George Washington was born on Feb. 22 — 288 years ago. We just celebrated his birthday. He looms so large in the history of our nation that we call him the Father of our Country. He set the standard for the presidency for 42 men who followed in his footsteps. (Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms and the current president has taken a different path altogether.)

I recently watched a special on the History Channel about the life of Washington. It impressed upon me what this man went through to give us this United States of America, what kind of person he was, and how he was just the right person in the right place at the right time. He didn’t write the Constitution but he was the glue that made that document stick, that holds us to it, and he put his stamp on it with his implementations and the precedents he set.

He realized, “I walk on untrodden ground. There is scarcely any part of my conduct which may not hereafter be drawn into precedent.” We are invoking the word “unprecedented” a lot lately in regard to our current president — but it is for the absence of all the concerns which Washington held that makes him unprecedented. Washington had to be the one to create the definition of POTUS, and he felt the weight of the responsibility to get it right. He knew he would be setting the example for not only how the executive branch should function, but how the president himself (or herself) should behave as well. He had to establish that narrow path between enough power to function and monarchy.

His precedents have kept us going for over two centuries, longer than any other republic in history. They are being challenged now in a way that Washington and his fellow founders worried might happen.

Our nation has withstood a lot since Washington was unanimously elected in 1789, and again in 1792, by an electoral college of state electors, some chosen by voters, some appointed by state legislatures and governors. No president since has had that unanimous support.

When he was elected there were no political parties. He is the only president to date not belonging to a party. During his presidency, major rifts between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson led to the formation of a Federalist party that supported the need for a strong federal government, and a Democratic-Republican party (which eventually split).

Disagreements over foreign involvement also caused friction. So just like today, he was faced with big problems but the way he handled them is important. Through the ensuing partisanship, the attacks on his reputation and a divisive press, Washington tolerated the dissent with public grace, proving that the federal government, as represented by him, could survive it. He is quoted as saying, “If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”

He also said, “Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to light.” As much as he defended freedom of speech, he feared the effects of partisanship. “(Political parties) … are likely … 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.” I recognize a certain Senate Majority Leader in that prophesy.

Washington did not campaign at all, in contrast to the way modern presidents are elected by raising and spending millions of dollars. He was even reluctant to accept the role of president, preferring personally to retire to agricultural pursuits at Mount Vernon, but his sense of duty won out. In his humble acceptance he said “I believe I cannot give a greater evidence of my sensibility for the honor they have done me, than by accepting the appointment.”

In the execution of his job, he relied on department heads for advice, replicating his Revolutionary War council which established the tradition of a cabinet, whose members he was allowed to appoint unchallenged by a congress that respected his judgement in selecting trustworthy and knowledgeable advisers — maybe setting an unfortunate precedent that successors would not live up to. He presided over the formation of the Supreme Court and the court system. He set the precedent of two terms and although it was never written into law until after FDR, that limit was followed up until that time.

Personally, George Washington had a strong, commanding physical presence, tall for the time and fit. He was part of the “Age of Reason,” an avid reader, exchanger of ideas, and supporter of colleges and universities. He understood the importance of knowledge and made it a priority. Trained in early life as a surveyor, he presided over the planning of Washington, D.C., but never actually lived there. His presidential home was in New York City!

Washington spent a lifetime in both government and military service. While in his 20s, he won a seat in the Virginia House of Burgesses which he held until 1775 when he was named Commander of the Continental Army. His military career developed simultaneously, serving as an officer in critical battles of the French and Indian War where he learned lessons in leadership that would serve his presidency later.

His plantation depended on slave labor, but after the war he saw that it conflicted with the ideals of the revolution and began to privately oppose slavery. In his will, he ordered his slaves to be freed upon his wife’s death. He could not make it public policy for fear of risking the life of the newly united nation.

Washington’s personality was a combination of “soldier and gentleman” according to Abigail Adams. He had a temper which, with maturity, he learned to control. He was praised by his peers for exemplary bravery and good judgement in a crisis. He was a devoted husband to Martha, had no children of his own but doted on and cared for her two. He was a dog lover and owned many canine companions, an affection shared by many other presidents.

In his eulogy, Harry Lee described him as “second to none in the humble and enduring scenes of private life, pious, just, humane, temperate, and sincere; uniform, dignified, and commanding.” In a piece written for the University of Virginia, author Stephen Knott states his presidential legacy of “… restraint, solemnity, judiciousness, and nonpartisan stance created an image of presidential greatness or dignity.”

We should celebrate the recent birthday of our founding president by recalling what the office of the presidency stands for as he defined it and resolve that we will return to it someone with the respect for the office that he established for it. We should be extolling the democratic ideals that he represented. Now more than ever is a critical time in the history of the United States when the real American values that he exemplified should be defended. That’s the best gift we could give our country right now, in memory of George Washington, “Mr. President.”

Susan Bigler is a Sheridan resident.