Our View: Washington ranks among nation's early elite

Opinion

Discussion

The Salem News has a real-name policy for commenting. Users may sign in using the Facebook Connect tool above the comments field. Once your first comment is posted by a moderator, all future comments will post automatically. If you prefer not to use Facebook, send an e-mail with your comments user name (which must be the same as your real name), city or town, street address and daytime phone number to comments@salemnews.com. A staff member will contact you directly to confirm your identity. It may take a day or two before you can post comments. Only your user name will be public. All users are required to follow our rules for commenting, which can be found here.

comments powered by Disqus

February 20, 2012

The Salem News Mon Feb 20, 2012, 05:00 AM EST

"Don't you see how they see you? How they look down their nose at the average Americans? These elite snobs!"

— Former Pennsylvania senator and current GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum during a campaign rally in Idaho last week

There was a great chart in a recent edition of Time magazine showing the relative wealth of our presidents.

Based on 2010 dollars, the late John F. Kennedy had the highest net worth ($1 billion) by far. But in second place was one of the men whose birthdays we honor today — George Washington, whose worth in current dollars would be $525 million. (Abraham Lincoln, not surprisingly given his modest upbringing and lifestyle, is among the 11 presidents whose assets totaled less than $1 million.)

But the other presidents counted among the nation's founders were no slouches either when it came to making and keeping money. Thomas Jefferson places third with an estimated equivalent of $212 million in net worth, and James Madison ($101 million) is among the six whose fortunes exceeded $100 million. And though the figures for John Adams and James Monroe are a more modest $19 million and $27 million, respectively, it allowed for a comfortable living then, as it would now.

That level of income, along with their intellects and leadership abilities, would make these men among the new nation's elite by almost any definition.

There was a time when being among the elite was a good thing. No more, at least not in certain Republican circles, where the preference seems to be for the lowest common denominator.

But Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, who bravely led the 13 colonies in their war of independence from Great Britain and helped draft our Constitution, were hardly common folk. By almost any measure, they were the elite of their day.

Which makes it particularly ironic when one hears those of a conservative, anti-elitist, strict-constructionist bent rail on about the importance of adhering to every word of the document these wealthy and influential men — the elite — were so instrumental in drafting.

Text Only | Photo Reprints

Opinion

Search Results

Discussion

Our View: Washington ranks among nation's early elite

Site Map

Reader Access