George Washington v.s. Abraham Lincoln
George Washington v.s. Abraham Lincoln
George Washington was one of the first men to be selected into the First Continental Congress in March 1775. After the battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, the political dispute between Great Britain and her North American colonies escalated into an armed conflict. In May, Washington traveled to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia dressed in a military uniform, indicating that he was prepared for war. On June 15, he was appointed Major General and Commander-in-Chief of the colonial forces against Great Britain. Washington was the best choice for a number of reasons: he had the prestige, military experience and charisma for the job and he had been advising Congress for months.
Washington and his small army did taste victory early in March 1776 by placing artillery above Boston, on Dorchester Heights, forcing the British to withdraw. Washington then moved his troops into New York City.On Christmas night, 1776, Washington and his men crossed the Delaware River and attacked unsuspecting Hessian mercenaries at Trenton, forcing their surrender. A few days later, evading a force that had been sent to destroy his army, Washington attacked the British again, this time at Princeton, dealing them a humiliating loss.
A near mutiny was avoided when Washington convinced Congress to grant a five-year bonus for soldiers in March 1783. For four years, George Washington attempted to fulfill his dream of resuming life as a gentleman farmer and to give his much-neglected plantation the care and attention it deserved. But, In 1787, Washington was again called to the duty of his country.
At the Constitutional Convention, Washington was unanimously chosen as president. In the end, the Convention produced a plan for government that not only would address the country's current problems, but would endure through time. After the convention adjourned, Washington's reputation and support for the new government were indispensable to the Constitution’s ratification. He was the only president in American history to be elected by unanimous approval by the Electoral College. George Washington established the tradition of a cabinet of advisors. While the current presidential cabinet includes sixteen members (fifteen heads of executive agencies and the vice president), Washington’s cabinet included just four original members: Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of War Henry Knox, and Attorney General Edmund Randolph.
Washington’s Farewell Address is one of the most celebrated speeches in American history. He approved just 10 acts/bills during his presidency. The Judiciary Act of 1789, Naturalization Act of 1790, Residence Act of 1790, Copyright Act of 1790, Bank Act of 1791, Excise Tax on Whiskey 1791, Coinage Act of 1792, Militia Acts of 1792, Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, & the Naval Act of 1794.
Actually, In the midst of the Civil War, on February 19, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling on Americans to mark Washington’s birthday. Lincoln “recommended to the people of the United States that they assemble in their customary places of meeting for public solemnities on the 22d day of February” to “celebrate the anniversary of the birth of the Father of his Country by causing to be read to them his immortal Farewell Address.” Abraham Lincoln became the United States' 16th President in 1861, issuing the Emancipation Proclamation that declared forever free those slaves within the Confederacy in 1863.
He was a captain in the Black Hawk War, spent eight years in the Illinois legislature, and rode the circuit of courts for many years. His law partner said of him, "His ambition was a little engine that knew no rest." As President, he built the Republican Party into a strong national organization. Further, he rallied most of the northern Democrats to the Union cause. Lincoln never let the world forget that the Civil War involved an even larger issue. This he stated most movingly in dedicating the military cemetery at Gettysburg: "that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
Lincoln won reelection in 1864, as Union military triumphs heralded an end to the war. In his planning for peace, the President was flexible and generous, encouraging Southerners to lay down their arms and join speedily in reunion. The spirit that guided him was clearly that of his Second Inaugural Address,"With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds.... "
Abraham Lincoln strongly supports the 13th amendment to the Constitution. Lincoln's most famous speech was the Gettysburg Address. In the address Lincoln explained that our nation was fighting the Civil War to see if we would survive as a country. He stated it was proper to dedicate a portion of the Gettysburg battlefield as a remembrance of the men who had fought and died there. Lincoln said that the people who were still alive must dedicate themselves to finish the task that the dead soldiers had begun which was to save the nation so it would not perish from the earth.
With all of the evidence, George Washington was definitely the more important president because without having him be the first, our country might have been a plutocracy. Although Abraham Lincoln was very important in abolishing slavery, Washington helped shape the country. The fact that if he would’ve been a more selfish person, our presidents may not have been presidents. Both men were very selfless when it came to the good of the country, but George Washington comes up a little ahead of Abraham Lincoln in this instance.
