Let’s take a quick free association test: George Washington.
If images of wooden teeth, cherry trees, dollar bills, and carpet sales popped into your mind, I suspect you would be in very large company.
Do these images accurately reflect his importance to America? Not so much. His contributions to the American experiment in self-government are unparalleled: legislator and revolutionary, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, president of the Constitutional Convention, and first president of the United States of America.
He is also a great American because of what he did not do. He firmly rejected calls to establish kingship when some of his own officers urged him to do so. In fact, he angrily denounced such overtures. Instead, after he led the Continental Army to victory, he resigned his commission and returned home to Mount Vernon.
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