by Sally Morem

Created on: August 22, 2009

It's virtually impossible to envision a free and independent United States of America without George Washington.

It's almost certainly through the force of his personality that Americans cheerfully accepted the military leader of their revolution as the freely elected leader of their republic. We may thank him for the fact that, unlike the French Revolution or the Russian Revolution, the American Revolution did not eat its own children. Overthrow George Washington? Unthinkable!

Perhaps his demeanor had as much to do with providing revolutionary Americans with a sane and stable rallying point as anything he actually did. Self-discipline was his watchword. When he was a youth, he copied out by hand a pamphlet on the proper deportment of young gentlemen and took those instructions to heart throughout his adulthood.

George Washington was a self-made man in the most intimate sense of that phrase. He overcame a vicious temper by the constant application of his iron will He was an ambitious man. But he knew well that in order to achieve his ambitions, he needed to cultivate the high esteem of other American leaders. He couldn't do it alone. This he did superbly.

He was considered remote by acquaintances. Courteous to a fault, but not back-slapping friendly. But, he was just being careful. He explained in a letter to a friend: "Be courteous to all but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence; true friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to appellation."

After Abigail Adams met Washington in 1775, she wrote this assessment of his character to her husband John Adams: "Dignity with ease and complacency, the gentleman and soldier, look agreeably blended in him. Modesty marks every line and feature of his face."

This man of integrity, this patriot, this experienced military officer was exactly what the doctor ordered as Americans fought against the greatest military power in the world. The newly formed Army needed someone who could coordinate their disparate efforts in Boston after the battle of Lexington and Concord.

Washington agreed to take on the burden of commanding American troops after fighting broke out. John Adams urged his appointment to that position before the Continental Congress because Washington was a highly regarded Virginia gentleman of independent means with military experience. Adams'

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