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Perhaps the strongest feature in [Washington’s] 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 obstacles opposed. His integrity was most pure,
his justice the most inflexible I have ever known, no motives of interest or
consanguinity, of friendship or hatred, being able to bias his decision. He
was, indeed, in every sense of the words, a wise, a good, and a great man.
His temper was naturally high toned; but reflection and resolution had
obtained a firm and habitual ascendancy over it. If ever, however, it broke
its bonds, he was most tremendous in his wrath. In his expenses he was
honorable, but exact; liberal in contributions to whatever promised utility;
but frowning and unyielding on all visionary projects and all unworthy calls
on his charity...His person, you know, was fine, his stature exactly what
one would wish, his deportment easy, erect and noble; the best horseman of
his age, and the most graceful figure that could be seen on horseback...
On the whole, his character 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 constellation 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 successfully through an arduous war, for
the establishment of its independence; of conducting its councils through
the birth of a government, new in its forms and principles, 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...
These are my opinions of General Washington, which I would vouch at the
judgment seat of God, having been formed on an acquaintance of thirty
years...
I felt on his death, with my countrymen, that "verily a great man hath
fallen this day in Israel."
-Thomas Jefferson, January 2, 1814
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