Image: Washington Monument in Baltimore

In this introductory lecture, Wes Callihan makes mention of the Washington monument that exists in the city of Baltimore, Maryland. The statue features George Washington dressed in a Roman toga and pointing to Annapolis (the state capitol). Like the Roman general Cincinnatus, Washington refused to become a monarch, instead handing in his resignation to the new American republic at the conclusion of the American Revolution. In the early 1800s, when this monument was erected, Americans knew their history and would have known just why Washington was dressed as a Roman—he was a modern-day Cincinnatus.