Notes towards an alternate history: George Washington

Or what if Washington should close his scene,
Could none succeed him?—Is there not a Greene?
•Jonathan Odell, The American Times (1779).

I don’t have to tell you that George Washington served two terms and then stepped down.

Maybe he stepped down to follow his ideal, Cincinnatus, who took power to save Rome and then went back to farming when his job was done. Maybe he stepped down because he was used to unanimous adulation and after eight years with Washington in charge a feisty populace occasionall...