| Abstract | Between 1800 and 1865, Americans remembered George Washington as a man of remoteness, gentility, and flawless virtue; after 1865 they began to remember him as an ordinary, imperfect man with whom common people could identify. Washington's post-Civil War transformation adds weight to Mead's and Halbwachs's belief that the past is mutable, made and remade for present use. Yet Americans never forgot Washington's original, aristocratic image. Setting limits on later generations' ability to democratize Washington, this enduring image reflects Durkheim's and Shils's ideas on how collective memories outlive changes in society. The very nature of these societal changes, however, determined how much of Washington's original image was revised and retained. Thus separate theories cannot explain change and continuity in collective memory; a single theory must explain both.
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