In Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton, George Washington’s “Farewell Adress” is recreated in the song “One Last Time.” The song captures one of the single most important founding stories that has supported U.S. democracy: Washington’s willingness to give up the power that he has attained. This “teaching them to say goodbye” coupled with Washington’s insistence that he not be crowned king of the newly independent nation in favor of serving as president enshrined the liberal ideals of U.S. revolution.
The idea of a president as head of state and how these powers were embedded into the Constitution did not stay within the United States. The model traveled to many countries as they gained independence, particularly those in Latin America. Indeed, nearly every country across the continent—with the exception of Canada and the Caribbean—opted for a presidential system.
The challenge for the region is that not all presidents are willing to give up power as George Washington did. Furthermore, presidential systems can lead to gridlock with legislators due to the separation of powers. These two characteristics have created—and continue to create—a challenge for democratic governance across the Western Hemisphere.
The Inherent Challenge of Presidential Systems
Presidential systems make up the majority of Latin American governments as well as the United States. These presidents face inherent challenges. Given that they are directly elected by the entire population, presidents often feel as though they are the most direct representation of the will of the people. This can become a challenge when legislatures—elected in separate elections—may not be of the same political majority as the president. This can lead to gridlock between the branches—and presidents who seek to break through the gridlock through undemocratic means.
These tensions between the branches of government have led political scientists to highlight the instability of democracy in presidential systems relative to parliamentary systems. Today, this tension and its resulting disfunction is evident in many countries across the Americas. Perhaps the most notable example is Peru—a country that just elected its ninth president in the past decade. But Peru is not the only country where presidents have faced governance challenges due to conflicts with their legislatures. Impeachments have been on the rise across the Americas, but they do not always address underlying challenges.
In other cases, presidents have taken actions into their own hands and sought to bypass congress by ruling through states of exception. These laws—frequently designed to be implemented for a narrow crisis—have increasingly become the norm across the region. Some presidents have gone so far as directly challenging their legislatures. In just the past few years, El Salvador’s Nayibe Bukele marched troops into the legislature, Peru’s Pedro Castillo attempted to close congress through a “self-coup,” and Ecuador’s Guillermo Lasso dissolved congress and called for new elections when facing impeachment. These efforts to concentrate power or eliminate the separation of powers weaken democratic accountability even when nominally done to improve government performance.
Saying Good-Bye?
George Washington’s decision to hand power back to the people is also far from the norm. In recent decades, presidents across the Americas—including Bolivia, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Venezuela—have sought to terminate term limits and concentrate power within the executive. In many cases, these processes started slowly. Even in the United States where there are clearly delineated term limits, President Trump has toyed with the idea of running for a third presidential term.
In many cases, the process of eliminating term limits started slowly. In countries like Bolivia and Venezuela, presidents used constitutional rewrites to avoid term limits in both constitutions. For instance, Bolivia’s Evo Morales claimed in his first reelection bid that it was his first time running for election under the new constitution. Later, after losing a referendum to allow for reelection, he took his claim to the courts—and won—on the basis that reelection was his human right.
Although term limits may not seem like a critical element of a flourishing democracy, they serve an important guardrail. Leaders that eliminate term limits or that are in office longer tend to turn toward other means of concentrating their power. In addition to ruling by states of exception, such methods of included constitutional referenda to bypass other branches, assaults on the judiciary and the press, and rewriting constitutions to create electoral rules that favor their party. These efforts, coupled with an unwillingness to leave office, can create situations where presidents are able to rule as monarchs with little fear of answering to the rule of the people.
At the same, George Washington is not the only U.S. leader who is influencing the region. For instance, Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 elections—by lobbying Congress and the vice president not to recognize the results and then inciting riots to accomplish the same goal—have sparked other examples of interference across the region. Almost precisely two years after Trump’s attempts, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro incited riots in an effort to overturn his electoral defeat. He is now under house arrest for his role in trying to overthrow Brazilian democracy. Likewise in 2024, President Bernardo Arevalo of Guatemala faced a congress that refused to recognize his electoral victory as opposition parties in the country sought to hold on to power. While George Washington highlighted the importance of the peaceful transfer of power, Donald Trump taught leaders new tactics for holding on to power and ignoring the will of the people.
The U.S. revolution not only had a profound impact on the direction of the country but also shaped the institutional design of countries across the hemisphere. Not all of the institutions that were established over two centuries ago have been perfect. Presidential systems have been the norm in the Americas, but they continue to lead to governance challenges. Leaders across the region should reflect on Washington’s legacy, especially his recognition that there’s a time to step aside. Presidential legacies are built not on sheer power but on strengthening the democratic systems of one’s country. To paraphrase Batman’s Harvey Dent, you either leave a hero, or stay long enough to become the villain.