[George Washington] Mini-Bio; #6

     Perhaps the strongest feature in his
character was prudence, never acting until
every circumstance, every consideration,
was maturely weighed; refraining if he
saw a doubt, but, when once decided, going
through with his purpose, whatever ob-
stacles opposed. His integrity was most
pure, his justice the most inflexible I have
ever known. . . . On the whole, his charac-
ter was in its mass, perfect; in nothing bad,
in few points indifferent; and it may truly
be said, that never did nature and fortune
combine more perfectly to make a man
great, and to place him in the same constel-
lation with whatever worthies have merited
from man an everlasting remembrance.
For his was the singular destiny and merit,
of leading the armies of his country suc-
cessfully through an arduous war, for the
establishment of its independence; of con-
ducting its councils through the birth of a
government, new in its forms and princi-
ples, until it had settled down into a quiet
and orderly train; and of scrupulously
obeying the laws through the whole of his
career, civil and military, of which  the
history of the world furnishes no other
example. --Thomas Jefferson, 1814,
Letter to Dr. Walter Jones, Jan. 2

He is eminently conspicuous as one of
the great benefactors of the human race,
for he not only gave liberty to millions,
but his name now stands, and will for-
ever stand, a noble example of high and
low. He is a great work of the Almighty
Artist, which none can study without re-
ceiving purer ideas and more lofty con-
ceptions of the grace and beauty of the
human character. He is one that all may
copy at different distances, and whom
none can contemplate without receiving
lasting and salutary impressions of the
sterling value, the inexpressible beauty
of piety, integrity, courage, and patriot-
ism, associated with a clear, vigorous,
and well-poised intellect. . . . He is al-
ready become the saint of liberty, which
has gathered new honors by being as-
sociated with his name; and when men
aspire to free nations, they must take
him for their model. --James Kirke
Paulding, 1835, Life of George Wash-
ington, p. 283