I’m still amazed at the character of Washington - the temptation to stay in power must have been tangible, and tons of his supporters wanted him as a king, but he was too committed to these United States being a government of elected peers.
Though he was a man of the age, owned 120+ slaves on their plantation, so… that’s not so great. But also very roman-esque I suppose.
Yeah. The only bright spot is that he did turn to abolitionism later and life and began plotting a way to free his slaves legally (first by selling Mount Vernon, but he couldn't get a price that would cover his debts that he ran up funding the Revolutionary War and his retirement). But "I'm going to free my slaves the proper way according to the norms set up by my fellow slaveholders" and then up and dying before fulfilling that falls a bit short of ideal behavior. At least his will emancipated all the slaves he did own (after the death of his wife, who, unlike him, was an ardent slaver).
He was a stodgy old patrician, and a man of his time. But for all that, he preserved democracy, or its seed, at a time when it was very fragile in the US, and for that much, he will always be admirable.
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