No party · 1789–1797
George Washington
Set the office down on purpose. Federal credit, a commercial republic, and restraint about faction.
George Washington was president 1789–1797. The party color on the chart is No party. Early presidents are not forced into today’s party names. The placement note is: Set the office down on purpose. Federal credit, a commercial republic, and restraint about faction.
The dot is economics +16 and authority +24. That is right of center on economics. The other axis sits toward authority. Color and place are allowed to disagree. Theodore Roosevelt sits left of Grover Cleveland on economics.
What was said, and what the administration did, are filed separately. Said: A republic above faction, with credit the world would trust. Done: The debt was funded and the office was given up. The farewell warned against parties he could already see. Where those two sentences pull apart, the dot follows the governing record, not the slogan.
The nearest other presidents on these two numbers are Martin Van Buren (1837–1841, +18 / +22) and William Howard Taft (1909–1913, +14 / +20). A small distance can join people who would have disliked each other. The chart is a compression, not a claim that they were alike.
Presidents are not placed with the Voteview roll-call score used for the current Congress. Two axes cannot carry a war, a court, a tariff, and a civil-rights record as separate facts.