Washington was imperfect. In strictly military terms, he does not merit comparisons that have sometimes been made between him and generals like Marlborough, Frederick the Great, Napoleon, or Robert E. Lee. Yet he remains a remarkable man, one of those Tolstoyan figures whose acts determine the course of history. James Thomas Flexner has called him the indispensable man.
Nobody — not Nathanael Green or Henry Knox, and certainly not Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, or John Adams — united the military, political, and personal skills that made Washington unique ... without George Washington there could have been no victory in the Revolutionary War, no United States. As a soldier he was erratic but competent. As a man he was impulsive, vindictive, brave, hardworking, intelligent, and virtuous. And as a leader he was great. Those who mourned Washington’s passing in 1799 were right to regard him, for all his flaws, as the savior of his country.
Gallery
American Artists | 6 albums
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Works by John Singleton Copley American Painter, 1738—1815 » view » |
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Works by Charles Willson Peale American Painter, 1741—1827 » view » |
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Works by Rembrandt Peale American Painter, 1778—1860 » view » |
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Works by Gilbert Stuart American Painter, 1755—1828 » view » |
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Works by John Trumbull American Painter, 1756—1843 » view » |
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Other American Artists Mather Brown • Ralph Earl • James Peale • Charles Peale Polk • William Rush • Edward Savage • Thomas Sully • John Vanderlyn • Benjamin West • Other American Works » view » |
European Artists | 8 albums
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Works by Antonio Canova Italian Sculptor, 1757—1822 » view » |
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Works by Giuseppe Ceracchi Italian Sculptor, 1751—1801 » view » |
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Works by Thomas Gainsborough English Portrait and Landscape Painter, 1727—88 » view » |
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Works by Jean-Antoine Houdon French Sculptor, 1741—1828 » view » |
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Works by Robert Edge Pine English Painter, 1730—88 » view » |
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Works by Joshua Reynolds English Portrait Painter, 1723—92 » view » |
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Works by James Sharples & Family English Painters — James (c. 1751—1811); Ellen (1769—1849); James Jr. (c. 1788—1839) » view » |
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Works by John Wollaston English Portrait Painter, c. 1710—c. 1775 » view » |
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Other European Artists Portraits of Americans, British, French, Germans, and Spanish » view » |