Editing Washington Monument (section)

===Rationale===
[[File:LCCN2003656330 Design of the National Washington Monument in the City of Washington cropped.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Print of the proposed Washington Monument by architect [[Robert Mills (architect)|Robert Mills]], {{Circa|1845}}–1848]]
[[File:George Washington Statue Inside Washington Monument.JPG|thumb|upright=1|Bronze statue of [[George Washington]] in the monument's western alcove]]
[[George Washington]] (1732–1799), hailed as the father of his country, and as the leader who was "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen", as [[Henry Lee III|Maj. Gen. 'Light-Horse Harry' Lee]] eulogized at Washington's December 26, 1799, funeral, was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799.

At Washington's death in 1799, he was the unchallenged public icon of [[United States Armed Forces|U.S. military]] and [[civic patriotism]]. He was also identified with the [[Federalist Party]], which lost control of the national government in 1800 to the [[Democratic-Republican Party|Jeffersonian Republicans]], who were reluctant to celebrate the hero of the opposition party.<ref>{{cite book|author=Paul K. Longmore|author-link=Paul K. Longmore|title=The Invention of George Washington|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wTOXSRg8jD4C&pg=PA207|year=1999|publisher=Univ. of Virginia Press|page=207|isbn=978-0-8139-1872-3|access-date=February 16, 2015}}</ref>