Would George Washington feel at home in the tea party movement? Washington biographer Peter R. Henriques thinks not, because Washington’s “experience as commander in chief made him skeptical of states’ right and cognizant of the need for a stronger central government” and because he “endorsed an expansive view of the presidency” and viewed the Constitution as “a living, open-ended document.” Plus, Henriques wrote: “Many tea partiers, convinced of their vision of reality, are unwilling to compromise and have a tendency to demonize their opponents. Washington, although certainly a man of conviction and firm principles, constantly sought a conciliatory path.”
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