{| border="0" align="right" style="margin-left:1em" width="300px"

{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"

|+"George Washington"

| colspan="2" align="center" bgcolor="lightgrey" |

[Image Temporarily Omitted]

(Larger image, White House Portrait)

| "Order:"

| 1st President

| "Term of Office:"

| April 30, 1789 - March 4, 1797

| "Succeeded by:"

| John Adams

| "Date of Birth"

| February 11, 1731 ''(Old Style)''

February 22, 1732 ''(New Style)''

| "Place of Birth:"

| Wakefield, Virginia

| "Date of Death:"

| December 14, 1799

| "Place of Death:"

| Mount Vernon, Virginia

| "First Lady:"

| Martha Washington

| "Occupation:"

| Farmer, Soldier, Surveyor

| "Political Party:"

| ''no affiliation''

| "Vice President:"

| John Adams

"George Washington", ''by-name "Father of His Country"¹'' (February 22 1732 - December 14 1799) was an American general and Commander-in-Chief of the colonial armies in the American Revolution (1775–83) and subsequently first president of the United States (1789–97). He also served as president of the 1787 Constitutional Convention.

Early life

He was born on February 11, 1731 (old style) February 22, 1732 (new style). His birthday is celebrated on the Gregorian (new style) calendar date. Also note that the English year began on March 25 (Annunciation Day, or Lady Day) at the time of his birth, hence the difference in his birthyear.

Washington was part of the economic and cultural elite of the slave-owning planters of Virginia. His parents Augustine Washington (1693 - April 12, 1743) and Mary Ball (1708 - August 25, 1789) were of English descent. As a youth, he was trained as a surveyor and helped survey the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. He inherited his brother's estate, Mount Vernon (near Alexandria), at the age of 20 and was initiated as a Freemason in Fredericksburg, Virginia on 4 February 1752.

French and Indian War and afterwards

Washington was commissioned in 1754 as a colonel in the Virginia Militia and built a series of forts in the western frontier of Virginia. He was dispatched by the governor of Virginia to force the French out of the Ohio valley. When they refused, he attacked a French scouting party, killing 10. Anticipating retaliation, he built a small fort ("Fort Necessity"). It proved ineffective: Washington's forces were vastly outnumbered and the fort, built on low ground, flooded during a rainfall. He was forced to surrender and negotiated a safe passage back to Virginia. Nevertheless, the incident ignited the French and Indian War.

Washington next accompanied the Braddock Expedition of the British Army during the French and Indian War.During the Battle of the Wilderness near the Monongahela River, he had three horses shot out from under him, and four bullets pierced his coat.He showed his coolness under fire in organizing the retreat from the debacle.Washington then organized the First Virginia Regiment, which saw service through the war.

In 1757, he resigned his commission and married Martha Dandridge Custis, the wealthy widow of Daniel Parke Custis.Washington adopted Custis's two children and never fathered any of his own. The newlywed couple moved to Mount Vernon where he took up the life of a genteel farmer. He became a member of the House of Burgesses.

By 1774, Washington had become one of the colonies' wealthiest men. In that year, he was chosen as a delegate from Virginia to the First Continental Congress and the next year to the Second Continental Congress. He did not support colonial independence until 1776, when he read Thomas Paine's ''Common Sense''.

American Revolution

[Image Temporarily Omitted] , 1851, Metropolitan Museum]]

The Continental Congress appointed Washington as commander-in-chief of the newly-formed Continental Army on June 15, 1775. The Massachusetts delegate John Adams suggested his appointment, citing his "skill as an officer... great talents and universal character." He assumed command on July 3.

Washington successfully drove the British out of Boston on March 17, 1776 by stationing artillery on Dorchester Heights. The British army, led by General William Howe, retreated to Halifax, Canada, and Washington's army moved to New York City in anticipation of a British offensive there. Washington lost the Battle of Long Island on August 22 but managed to retreat, saving most of his forces. However, several other battles in the area sent Washington scrambling across New Jersey, leaving the future of the Revolution in doubt.

On the night of December 25, 1776, Washington led the American forces across the Delaware River to attack Hessian forces in Trenton, New Jersey, who did not anticipate an attack near Christmas. Washington followed up the assault with a sneak attack on General Charles Cornwallis's forces at Princeton on the eve of January 2, 1777, eventually retaking the state. The successful attacks built morale among the pro-independence colonists.

Later in the year, General Howe led an offensive aimed at taking the colonial capital of Philadelphia. He severely defeated Washington's forces at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11 and succeeded in his task. An attempt to dislodge the British, the Battle of Germantown, failed as a result of fog and confusion and Washington was forced to retire for the winter at Valley Forge.

However, Washington's army recovered from the defeats and harsh winter conditions and drilled during the spring under the German Baron Friedrich von Steuben. Later, it attacked the British army moving from Philadelphia to New York at the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778.

Washington retained an army in being throughout the Revolution, keeping British forces tied down in the center of the country while Generals Horatio Gates and Benedict Arnold won the Battle of Saratoga in 1777. After Monmouth, the British concentrated their offensives in the southern colonies, and rather than attack them there, Washington's forces moved to Rhode Island, where he commanded military operations until the war's end.

In 1781, American and French forces and a French fleet had trapped General Cornwallis at Yorktown in Virginia. Washington quick-marched south, joining the armies on September 14, and pressed the siege until the army surrendered. The British surrender there was the effective end of British attempts to quell the Revolution.In 1783, by means of the Treaty of Paris, the Kingdom of Great Britain recognized American independence. As a result, on November 2 of that year at Rocky Hill, New Jersey General Washington gave his "Farewell Address to the Army". Then at Fraunces Tavern in New York on December 4, General Washington formally bid his officers farewell.

Postwar activities

[Image Temporarily Omitted] , painted in London, 1780, from memory]]

General George Washington resigned his commission as Commander-in-Chief of the Army to the Congress, which was then meeting at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, on December 23, 1783. This action was of great significance in establishing civilian rather than military rule, leading to democracy rather than potential dictatorship.

Washington presided over the American Constitutional Convention in 1787. For the most part he did not participate in the debates involved, but his prestige was great enough to maintain peace. He adamantly enforced the secrecy adopted by the Convention during the summer. After the Convention, his support convinced many, including the Virginian government, to support the Constitution.

He farmed roughly 8,000 acres (32 km²). Despite the large amount of land he owned at the time, he was considered "land poor" and never had much cash on hand.In fact, he had to borrow £600 to relocate to New York, then the center of the American Government, to take office as president.

Presidency

Washington was unanimously elected as the first President of the United States on February 4, 1789.To date he is the only person ever unanimously chosen by the electoral college in a presidential election (a feat he duplicated in 1792).He was inaugurated in New York on April 30, 1789.

His election as president was a disappointment to his wife, the first First Lady of the United States, who wanted to continue living in quiet retirement at Mount Vernon after the war. Nevertheless, she quickly assumed the role of hostess, opening her parlor and organizing weekly dinner parties for as many dignitaries as could fit around the presidential table.

In 1791, the Federal government imposed an excise tax on whiskey.This tax was highly unpopular on the American frontier, and in July 1794, in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, a Federal marshal was attacked by a mob and a regional inspector's house was burned.On August 7, 1794, Washington called out the militias of several states and led a force of 13,000 to suppress the unrest. The event has gone down in history as the "Whiskey Rebellion".

Washington held the first Cabinet meeting of any US President on February 25, 1793.

In 1793, the revolutionary government of France sent diplomat Citizen Genet, who attempted to turn popular sentiment towards American involvement in the war against Great Britain.Genet also was authorized to issue letters of marque and reprisal to American ships and gave authority to any French consul to serve as a prize court.Genet's activities forced Washington to ask the French government for his recall.

Washington Administration

{| cellpadding="1" cellspacing="4" style="margin:3px; border:3px solid #000000;" align="left"

!bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"|

|align="left"|"OFFICE"||align="left"|"NAME"||align="left"|"TERM"

!bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"|

|align="left"|President||align="left" |"George Washington"||align="left"|1789–1797

|align="left"|Vice President||align="left"|"John Adams"||align="left"|1789–1797

!bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"|

|align="left"|Secretary of State||align="left"|"Thomas Jefferson"||align="left"|1789–1793

|align="left"| ||align="left"|"Edmund Randolph"||align="left"|1794–1795

|align="left"| ||align="left"|"Timothy Pickering"||align="left"|1795–1797

|align="left"|Secretary of the Treasury||align="left"|"Alexander Hamilton"||align="left"|1789–1795

|align="left"| ||align="left"|"Oliver Wolcott, Jr."||align="left"|1795–1797

|align="left"|Secretary of War||align="left"|"Henry Knox"||align="left"|1789–1795

|align="left"| ||align="left"|"Timothy Pickering"||align="left"|1795–1796

|align="left"| ||align="left"|"James McHenry"||align="left"|1796–1797

|align="left"|Attorney General||align="left"|"Edmund Randolph"||align="left"|1789–1793

|align="left"| ||align="left"|"William Bradford"||align="left"|1794–1795

|align="left"| ||align="left"|"Charles Lee"||align="left"|1795–1797

|align="left"|Postmaster General||align="left"|"Samuel Osgood"||align="left"|1789–1791

|align="left"| ||align="left"|"Timothy Pickering"||align="left"|1791–1795

|align="left"| ||align="left"|"Joseph Habersham"||align="left"|1795–1797

Supreme Court appointments

Washington appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States:

* John Jay - Chief Justice - 1789

* John Rutledge - Chief Justice - 1795

* Oliver Ellsworth - Chief Justice - 1796

* James Wilson - 1789

* John Rutledge - 1790

* William Cushing - 1790

* John Blair - 1790

* James Iredell - 1790

* Thomas Johnson - 1792

* William Paterson - 1793

* Samuel Chase - 1796

Is he really the first President?

Some people wonder why the leaders in the intervening time period between the American Revolution and the signing of the United States Constitution are not recognized as the President of the United States.

Some people argue that the Presidents of the Continental Congress under the Articles of Confederation should be retroactively recognized as the true first Presidents of the United States.Politically, the positions are different in that one was the leader of a Congress that controlled a loose confederation and the other leads a true federal government.Given this, virtually all historians believe that the positions are not the same and therefore the first President is George Washington.

Death

After retiring from the presidency in March of 1797, George Washington eagerly returned to Mount Vernon. However, he fell ill two years later and died on December 14, 1799.

Modern day doctors now believe that Washington died from either a streptococcal infection of the throat or, since he was bled as part of the treatment, a combination of shock from the loss of blood, asphyxia, and dehydration. He was buried in a family graveyard at Mount Vernon.

Personal information

Admirers of Washington circulated an apocryphal story about his honesty as a child. In the story, he wanted to try out a new axe and chopped down his father's cherry tree; when questioned by his father, he gave the famous non-quotation: "I cannot tell a lie. It was I who chopped down the cherry tree."The story first appeared after Washington's death in a naive "inspirational" children's book by Parson Mason Weems, who had been rector of the Mount Vernon parish. See also George Washington's axe for an elaboration of this story. Parson Weems also fabricated a famous story about George Washington praying for help in a lonely spot in the woods near Valley Forge.

Because of Washington's involvement in Freemasonry, some publicly visible collections of Washington memorabilia are maintained by Masonic lodges. The museum at Fraunces Tavern Museum in New York City includes specimens of Washington's false teeth.

George Washington was plagued throughout his adult life with bad teeth, losing about 1 tooth a year from the age of 24. In his later years he consulted a number of dentists and had a number of sets of false teeth (but none of wood). For a more or less definitive chronicle of his struggles see ''George Washington's Teeth'', Madeleine Comora and Deborah Chandra, illustrated by: Brock Cole, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003, hardcover, ISBN 0374325340.

Washington was distinguished for his modesty and lack of ambition. He never accepted pay during his military service and he generally resented the positions he was assigned. When Adams recommended him for the position of general, Washington left the room. It is often said that one of Washington's greatest achievements as president was refraining from seizing more power than was due.

At his time of death, Washington last held the rank of major general, appointed by John Adams in anticipation of a possible war with France. Over the years, many military officers outranked him. In 1976, President Gerald Ford posthumously appointed George Washington as General of the Armies of the United States, and specified that he would always outrank all officers of the Army, past and present.

Religious beliefs

George Washington was one of the few early American Presidents who was not a total follower of any one specific Christian denomination. He professed a strong belief in God, but did not necessarily believe that God intervened in the world through supernatural miracles. His informal religious beliefs were sometimes described as Deism; although he attended, and served as a lay officer of, an Episcopal Church – of which his wife was a devout member.

Washington was an early supporter of religious pluralism. In 1790 he wrote that he envisioned a country "which gives bigotry no sanction...persecution no assistance.... May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid." This letter was seen by the Jewish community as a significant event; they felt that for the first time in millennia Jews would enjoy full human and political rights.

Legacy

George Washington peacefully relinquished the presidency to John Adams and set many other precedents that established tranquility in the presidential office in the years to come. He was also lauded posthumously as the "Father of His Country" and is often considered to be the most important of the United States' "Founding Fathers". Therefore, he has been commemorated frequently.

The capital city of the United States, Washington, D.C., is named for him. The District of Columbia was created by an Act of Congress in 1790, and Washington was deeply involved in its creation, including the siting of the White House. At this time, the future site of the capital was a swamp, and Washington remained largely marshland well into the 19th century. The capital was placed in the South, rather than in the major towns of the North, as a compromise during the writing of the United States Constitution in order to get Southern votes for important compromises.

Washington also selected West Point, New York, as the site for the United States Military Academy.

Washington State in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. is also named for him, the only state named for a president.

Numerous ships of United States Navy have been named USS ''George Washington'' in honor of the man, or USS ''Washington'' in honor of the state named in honor of the man.

His image is on the one dollar bill and the quarter-dollar coin.

George Washington University in Washington, D.C., was named after him, and it was in part founded with shares Washington bequeathed to an endowment to create a university in Washington.

''See also:'' List of places named for George Washington

Further Readings

* Alden, John R. George Washington: A Biography. Baton Rouge, La.: Louisiana State University Press, 1984; reprinted, New York: Wings Books, 1995.

* Boorstin, Daniel J. "The Mythologizing of George Washington." In The Americans: The National Experience. New York: Vintage Books, 1965.

* Bryan, William Alfred. George Washington in American Literature, 1775-1865. c1952; Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1970.

* Cunliffe, Marcus. George Washington, Man and Monument. Boston: Little, Brown, c1958.

* Flexner, James Thomas. George Washington. 4 vols. Boston: Little, Brown, 1965-1972.

* Freeman, Douglas Southall. George Washington: A Biography. 7 vols. New York: Scribner, 1948-1957.

* Longmore, Paul K. The Invention of George Washington. Berkeley; Los Angeles; London: University of California Press, 1988.

* Marsh, Joan. Martha Washington. New York: F. Watts, 1993.

* Morgan, Edmund. The Genius of George Washington. New York: Norton, 1980.

* Wills, Garry. Cincinnatus: George Washington and the Enlightenment. 1st ed. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1984.

Related articles

* U.S. presidential election, 1789

* U.S. presidential election, 1792

* Famous military commanders

* George Washington's farewell address

In recent years, a number of anti-Semitic groups have promulgated forged quotes from George Washington and other founding fathers of the USA, with the intention of inciting anti-Semitism. This subject is discussed in Neo-Nazi Theory (American founding fathers).

Notes

[1] The earliest known image in which Washington is identified as such is on the cover of the circa 1778 Pennsylvania German almanac, ''Lancaster: Gedruckt bey Francis Bailey''. This identifies Washington as "Landes Vater" or ''Father of the Land''.)

See Also

*List of Presidential Places

External links

* First Inaugural Address

* Second Inaugural Address

* Farewell Address

* George Washington Biography

* A study on the President's ancestry

* Wikiquote - Quotes by George Washington

* Biography of George Washington

*A pedigree of him

*Teaching about George Washington

{| border="1" align="center"

| width="30%" align="center" | "Preceded by":
''the previous government
under the Articles of Confederation''

| width="40%" align="center" | President of the United States
1789-1797

| width="30%" align="center" | "Succeeded by":
John Adams

{{Uspresidents}}

Washington, George

Washington, George

Washington, George

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. See http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html for details. It uses material from the Wikipedia article George Washington.

---

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