Washington established presidential practices and voluntarily left office after two terms. That precedent gave the new republic a model of limited tenure. His ownership of enslaved people remains a fundamental contradiction, not a footnote to founding greatness.

He beats FDR for making succession a defining feature of the office. Lincoln wins because preserving the Union while advancing abolition joined institutional survival to wider freedom. Put founding precedent first, and Washington can lead.

Sources: Miller Center · Term dates.

Image: Gilbert Stuart · Public domain. Resized and JPEG compressed.