In 1880, the United States Congress first established George Washington’s birthday, February 22, as a federal holiday. They aptly called it “Washington’s Birthday” and aptly celebrated it on February 22.
Some 90 years later, in an effort to increase the number of three-day weekends for federal employees (I’m not making this up!), Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, and Washington’s birthday party got shoved to the third Monday in February. Then, in the mid-1980’s, bowing to the pressure of advertisers, Washington’s name was completely wiped off his cake and the term “Presidents Day” was born.
So now, in accordance with bank closings and mattress sales, the Commander of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War; the same man who presided over the Philadelphia Convention and the drafting of the United States Constitution; the very first President of the United States of America (twice elected by a unanimous vote); the man most often referred to as “the father of his country”, now shares his holiday with the likes of John Tyler and Warren G. Harding. Really?
While Washington’s accomplishments are well known and his greatness irrefutable, I’d like to share another’s unique and brilliant perspective on that greatness.
A Frenchman, who had the unusual opportunity of both dining with President George Washington and, years before, serving as a diplomat under Napoleon Bonaparte, wrote the following comparison of these two leaders:
“A degree of silence envelops Washington’s actions; he moved slowly; one might say that he felt charged with future liberty, and that he feared to compromise it. It was not his own destiny that inspired this new species of hero: it was that of his country; he did not allow himself to enjoy what did not belong to him; but from that profound humility, what glory emerged! Search the woods where Washington’s sword gleamed: what do you find? Tombs? No, a world! Washington has left the United States behind for a monument on the field of battle.
Bonaparte shared no trait with that serious American: he fought amidst thunder in an old world; he thought about nothing but creating his own fame; he was inspired only by his own fate. He seemed to know that his project would be short, that the torrent, which falls from such heights, flows swiftly; he hastened to enjoy and abuse his glory, like fleeting youth. Following the example of Homer’s gods, in four paces he reached the ends of the world. He appeared on every shore; he wrote his name hurriedly in the annals of every people; he threw royal crowns to his family and his generals; he hurried through his monuments, his laws, his victories. Leaning over the world, with one hand he deposed kings, with the other he pulled down the giant, Revolution; but, in eliminating anarchy, he stifled liberty, and ended by losing his own on his last field of battle.
Each was rewarded according to his efforts: Washington brings a nation to independence; a justice at peace, he falls asleep beneath his own roof in the midst of his compatriots’ grief and the veneration of nations. Bonaparte robs a nation of its independence: deposed as emperor, he is sent into exile, where the world’s anxiety still does not think him safely enough imprisoned, guarded by the Ocean. He dies: the news proclaimed on the door of the palace in front of which the conqueror had announced so many funerals, neither detains nor astonishes the passer-by: what have the citizens to mourn?
Washington’s Republic lives on; Bonaparte’s empire is destroyed. Washington and Bonaparte emerged from the womb of democracy: both of them born to liberty; the former remained faithful to her, the latter betrayed her.
Washington acted as the representative of the needs, the ideas, the enlightened men, the opinions of his age; he supported, not thwarted, the stirrings of intellect; he desired only what he had to desire, the very thing to which he had been called: from which derives the coherence and longevity of his work. That man who struck few blows because he kept things in proportion has merged his existence with that of his country: his glory is the heritage of civilization; his fame has risen like one of those public sanctuaries where a fecund and inexhaustible spring flows.”
~ François Auguste René de Chateaubriand, 1822
Happy (early) Birthday to YOU, President Washington! You had a BIG dream; a clear vision of liberty that galvanized both a wounded army AND a budding nation; a compelling vision that still inspires us today. You were rare. You were BUILT TO LEAD.
BUILT TO LEAD 
Doug,
That was “a meal for two.” Great job! Keep writing.
Sully