As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of our founding, it is an especially suitable occasion to consider the first three men who occupied the presidential office, all part of that group we call our Founding Fathers: George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson. Studying not only their lives but also the entire American Revolution, will help us navigate the rough political seas we find ourselves in.
Washington, a Virginia planter who fought in the French and Indian War (1754-1763), was selected in June 1775, by the Second Continental Congress to be the commander in chief of our fledgling army, serving in that position the entire Revolutionary War (1775-1783), defeated what was probably the most powerful military force in the world, and rather than exploit his position, surrendered his command. When King George III heard of this, he reportedly said: “If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.”
Happy to retire to his Mount Vernon, he was elected as our first president and then re-elected, serving 1789-97. He set many precedents and norms which continue today. When Napoleon heard of his voluntary retirement, he reportedly said words to the effect: “I am no Washington.”
In his eulogy to Washington, Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee correctly captured his importance to the nascent nation: “First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”
Washington visited our beloved colony and state on at least four occasions. The last two were the most significant. In March 1781, to meet and confer with the allied French force commander Rochambeau, and again in 1790 after Rhode Island, under threat of economic ostracism, finally ratified the Constitution.
Adams was our country’s first vice-president and our second president (1796-1800). Before that he was a major figure in moving the colonies to independence, played a leading role in the Continental Congress, authored the constitution of Massachusetts, and signed the Treaty of Paris with Great Britain ending the Revolutionary War. In 1799, as president, he dedicated our own Fort Adams, a modest structure at the time.
Of all the Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson was the most multi-dimensional: lawyer, scientist, writer, architect, governor, diplomat, and political leader. He is best remembered as the main author of our Declaration of Independence, the 250th anniversary of which we celebrate this year. He was our third president (1800-08), and presided over the doubling of the size of our country.
Beyond the conventional American Revolution (1775-1789), Jefferson asserted that another revolution occurred with his election in 1800: the “Revolution of 1800.” This was the first time that the leadership of the country had changed hands between political parties, achieved without violence. Jefferson and his Republicans attempted to implement a contrasting vision of America. In the words of one historian, Drew R. McCoy, this vision was one of America as a “rural Christian Sparta.”
On his gravestone are the three achievements by which he wished to be remembered: “… Author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia.” We Rhode Islanders can be proud that our own religious pathfinder, Roger Williams, may have planted the seeds which Jefferson harvested a century later as another champion of religious freedom.
One of the critical elements that any country needs to sustain itself is a creed, its fundamental values and principles. Jefferson supplied us with the indisputable first element of that creed in the second paragraph of the Declaration: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” About this sentence, Historian Walter Isaacson has recently published a book: “The Greatest Sentence Ever Written.”
This Presidents Day, let us not only celebrate our first three presidents. Let us begin, in earnest, the celebration not only of the 250th of the Declaration, but also the hard work required to repair our fraught political culture and country. Studying the American Revolution can help us.
Fred Zilian, Ph.D., offers a slate of lectures commemorating the 250th at his website: www.pegasusenrichment.com .
Zilian Commentary 