The Man Who Would Not Be King

On February 19, many Americans will take the day off to celebrate George Washington’s birthday—erroneously called “President’s Day” in many quarters.

Contrary to popular opinion, though, no act of Congress or order by any president has changed Washington’s Birthday to ‘Presidents Day,’

After the war, there were calls for Washington to claim formal political power. Indeed, seven months after the victory at Yorktown, one of his officers suggested what many thought only reasonable in the context of the 18th century: that America should establish a monarchy and that Washington should become king. A shocked Washington immediately rejected the offer out of hand as both inappropriate and dishonorable, and demanded the topic never be raised again.
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By year's end, Washington, victorious in war, proceeded voluntarily to resign his military commission. When he stepped down again, after his second term as president, a dumbfounded King George III proclaimed him "the greatest character of the age." His peaceful transfer of the presidency to John Adams in 1797 inaugurated one of America's greatest democratic traditions. The Man Who Would Not Be King
The Declaration of Independence
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