An excellent reflection on the Presidency and on Washington’s and Lincoln’s designated holiday that is sadly being ignored or neglected by many in our nation. For those with ears to hear, listen and understand.
Though Presidents’ Day is here, the nation as a whole does not seem to take much notice. That’s too bad, because we can learn some valuable lessons—both for our country and for ourselves as individuals—by taking time to reflect seriously on the character and actions of America’s presidents.
At first sight, it may seem paradoxical for a democratic nation to celebrate Presidents’ Day. In a democracy, after all, the people call the shots, and their elected leaders, even those of the highest rank, are just servants of the public. What is there to celebrate if the president is no more than an instrument of the people’s will? Why honor him more than any other public official? Why not have a holiday in honor of the sovereign people instead?
If we turn to the constitutional thought of our nation’s Founders, however, we find that these initial impressions do not capture their views of the presidency—nor of America’s democratic republic. The Federalist teaches us that we have a unitary executive, which makes the presidency unique among the political offices created by the Constitution. In the other branches of the federal government, the houses of Congress and the Supreme Court, power and responsibility rest with a majority of the members.
Only in the executive branch is authority vested—the executive power in its entirety—ultimately in one person at the top of the chain of command. Moreover, the matters entrusted to the chief executive, including foreign policy and national security, often involve the nation’s most important interests, which include the safety of its people. In sum, the person who occupies the presidency carries a greater weight of responsibility than anybody else in American public life. That fact alone is reason enough to dedicate one day of the year to having gratitude for those who have undertaken this mighty task.
Besides, as Alexander Hamilton reminds us in The Federalist’s account of the presidency, the president’s job is not merely to execute the will of the sovereign people. The Founders reasoned that since the people are not always correct about what the common good entails, the president should exercise and act on his own political judgments at times, perhaps even when they run counter to what the people want.
Indeed, Hamilton judged that the office of the presidency would sometimes demand of its occupant the classical virtue of magnanimity, or greatness of soul. This means the president should have both the mind and character necessary to rise above the people and serve them, even when they come under the influence of a strong passion that is damaging to the country and to their own well-being.
According to Alexis de Tocqueville, George Washington memorably displayed this presidential magnanimity when he kept America out of the war between France and Britain, despite the strength of American public sympathy for France. “The simplest light of reason,” Tocqueville observed, showed that America had nothing to gain, and much to lose, from being drawn into a war between these two titans. Nevertheless, he continued,
The sympathies of the people in favor of France were…declared with so much violence that nothing less than the inflexible character of Washington and the immense popularity he enjoyed were needed to prevent war from being declared on England. And, still, the efforts that the austere reason of this great man made to struggle against the generous but unreflective passions of his fellow citizens almost took from him the sole recompense that he had ever reserved for himself, the love of his country.
In other words, Washington wanted no reward for public service beyond the esteem of his fellow citizens. He was willing to endure public criticism, and even abuse, to do what was right for the country.
This brings us to the two men with whom Presidents’ Day is most obviously connected: Washington and Abraham Lincoln, both of whom have February birthdays (Lincoln’s on the 12th and Washington’s on the 22nd). While many presidencies have been dedicated to the routine (but nevertheless demanding) administration of the nation’s business, the lives of these two men remind us that our country will encounter crises in which its fate depends on the virtues, exertions, and fidelity of a single person.
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