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The thing I liked most just reading snippets of his Wikipedia article is how he seemed to resist being elected President almost against his own will but still being incredibly aware of how he conducted himself in the office because he knew everything he'd do would set a precedent for his successors. 

 

He led a ragtag army for 8 years against the world's top superpower, held it together through thick and thin, loss after loss, retreat after retreat, never gave up, but the greatest thing he did was after the war was won when he appeared before the Congress and resigned as Commander in Chief of the Army.   The country could have become a military dictatorship, or Washington could have even declared himself king, and most people would have happily gone along with it because everyone worshipped the man.  But when he went before Congress and turned in his commission as Commander in Chief and retired, that meant we would be a democratic republic and not a dictatorship.   When King George III heard that Washington had done that, he called him "the greatest man of the age."  

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