 If you total up the years that he was at the top of American affairs, that's 16 years. If you total up the years that he was the foremost American from the start of the war in 1775 to his death in 1799, that's 24 years. That's double FDR's 12 years at the national level. It's longer than any other American leader in our country's history. When the war ended, Washington felt like he had done his duty.