for a "maximum of two terms in office" for Presidents, which was kept until UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt was elected President ''four'' times in a row, after which the Constitution was amended to make the two-term thing an actual rule.[[note]]Fun fact, technically it says that a person can only get ''elected'' President twice. There's nothing to stop a scheme where someone keeps getting elected ''Vice'' President to Presidents who spontaneously decide to resign on their first day in office...[[/note]]

Washington was notable in that he's one of four presidents to never have had biological children-[[note]]UsefulNotes/AndrewJackson was never legally married to his wife so it would have been unseemly for them to have had kids but they raised one of his nephews, UsefulNotes/JamesKPolk was sterilized by a surgery, and UsefulNotes/JamesBuchanan was a bachelor whom most historians believe was gay. UsefulNotes/WarrenHarding was believed to have been the fifth, due to never having any children with his wife, until DNA testing in 2015 proved that he had a child from an extramarital affair.[[/note]] Mrs. Washington was widowed by her first husband at 25 and left with four young kids (two died in childhood, however). He raised the children as his own after their marriage as well as two of their grandkids. Most research claims that he was sterilized after contracting smallpox in Barbados in 1751.

Another (equally apocryphal) story says that he was able to throw a silver dollar across the Potomac River. Other rumors include tidbits like how his teeth were made of wood [[note]]In real life, Washington had infamously bad teeth; by the time he became president, he only had one tooth of his own left in his mouth. Washington had a set of dentures made from ivory and real human teeth (purchased from his slaves), but the dentures did not fit too well and they were responsible for his strangely "pinched" expression in his portraits.[[/note]], and he was a Christian who prayed every day -- though neither would have been unusual at the time. The American capital, Washington, D.C., is named for him, as is the state of Washington on the opposite side of the country (it gets confusing sometimes). No less than 30 counties, 27 cities and villages, ''241'' townships, and numerous parks, streets, and public schools throughout the United States are named for him.

Washington was a slaveowner, something [[HistoricalHeroUpgrade almost always glossed over in fiction]]. In his early life, he [[ValuesDissonance had no moral issue with slavery]] - as he grew older, his views did change. One of the aspects showing his changed views was that whilst he was a soberingly typical in expecting hard work from his slaves, he did not consider blacks intellectually inferior to whites. And this difference between him and other slaverowners likely contributed to the changes later in life.

During the Revolution, Washington's writings both in the war and after show he came to realize the hypocrasy of fighting for freedom whilst people were enslaved. He came to believe slavery was wrong and supported its abolition, but still did not free his own slaves until he died, as a stipulation in his will.[[note]]The stipulation was that all of the slaves he legally owned except William Lee (see below) were to be freed upon the death of his wife, Martha. She ended up manumitting within a year, because she was acutely aware that her life was the only thing standing between them and their freedom.[[/note]] He also put forth for the old and infirm slaves to be given pensions and the young be taught a craft to support themselves in freedom.

One slave he did free directly was his personal manservant, William Lee, citing loyal service during the Revolutionary War and years of friendship. A constant presence in Washington's life before, during, and after the Revolution, William Lee was potentially being the closest person to Washington outside of his wife, Martha. It was mutual enough that George was willing to go against Virginia Law at the time banning slave marriage to allow William to live with his wife. Numerous historians have noted that the decades of friendship showing him the undeniable humanity in William almost undoubtedly played a role in changing Washington's views on slavery.

Sadly, Washington's expressed hope that slavery would die off on its own, as it did seem to be on its way out at the time, wouldn't come to pass. His concerns on how slavery could potentially rip the nation apart if unresolved proved terribly [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar prophetic]]. The vice president of the Confederacy directly cited Washington's hope for abolition and comradery between races was foolish and misplaced.

* ''Series/DeadliestWarrior'' has George Washington go up against UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte. [[spoiler:George barely manages to win over Napoleon.]]

Washington was a slaveowner, something [[HistoricalHeroUpgrade almost always glossed over in fiction]]. In his early life, he [[ValuesDissonance had no moral issue with slavery]] - as he grew older, he came to believe it was wrong and supported its abolition, but still did not free his own slaves until he died, as a stipulation in his will.[[note]]The stipulation was that all of the slaves he legally owned except William Lee (see below) were to be freed upon the death of his wife, Martha. She ended up manumitting within a year, because she was acutely aware that her life was the only thing standing between them and their freedom.[[/note]] This wasn't ''entirely'' due to [[{{Hypocrite}} hypocrisy]]; Washington held a paternalistic belief that people of African descent were better off enslaved, because they were 'provided for' and not getting themselves into trouble. Circumstances from his marriage[[note]]In sum, Martha Washington and her children and grandchildren by her first husband inherited that husband's slaves and plantations, with the children's shares in trust. Washington oversaw the trust, and was able to use the resources as he saw fit, but was not given legal ownership.[[/note]] meant he was legally barred from freeing more than half of the slaves on his Mount Vernon property, as he was not their legal owner, and he was unwilling to separate them from their families among the slaves that he could free.

One slave he did free directly was his personal manservant, William Lee. A constant presence in Washington's life before, during, and after the Revolution, William Lee was potentially being the closest person to Washington outside of his wife, Martha. It was mutual enough that George was willing to go against Virginia Law at the time banning slave marriage to allow William to live with his wife. Numerous historians have noted that the decades of friendship showing him the undeniable humanity in William almost undoubtedly played a role in changing Washington's views on slavery.

* WolverinePublicity: He tends to get this in any discussion of American history and the American Revolution. A fact which John Adams himself complained about at the time. He was extremely important for American, and global, history, but it must be noted that Washington had very little role in the Boston Tea Party and the early parts of the Revolution and he only came on the scene as a behind-the-scenes colonial property-owning landholder. As Commander in Chief, he was actually a fairly mediocre general who never really won any battles and he had little participation on the decisive American victories (such as Saratoga, which is what convinced France to back the Colonists). Washington was [[TheSpymaster a far more effective spymaster than a general]]. He had no involvement in authoring the Declaration of Independence and is not included among its signatories, very little say in the writing of the Constitution and its debate (Madison, Adams and Hamilton were far more relevant), and as President, he more or less tried to be above-the-fray and rarely interfered in any of the debates or proposed his own policies.

George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799[[labelnote:†]]{Both dates are from the Gregorian calendar, used in the U.S. for most of his life. However, he was born under the old Julian calendar, which Britain and its colonies used until 1752. His birth date in that calendar was February 11, 1731; Britain then started each new year on March 25. The change to the Gregorian calendar also saw the start of the new year change to January 1.}[[/labelnote]]) was the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and the first President of UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates under the Constitution, beginning in 1789 and finishing in 1797, for which he is known as the "Father of His Country". As the first, he's the president who set the precedent (heh heh) for the office. He was succeeded by his vice president, UsefulNotes/JohnAdams.

There were a number of people who (sorta) led the country as specified under the Articles of Confederation, but those are generally glossed over when most Americans think about history, [[AuthorityInNameOnly mainly because the national government under the Articles was a total joke with little actual power, and the president simply presided over the Congress without wielding any executive authority]]. He was the only president that wasn't from a political party; in fact, he hated the idea of the political party so much that in his Farewell Address, he warned Americans against the dangers that political parties could cause. Needless to say, [[AesopAmnesia that was one piece of advice that went unheeded by the American people]].

Commander of the American forces during UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution, as chosen by the Continental Congress. Before that, he was a Lieutenant Colonel and later Colonel during the French-and-Indian War. And before ''that'' he was the head of a small diplomatic mission to try and get the French to evacuate their forts who ''started'' the French-Indian War by bungling every conceivable aspect of the mission horribly. He was captured by the French after losing the Battle of Fort Necessity, but he was soon set free.

Highlights from his command during the revolution include the Battle of Trenton (where he led a group of American soldiers across the frozen Delaware River to slaughter a bunch of Hessian mercenaries in the middle of the night on Christmas of 1776) and his encampment at Valley Forge (where his troops rested for the bitter winter of 1777-1778 - many of them died and all suffered terribly, but Washington is remembered as being very noble about the whole thing).

Ironically, modern assessment describes him as an average general. Washington never had a formal military education, and in some respects, it shows. His strategies were often overcomplicated with too many moving parts, leading to something almost invariably not going to plan. In the American Revolution he lost more battles than he won, not to mention how he began the American component of the Seven Years War, and prior to the Revolution his largest command had been a single regiment. That being said, he did mastermind a few of the Continental Army's greatest victories, such as the back-to-back battles of Trenton and Princeton, the taking of Boston, and Yorktown, and even some of his defeats (such as Germantown) were near-victories. And when things did go wrong, he was an actual genius at getting his forces out of a jam in good fighting order and keeping his army intact. He also had an incredible ability to inspire devotion and loyalty in his men, for an example see that time when he defeated a pay mutiny all by himself by simply appealing to the men's patriotism (see below). Washington's admirers also are swift to point out that no American general ever had to lead an army of soldiers that had no concept of uniform drill, with many not even seeing the need for it. True, citizen soldiers have made up the bulk of US forces in most major wars, and have always been in need of training in the beginning, but Washington alone had to fight against the fairy tale that untrained militia could hope to stand their ground or maneuver-under-fire against professional soldiers (The first few battles of the Revolutionary War did seem to support this fantasy). No American general since has ever had to argue with the civilian leadership on the importance of long term enlistments, uniform codes of drill, the need for a functioning logistics system for food, clothes and ordnance, and proper modern military equipment. This tends to put Washington's unimpressive battle record in a light all its own- difficult to truly compare with other generals.

After America's victory in 1783, Washington resigned his commission and went back to private life, leading King George III to claim that he would be "the greatest man in the world" if he actually went through with it. He was instrumental in persuading Army officers not to carry out a planned mutiny over their lack of pay. When he was unable to persuade them because of the disgrace or the fact that mutinying would not get them their pay, he tried to read a letter to them to persuade them. He had to pull out his glasses to do so, and the officers realized that his health was failing, and so refrained to avoid distressing him. Even better, according to legend, he 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" while doing so. Many of the men present were reportedly driven to tears. These events were instrumental in presenting him as an American {{Cincinnatus}}.

The original Articles of Confederation did not work well. As such, a new Constitution was written in 1787 (with Washington serving as the president of the Constitutional Convention), and Washington was unanimously elected President in 1788 and again in 1792. He remains, to this day, the ''only'' man ''ever'' to be elected American President by unanimous vote.[[note]]James Monroe, the fifth president, would also have been elected unanimously, but one elector changed his vote in order to not step on Washington's legacy[[/note]] His runner-up, John Adams, served as Vice President because that's how things worked back then. This achievement must be qualified however. For one thing, Washington was running unopposed, and for another, the suffrage was far more limited than it would be for his successors. But nonetheless Washington would have likely won even without these qualifications since he was one of the most famous people in the world in the [=1780s=] and [=1790s=], a global celebrity renowned not only in America, but also in England and Europe. Washington's quiet retirement wasn't quite so peaceful precisely because he was plagued by a never-ending stream of visitors and fans who wanted to meet the great hero of the American Revolution, and these visits were draining his coffers, since as a host he had to accommodate his guests and play nice to them, as per the aristocratic customs of the global intelligentsia. The fallout over the Articles of Confederation also made Washington feel that a more stable form of institutions needed to be put in place, so as to preserve stability, and also to better protect his considerably large estate and great wealth (until the [[UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump 45th President of the United States]], Washington was the richest man to hold the office of President).

Privately, he did support the economic policies of UsefulNotes/AlexanderHamilton, who was his chief-of-staff during the Revolutionary War and his Secretary of the Treasury as President; these policies included the federal government assuming the debt the states gathered as colonies and under the Article of Confederation and the creation of a national bank. He also stopped the Whiskey Rebellion without using the national army (he instead used state militias) and without firing a single shot. On the foreign policy front, he announced that America would not get involved in UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution and all of its resulting conflicts (resulting in a policy of American neutrality in European affairs that lasted for over a century) and oversaw improved relations with Great Britain through peaceful means and the signing of very good trade treaties. Admitted Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee to the Union, the first states that were not former colonies. During his presidency, the District of Columbia (created between Virginia and Maryland) was chosen as the permanent seat of the federal government, though he didn't live long enough to see that happen (he passed just ten and a half months before John Adams became the first President to move in, and a little over a year before the District of Columbia was formally established). Today he's remembered for his warning of the dangers of partisanship in his closing Presidential address, but one must remember that such a stance was not really available or possible to other political figures of his generation, or to those who came after. In the context of the time, it was a thinly veiled TakeThat on UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson and his political campaigns. (Washington had had a personal falling-out with Jefferson because Jefferson had one of his lackeys put a political attack in a newspaper, and then told Washington that the ad was not his. Washington -- a brilliant spymaster and all around [[TheSocialExpert social expert]] -- knew that this was a lie).

[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7iVsdRbhnc The closest thing Americans have to a real-life superhero.]] While he might or might not have been Batman, Washington was definitely Bruce Wayne: His extensive real estate holdings made him the wealthiest man in Virginia, possibly in all North America. A man known as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parson_Weems Parson Weems]] wrote many stories about Washington, including the famous one that as a child, Washington chopped down his father's prize cherry tree, but, being unable to tell a lie, promptly confessed to it.

Another (equally apocryphal) story says that he was able to throw a silver dollar across the Potomac River. Other rumors include tidbits like how his teeth were made of wood [[note]]In real life, Washington had infamously bad teeth; by the time he became president, he only had one tooth of his own left in his mouth. Washington had a set of dentures made from ivory and real human teeth (purchased from his slaves), but the dentures did not fit too well and they were responsible for his strangely "pinched" expression in his portraits.[[/note]], and he was a Christian who prayed every day -- though neither would have been unusual at the time. The American capital, Washington, D.C., is named for him, as is the state of Washington on the opposite side of the country (it gets confusing sometimes). Also no less than 30 counties, 27 cities and villages, ''241'' townships, and numerous parks, streets, and public schools throughout the United States.

The man was ImmuneToBullets. Really. George Washington was the only officer to emerge un-wounded from the ambush of General Braddock's Army in 1755. He had two horses shot out from under him and afterwards discovered several bullet holes in his clothes. Later in the French and Indian War he managed to emerge unharmed from a friendly fire incident in which he'd ''ridden between'' the lines of firing soldiers knocking muskets out of line with his sword.

And there's the one time a British sniper caught him unarmed, at close range, with only one guard. Washington just turned and went the other way, and the sniper couldn't bring himself to shoot a man who could so calmly face death. It's said that a tribal leader who led the attack on Braddock's column had said that Washington "is the particular favorite of Heaven, and who can never die in battle." Eerie as all heck. Although given how he died in real life (by slowly choking to death, probably either of diphtheria, strep throat, or a tonsillar abscess) he might have preferred a quick bullet.

Still, he did enjoy the battlefield for as long as he did, he once wrote to his brother of one of his battles saying "I heard the bullets whistle and, believe me, there is something charming to the sound of bullets." The contents of the letter made it all the way back to England where an unimpressed King George II, the last British monarch to lead troops in battle, reportedly remarked that Washington's attitude would change if he'd heard a few more.

Washington had also established [[TheSpymaster his own spy ring]] during the Revolution and even used double agents to help him in his Battle of Trenton. Washington has also become a bit more popular due to Kenneth C. Davis's ''Don't Know Much About History'', in which he paints a picture of Washington as "the plain-spoken frontiersman, not the marbleized demigod" of Weems' stories. In particular, Davis recounts an anecdote told by General Henry "Ox" Knox. In Washington's boat on the night of the Trenton crossing, Knox was 6'3" and 280lbs, making him a large man even by modern standards. As Washington got into the boat, he nudged Knox with his boot and said "Shift that fat ass, Harry. But slowly, or you'll swamp the damned boat."

* FieryRedhead: Popular media always portray him white hair, due to the Athenaeum Portrait, which was the base of the $1 bill, being the main source of reference, but in real life and in his youth, the first president of the United States was redhead, and he powdered his own hair instead of wearing a wig.

* In the episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' "Lisa the Iconoclast", he appears to Lisa as a vision to scold her when she considers giving up her effort to expose Jebidiah Springfield as a fraud. ("We had quitters during the Revolution, too," says Washington. "We called them 'Kentuckians'.") He also appears in a {{cameo}}, along with UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein and Creator/WilliamShakespeare, in one "Treehouse of Horror" episode as a zombie, but has no speaking role.

He served two terms (refusing a third, ''despite'' popular demand), then retired to live on his plantation at Mount Vernon. This set a tradition for a "maximum of two terms in office" for Presidents, which was kept until UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt was elected President ''four'' times in a row, after which the Constitution was amended to have the maximum of ten years be an actual rule. (Usually it's just eight, since the President can't serve half a term, unless he was a vice president who succeeded halfway through his predecessor's term.)

It's been argued, by Creator/GoreVidal among others, that Washington, while putting a public face as a reluctant non-partisan statesman, privately sought the office of Presidency as an office to guard and protect his property and interests, and as a sinecure to find a better public role with which he could manage his fame, and the expenses that it brought him. As president, he used a cabinet system of Secretaries (which wasn't mentioned in the Constitution) to oversee and advise him on certain issues, knowing that it would be borderline-impossible for one man to keep check of everything by himself. The tradition has been carried on by all of the succeeding presidents. Washington as President was very keen for putting himself above the fray, and largely presided over the debate of his cabinet and fellow colleagues. This served him well since it prevented his name from being associated with policies that could make him controversial and polarizing to other figures. Washington was quite keen, for both personal reasons and for historical reasons, to be the symbol of all Americans, and he was quite conscious of his status as the Hero of the American Revolution, and to preserve that, he often let his subordinates conduct policies as they saw fit. Washington devoted a lot of attention to what we would call "image politics". He was quite keen that portraits don't present him with his ugly teeth, and publicly he would wear heavy make-up to better preserve his appearance. He was also, for a man of his time, widely traveled. He would travel across the USA to all the states existing at the time, which was the Republican equivalent of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Entry the royal progress]]. At one point, he conducted a grand tour of all the states in the Union. You can find a plaque or exhibit claiming "Washington slept here" at just about every city and inn along the Atlantic coast--especially in Virginia. This impressed upon American citizens the idea and image of the President, not merely as an official and Head of State but as an active politician voted and elected by the people.

After America's victory in 1783, Washington resigned his commission and went back to private life, leading King George III to claim that he would be "the greatest man in the world" if he actually went through with it. He was instrumental in persuading Army officers not to carry out a planned mutiny over their lack of pay. When he was unable to persuade them because of the disgrace or the fact that mutinying would not get them their pay, he tried to read a letter to them to persuade them. He had to pull out his glasses to do so, and the officers realized that his health was failing, and so refrained to avoid distressing him. Even better, according to legend, he said "Forgive me, for I have grown blind as well gray at the cause of Liberty" while doing so. Many of the men present were reportedly driven to tears. These events were instrumental in presenting him as an American {{Cincinnatus}}.

Washington was a slaveowner, something [[HistoricalHeroUpgrade almost always glossed over in fiction]]. In his early life, he [[ValuesDissonance had no moral issue with slavery]] - as he grew older, he came to believe it was wrong and supported its abolition, but still did not free his own slaves until he died, as a stipulation in his will. This wasn't ''entirely'' due to [[{{Hypocrite}} hypocrisy]]; circumstances from his marriage[[note]]In sum, Martha Washington and her children and grandchildren by her first husband inherited that husband's slaves and plantations, with the children's shares in trust. Washington oversaw the trust, and was able to use the resources as he saw fit, but was not given legal ownership.[[/note]] meant he was legally barred from freeing certain slaves while he was alive, and he was unwilling to separate them from their families among the slaves that he could free.

* In the ''Series/MastersOfHorror'' episode "The Washingtonians", Washington and his descendants are revealed to be cannibals, though it's more of a "campy and ridiculous" sort of horror than a real scary one. (Note that the real Washington was probably sterile.)

!!Washington in fiction

There were a number of people who led the country as specified under the Articles of Confederation, but those are generally glossed over when most Americans think about history, [[AuthorityInNameOnly mainly because the national government under the Articles was a total joke with no power whatsoever]]. He was the only president that wasn't from a political party; in fact, he hated the idea of the political party so much that in his Farewell Address, he warned Americans against the dangers that political parties could cause. Needless to say, [[AesopAmnesia that was one piece of advice that went unheeded by the American people]].

America’s Superman.

* FourStarBadass: Easily the second most important thing portrayed about him after being the first President of the United States is that he received a commission as a General and was appointed as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolution. That said, several years after the war ended (and the Continental Army disbanded), President John Adams commissioned Washington as a Lieutenant General and appointed him Commander of the United States Army, which at the time was relatively small and had no four-star generals.

And there's the one time a British sniper caught him unarmed, at close range, with only one guard. Washington just turned and went the other way, and the sniper couldn't bring himself to shoot a man who could so calmly face death. It's said that a tribal leader who led the attack on Braddock's column had said that Washington "is the particular favorite of Heaven, and who can never die in battle." Eerie as all heck. Although given how he died in real life (by slowly choking to death, probably either of diphtheria or a tonsillar abscess) he might have preferred a quick bullet.

George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799) was the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and the first President of UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates under the Constitution, beginning in 1789 and finishing in 1797, for which he is known as the "Father of His Country". As the first, he's the president who set the precedent (heh heh) for the office. He was succeeded by his vice president, UsefulNotes/JohnAdams.

* In ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'', a Broadway musical about the life of Alexander Hamilton, Washington is portrayed by Christopher Jackson (an African American). One of the major plotlines involves Washington's fatherly relationship with Hamilton, and how the latter's life went downhill after the man retired.

George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799) was the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and the first President of UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates under the Constitution, beginning in 1789 and finishing in 1797, for which he is known as the "Father of His Country". He was succeeded by his vice president, UsefulNotes/JohnAdams.