The story he told about himself

At the close of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, someone supposedly asked Benjamin Franklin what sort of government they had decided upon. “A republic, if you can keep it,” was his puckish reply. But what sort of republic did the Founders have in mind? In the statue of George Washington housed in the Virginia State Capitol, we see part of their inspiration carved in stone.

In 1784, the Virginia General Assembly decided to commission a statue of the state’s most famous son, the Revolutionary War hero George Washington. Hoping for a statue of the highest quality, the Assembly hired French neoclassical sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741–1828). Houdon crossed the Atlantic in 1785 and stayed at Washington’s home, Mount Vernon. Over the next few months, Houdon sculpted wet clay as Washington posed, took his measurements, and made a plaster cast of his face. It’s one of only two times Washington sat for a sculptor, and it’s certainly the most cooperative he had been in helping an artist reproduce his likeness. But what kind of fruit would this collaboration bear after Houdon returned to his studio in Paris?

The finished product, which took a decade to arrive in Richmond, is probably the closest image we have to Washington’s physical features, but it also provides visual clues as to what kind of country he hoped America would become.

Washington is rendered in Houdon’s clean and balanced neoclassical style, standing with his weight on his right leg in a traditional contrapposto. He looks out toward the horizon, a visionary leader whose face betrays a hint of satisfaction with what he sees.

Despite the popular neoclassical trend of the day, Washington dismissed the suggestion that he be depicted in a Roman toga. Instead, this masterpiece employs both classical and contemporary imagery to communicate the spirit he hoped to share with his new country.

Washington wears his military uniform, but his right hand rests on a gentleman’s cane rather than a sword. He’s become the model citizen soldier—ready to defend his home without identifying with continual conquest. His left arm rests upon a bundle of sticks lashed together, an ancient Roman symbol called a fasces representing political authority. Early Americans interpreted the fasces as symbolizing strength through unity, and our country used the emblem until Italian fascists adopted it in the 20th century. (A pair of fasces still adorn the wall behind the Speaker of the House’s rostrum in the Capitol.) Washington’s sword hangs loosely on the other side of the fasces. The weapon is nearby, but the need for constant vigilance has passed. Resting behind the man who even then was being hailed as the “Father of the Country” is a humble plow.

What are we to make of this random collection Washington wished to surround himself with? It only makes sense if one knows the story of the Roman general Cincinnatus.

Many Roman writers upheld Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus as the epitome of civic virtue. In the earliest days of the Roman Republic, the wealthy Cincinnatus had served as one of Rome’s magistrates before returning to his family lands. But in 458 B.C., Rome was beset by enemies, and the Senate sent messengers to Cincinnatus requesting his aid in saving the city. When the messengers found the nobleman, he was busy plowing his fields. They told him the Senate wished to make him dictator for six months in the hopes he could deal with the emergency. Cincinnatus acquiesced and returned to the capital, but the hero of Rome only needed 15 days to subdue the city’s enemies. According to the story, as soon as the danger had passed he relinquished power and went back to his fields.

In the Roman Republic, the ideal man didn’t seek to preserve his own power and prerogatives. He bravely answered the call to serve the state, but he demonstrated virtue through his desire to live a quiet life tending to his own affairs. It’s this ideal that Washington hoped to inspire in our own republic.

In 1782, an army officer suggested perhaps the country would benefit from having Washington become king. Washington, however, dismissed the idea, and soon after the Treaty of Paris ended the war with Britain in 1783, he resigned his commission as commander in chief of the Continental Army and returned to Mount Vernon. Less than two years later, he and Houdon began collaborating on this statue. Less than two years after that he would be called upon to preside over the Constitutional Convention and then serve as the country’s first executive, a position which he voluntarily gave up after two terms.

How does one “keep a republic”? The Romans and the American Founders both believed it required capable leaders willing to serve. But just as importantly it required virtuous leaders willing to step aside and put the good of the country before self-promotion.