Re:How to Enter a City Like a King
by seizethecheese on Monday October 20, 2025 @03:05PM
(#45647851)
I just read a book on Washington and they were calling him Your Excellency a lot. Did he reject this later, or did you mean this more rhetorically?
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he rejected it from the beginning.
https://www.heritage.org/commentary/the-man-who-would-not-be...
After the [revolutionary] war, there were calls for Washington to claim formal political power. Indeed, seven months after the victory at Yorktown, one of his officers suggested what many thought only reasonable in the context of the 18th century: that America should establish a monarchy and that Washington should become king. A shocked Washington immediately rejected the offer out of hand as both inappropriate and dishonorable, and demanded the topic never be raised again.
Re:How to Enter a City Like a King
by WalterBright on Monday October 20, 2025 @04:21PM
(#45648807)
I forgot to mention Washington also established the convention of a 2-term Presidency and then retiring.
We owe a lot to him.
Re:How to Enter a City Like a King
by seizethecheese on Monday October 20, 2025 @07:35PM
(#45650754)
Yes, he rejected being king, but he was called “Your Excellency” during the revolutionary war. I just double checked.
Frustrating to have such an authoritative sounding correction be wrong!