Building an Identity:The Image-Cult of George Washington

• Focused on George Washington as symbolic figurehead of an emerging national mythology for the new United States

• Washington as

  • pater patriae, “father of the nation”
  • primus inter pares, “first among equals”
  • “new Cincinnatus,” Roman figure called from his farm to lead military, then relinquishes power to return to his farm

• Ambivalent symbol of the soldier-turned-statesman

• QUESTION: What ideas and ideals do the various images of Washington project?

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