In the battle between George Washington and Abraham Lincoln for the title "Greatest President," put me down for Washington, although the difference between the two probably isn't measurable by current instruments.
What puts Washington over the top is his entire body of work, as they say in the Hall of Fame voting. Being the first President, and being the pre-eminent political personage of that era, Washington knew that what he did would set the tone and set precedents for generations to come. And while the republic was resilient enough to withstand even major errors - the Articles of Confederation come to mind - getting things right at the beginning would help it weather storms down the road.
Washington got virtually everything right.
He won the Revolutionary War, and then refused power and resigned, preventing a military mutiny over pay in the process. He chaired the Constitutional Convention, his mere presence as the presumptive first President being enough to allow the delegates to create an executive strong enough to govern. As President, he helped establish a protocol that befits a democracy, helped establish the relationship between Congress and the Presidency, and once again, relinquished power when he needn't have, as an example.
Adams was a greater revolutionary than President, Jefferson a better philospher, Madison a greater draftsman. Of the early Presidents, perhaps only Washington's Presidency lived up to his prior life.
