Unlike other men of his age, Washington was eminently qualified for command, having served in fierce military campaigns in addition to being a prominent landowner in Virginia. Not only was Washington a seasoned military hero, having had bullet holes shot through his clothing during the French and Indian War, but he was also a prestigious member of society in early America. He married a wealthy widow, worked as a surveyor (which aided his ability to acquire more land for his private holdings), and he served as a lawmaker in Virginia's House of Burgesses.
At the close of the Revolutionary War, the victorious General Washington was perhaps the most popular man in the nation. His esteem was cemented by the fact that he did not attempt to exploit the power that he gained over the course of his career. In fact, after serving admirably as commander-in-chief, he stood happily before the Continental Congress to voluntarily surrender his commission in 1783. Through this unprecedented move, Washington released control of the military to civilian authority. "Fully conscious of the Cincinnatus image and determined to nurture it," Carl J. Richard observes in his book "The Founders and the Classics: Greece, Rome, and the American Enlightenment," "Washington recognized that his appeal lay not in military victories, of which he had precious few, but in the republican virtue revealed in his surrender of power."
Washington was a firm believer in centralized government and abhorred radical political impulses. In this sense, Washington not only qualified as a team player but as a team leader. Additionally, his stamp of approval was important to the morale of the convention, as he advocated the vital need to implement difficult, yet necessary, reforms. In his heart, Washington was an American patriot who inspired his colleagues to recognize and adopt a high moral and political standard.
By means of his remarkable charisma, Washington was able to inspire cooperation among the disparate delegates to the Constitutional Convention. Indeed, part of the challenge faced by the Convention was the need to balance regional interests. Historian Joseph Ellis states that in his leadership of the convention, Washington "witnessed a bewildering variety of regional interests and accents that could only be bundled together by compromises designed to leave the lines of authority blurred." By all accounts, Washington was a skilled diplomat. Demonstrating humility of character, he was practiced in the art of diffusing political conflict.