THE “Mr President”, George (NMI) Washington of Mount Vernon, Virginia, the irreplaceable man, general and (reluctant) politician! The man who lived to the classic Roman hero, Cincinnatus (Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus), as the able man who, while seeking fame & fortune when young, made his best history as a man aged in efforts and battles.
Washington was the man who set the mold for the US Army, that they should always be under the civil governance, and walked-the-walk by resigning his Generalship when it was the DOMINANT power of the weak, disunited former colonies. He then became PRESIDENT GENERAL of the 1787 Constitutional Convention some 3 years later. His were the ears that everyone there wanted to talk to and the voice that all listened to.
As THE FIRST PRESIDENT, he set the patterns and the expectations of that brand new government. In a SINGULAR aspect, that of the ‘Address of the Office’, he made an immortal start that cannot be forgotten. In the War, he had the title of General and was frequently addressed as “Your Excellency”. As he took his Presidency, many proffered inflated, near monarchial terms to address his position. The Houses of Congress got to the points of “Majesty” and “Most Illustrious and Excellent President” while a cynic proposed “George IV”! After much bickering and with reputed background urging by the man, himself, the solution became “Mr President”!
Then, as in all great dramas, comes the final act, the denouement of what will this new REPUBLIC does with the EXECUTIVE POWER! History is replete with revolutionaries speaking of restraint but ending with lifetime dictatorships! It was probable that other countries and elites assumed that Washington would do the same or else remain a power figure behind the new President Elect, John Adams! When it became known that Washington was, instead, following the mode of Cincinnatus again and retiring to his quiet plantation, this did again set precedent! Indeed, his former Monarch and adversary, George III, said of this; “... that act placed him in a light, made him the most distinguished of any man living and the greatest character of the age.” Not bad to go from a traitor, yet to be hung, to this near supreme compliment!
Didn’t I hear that John Adams came up with that title?
GW was also often nicknamed “Fabius” because of his deceptive withdrawal tactics. (Necessary with the few, poor “army” he had.)