Henry Cabot Lodge: “It is one of the familiar marks of greatness to know how to choose the right men to perform the tasks which no man…”

When, without any self-seeking, he was placed at the head of the Revolution, he made up his mind that he would carry it through everything to victory, if victory were possible.

He fought to free the colonies from England, and make them independent, not to play the part of a Cæsar or a Cromwell in the wreck and confusion of civil war.

After stating plainly that the army was on the verge of dissolution, he said: "To me it will appear miraculous if our affairs can maintain themselves much longer in their present train.

All that can be said is, that without the influence and the labors of Washington the convention of 1787, in all probability, would have failed of success.