Washington was worth $525 million in 2010 dollars yet had to borrow money to get to his inauguration

[exboyfil]

4. Actually Washington stands above the other southern founding fathers

He recognized the evil and slavery and worked to free his slaves on his death (this is complicated by the fact that many slaves tied to his holdings were not actually his but were owned by Martha's children). In this area he was far past Jeffereson who espoused many noble ideas but continued to pursue a life of leisure on the backs of his slaves. All the southern planter founding fathers seemed to have a spending problem. One thing that cost Washington a great deal of money was the necessity to host anyone who came to visit him. This led to big bucks being spent by him.

Washington actually tried for a rational and fair Indian policy, but he was powerless to prevent what actually ended up happening (just like the British could not hold the American colonists back either). The lust for land and the ability to occupy it from a sparse native population was too great.

Many of the things these founding fathers did in the light of modern ethics would be considered criminal. There is no doubt that they used the power of their offices/positions to enrich themselves.

When I read about them the whole person needs to be considered. They were not demigods just men and women with many noble ideas and actions but also had flaws. One of my personal heroes - Alexander Hamilton - had something like a desire to establish a nobility in the U.S. based upon birth. This was fought by the more populist (populist being white male in this case) southern planter class (the ones who owned and supported slaves). I frankly think we could use individuals of the caliber of a Washington, Franklin, Jeffereson, Hamilton, and Adams now in our leadership positions.