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Articles on George Washington

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‘Our machines have now been running for 70. or 80. years,’ an old Thomas Jefferson, right, wrote to an even older John Adams, left. Photo12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

80 is different in 2023 than in 1776 – but even back then, a grizzled Franklin led alongside a young Hamilton

Americans have long nurtured mixed feelings about age and aged leaders. Yet during the country’s founding, a young America admired venerable old sages.
A statue of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, sits in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. Historians consistently have given Lincoln, the Great Emancipator, their highest rating because of his leadership during the Civil War. Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Presidential greatness is rarely fixed in stone – changing attitudes on racial injustice and leadership qualities lead to dramatic shifts

Historians change their views of presidents over time, often because of the country’s changing views on race and moral leadership.
Reconstructed slave cabins at James Madison’s Montpelier in Virginia. Stephen P. Hanna

Modern-day struggle at James Madison’s plantation Montpelier to include the descendants’ voices of the enslaved

Once owned by James Madison, the Montpelier plantation remains a model for presenting a full depiction of the life of the former president as well as the lives of those he enslaved.
There are lots of official photos of Russian President Vladimir Putin shirtless, including this one from August 2017. Alexey Nikolsky/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images

The American founders could teach Putin a lesson: Provoking an unnecessary war is not how to prove your masculinity

A leader’s machismo can lead to war, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has long displayed his version of hyper-masculinity. A historian says that for America’s founders, wars never fed their egos.
Protesters used violence and intimidation to prevent federal officials from collecting a whiskey tax during George Washington’s presidency. Archive Photos/Getty Images

Political rage: America survived a decade of anger in the 18th century – but can it now?

Like today, passions were strong and political discourse was inflamed in late 18th-century America. Angry mobs torched buildings. Virginians drank a toast to George Washington’s speedy death.
Nixon resigned after tapes he had fought making public incriminated him in the Watergate coverup. Bettmann/Getty

Trump wants the National Archives to keep his papers away from investigators – post-Watergate laws and executive orders may not let him

Donald Trump’s lawsuit to stop the release to Congress of potentially embarrassing or incriminating documents puts the National Archives in the middle of an old legal conflict.
The founders believed education was crucial to democracy. Here, a one-room schoolhouse in Breathitt County, Ky. Photograph by Marion Post Wolcott/Library of Congress

America’s founders believed civic education and historical knowledge would prevent tyranny – and foster democracy

Democracies degenerate because of cunning leaders. Democracies also crumble because of the people themselves – and the US founders believed education would be crucial to maintaining democracy.

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