Marissa Snider’s Reviews > Washington: A Life > Status Update

“He also wanted America to function as the promised land for the world’s downtrodden: ‘Rather than quarrel about territory, let the poor, the needy, and oppressed of the earth… resort to the fertile plains of our western country, to the second land of promise, an there dwell in peace, fulfilling the first and great commandment.’”

“At war’s end, he stood alone at the pinnacle of power, but he never became drunk with that influence…
His fortitude in keeping the impoverished Continental Army intact was a major historic accomplishment. It always stood in the brink of dissolution and Washington was the one figure who kept it together.”

“As Jefferson later wrote…’The moderation and virtue of a single character… probably prevented this revolution from being closed, as most others have been, by a subversion of that liberty it was intended to establish.’”

“‘Sir, you are too much exposed here,’ urged Washington’s aide David Cobb, Jr. ‘Had you not better step a little back?’ ‘Colonel Cobb,’ Washington said coolly, ‘if you are afraid, you have liberty to step back.’”

This really encapsulates Washington’s combat involvement.

“Unlike the French Revolution, the American Revolution started with a series of measured protests by men schooled in self-government, a long, exhaustive search for a diplomatic solution, before moving toward open rebellion.”

“One can argue plausibly that the events of the winter of 1768-69 converted George Washington from a rich, disaffected planter into a rabid militant against British policies. Had he died before that winter, he would have left no real record of distinction, aside from youthful bravery in the French and Indian War. That winter changed everything, and he began to evolve into the George Washington known to history.”