Butler worried that the presidency contained a Washington weakness. Affection for Washington, and for the office made in his image, allowed delegates to project appealing qualities upon the office that it did not inherently have, or lulled them into letting down their guard in protecting the future against encroachment by designing presidents. Washington injected virtue into the marrow of the office, but would that make the nation vulnerable in the future to a poisonous president who would inject something darker?
