father of his country

Cultural  

1. A title given to George Washington in recognition of his military leadership in the Revolutionary War and his service as first president under the Constitution.

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Example Sentences

When the Father of His Country was young, the story goes, he got a little too excited about a new hatchet.

From Washington Post

"As best I can tell, Washington committed only one major blunder as President, he failed to put his name on Mount Vernon and thereby bungled an early opportunity at branding. Clearly deficient at the art of the deal, the poor man had to settle at the lowly title of 'Father of his Country,'" Chernow quipped, according to The Hill.

From Salon

“Great was my pleasure when I knew that I was to grow in that commonwealth which bore the name of the father of his country …,” went the florid story.

From Seattle Times

Of course, Washington’s greatest role was as the Pater Patriae, the Father of His Country — a title admirers began bestowing on him even before the country technically existed.

From Washington Post

Author Ron Chernow, in his Pulitzer Prize-winning biography “Washington: A Life,” wrote that Washington’s lack of offspring “made it seem that he had been divinely preserved in an immaculate state to become the Father of his Country.”

From Washington Post