• Home
  • /
  • Topic
  • /
  • People
  • /
  • George Washington
  • /
  • George Washington's Personal Leadership Qualities and Their Effect on His Military and Political Career Book Review
Verified Document

George Washington's Personal Leadership Qualities And Their Effect On His Military And Political Career Book Review

How the Personal Qualities of George Washington and His Particular Circumstances Facilitated His Rise to the Become the First President of the United States

The recent nationwide e racial strife that has rocked the United States has galvanized public attention on the nations Founding Fathers whose lives have been subjected to increasingly close scrutiny to determine if they are worthy of continued adoration and respect. Indeed, even formerly sacrosanct figures in U.S. history including George Washington, among others, have become the focus of criticism by modern Americans because they owned slaves while simultaneously and hypocritically advocating for a new country where everyone was equal. The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of the relevant literature to identify the personal qualities of George Washington and to determine how these qualities and his particular circumstances facilitated his rise to the first presidency of the Unites States. Following this review, a summary of the research and important findings concerning the personal qualities of Washington and how his particular circumstances facilitated his political career are presented in the conclusion.

Review and Analysis

The current political brouhaha and looming criminal charges over the actions and behaviors of the incumbent commander in chief make it clear that the office of the president of the United States is a high profile position that is subjected to the closest scrutiny possible under the unique circumstances that exist at any given point in time in American history. Entire journals and countless books and scholarly texts have been written about the countrys presidents, but none have received as much attention as George Washington and for good reason (Ellis 2002). Through a life of public service, Washington succeeded in achieving what few of his British contemporaries thought possible, and notwithstanding the critical assistance that was provided by the French, Cornwallis would never have surrendered at Yorktown had it not been for the military genius of Washington and the Union Jack might be flying over the U.S. capitol today.

Although Washington did not have cable television networks and Internet-based social media platforms covering and assessing his every move in detail, the mainstream media of the day was positively fascinated with him and his activities were eagerly reported in the newspapers (Ellis 2004). It is not surprising, then, that Washingtons life and unique qualities have been the focus of a great deal of scholarship over the years due in large part to his contributions to the nations founding and its continued existence to the present, a fact that is firm testament to the possession of those leadership qualities that were desperately needed during the critical period in the nations history when he served as president from 1789 to 1797.

The historical record confirms that he was the right man for the job, and Washingtons contemporaries agreed. Tall even by todays standards, strikingly handsome and charismatic, it is not surprising that many of Washingtons personal qualities contributed to his ultimate career as U.S. president, but they also account for his early correspondence with a paramour at the same time he was courting the nations first first lady. The manner in which he leveraged these personal qualities to become the nations first president, though, makes him stand out from the other Founding Fathers. Indeed, when the layers of peoples outward personas are peeled back like so many layers of onions, there will always be some warts and blemishes, but despite his worst qualities, Washington not only redeemed himself, he helped create a nation and legacy that endure to this day.

There are also some other important issues to consider when evaluating Washingtons personal qualities...

Parts of this document are hidden

View Full Document
svg-one

…new hatchet or his brawn by throwing a silver dollar across the Potomac River are apocryphal, the research showed that Washington did in fact deserves the accolades that have been heaped upon over the years. The research also showed that Washingtons numerous positive personal qualities were countered by some negative qualities, but on balance he fully deserves his title as Father of the Country. Indeed, notwithstanding the fact that some of his minor personal frailties and the fact that he was, like many of the other Founders, a slave owner, Washington emerged from the critical review of the literature fairly unscathed with his image intact, and even shining brighter than ever, especially when his life is compared to the increasing incivility that has marred modern politics. Humble in his piety but earnest in his commitment to his new country, it is reasonable to conclude that George Washingtons face will be the last one of the presidents visages remaining on Mount Rushmore and his statues will be the last ones remaining standing in the nations eponymous capital long after many others have been pulled down by protesters. Although no military leader or politician completes a professional career without some controversy and detractors, the fact that Washington managed to cobble and hold together a coalition of the sometimes-unwilling and succeed in leading it to victory against a global superpower suggests that Washington was like Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan and Joe Biden all rolled into one great man who could have been a king, but chose instead to help forge a new republic where no individual is above the . In the final analysis, George Washington can be regarded as the gold standard against which all past, current and future presidents will be measured due to his blend of personal qualities that…

Sources used in this document:

Works Cited

Ellis, Joseph J. His Excellency: George Washington. New York: Vintage Books, 2004. ISBN 1 – 4000-3253-9.

Ellis, Joseph J. Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. New York: Vintage Press, 2002. ISBN-10: 0375705244Freeman, Joanne B. Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002. ISBN - 10: 0300097557>Locke, Joseph L and Wright, Ben. The American Yawp: A massively collaborative open U.S. history textbook. Stanford, CA: Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, 2019.

Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

George Washington & Slavery George
Words: 1969 Length: 5 Document Type: Research Paper

He also ordered that the "Negros...are...to be taught to read and write; and to be brought up to some useful occupation..." And they are to be "comfortably clothed and fed by my heirs while they live..." Washington also wrote in his will that he "...expressly forbid the Sale, or transportation out of the said Commonwealth, of any Slave I may die possessed of." He did order the immediate freedom of

George Washington Took the Oath of Office
Words: 2424 Length: 7 Document Type: Essay

George Washington took the oath of office to become the first President of the United States of America on April 30, 1789. Yet his influence on the history and development of the United States and on its office of President started some 35 years earlier, when, as a young man, he led a small force of militia men into a battle later called a massacre. Had one only this beginning

George Washington There Have Been Many People
Words: 1997 Length: 7 Document Type: Term Paper

George Washington There have been many people in American history who have dedicated their lives to the people and progress of the nation, and perhaps none are more notable than our very own one dollar bill - George Washington, who not only conjures up images of freedom and democracy, but of also the birth of America; a founding-father who was the first to govern the people under their own flag. George Washington

George Washington Gomez Book Critique:
Words: 1292 Length: 4 Document Type: Term Paper

Mexicans were treated as an inferior class and an inferior race of people, in both the rhetoric of the nation and in the actual physical subjugation and displacement they were threatened by as a community. Thus, individuals such as Gualinto came to regard themselves as inferior, or the 'part' of themselves that was Mexican, as inferior. Such external threats created internal, psycholgical ideological impingements in the vulnerable hearts and minds

George Washington University Provides One
Words: 579 Length: 2 Document Type: Admission Essay

" The faculty possesses expertise in addressing current issues and not simply historical or archaic problems. This assures the students at George Washington are relevant and cutting edge. Success in the new dispensation requires that individuals are not only knowledgeable but also knowledgeable in postmodern phenomena. This experience is cultivated and sponsored at George Washington. The campus life at the University is remarkable. This is the result of the integration of

George Washington and Thomas Jefferson
Words: 1485 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

However, Washington's experience in the Revolutionary war engendered in him, along with his adjutant Alexander Hamilton, deep concerns about the weakness of the Federal Government. Also, Washington, being a general, was very observant of material conditions throughout the nation, particularly infrastructure. Unlike Jefferson, Washington travelled extensively, for business and pleasure, and saw many pockets of America that Jefferson did not see. He held a particular fascination with the American interior,

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now