Washington, George Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company. —George Washington
George Washington (1732–1799) was born on February 22, 1732. He is referred to as the “Father of His Country” for his service as the first president of the United States. Washington was also a surveyor, an officer in the French and Indian War (1754), a delegate for Virginia to the First Continental Congress (1774–75), and commanding general of the Continental Army during the American Revolution. At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, delegates adopted Washington’s idea of a government divided among three branches. When the U.S. Constitution was finalized, the delegates unanimously elected Washington as president. He served two terms but refused the nomination for a third term, instead retiring to his home at
Mount Vernon, Virginia. George Washington died on December 14, 1799, at Mount Vernon. George Washington was born on his family’s estate at Bridges Creek, near Fredericksburg, Virginia, on February 22, 1732. He was the eldest son of British-educated Augustine Washington and his second wife, Mary Ball. Augustine Washington had ten children, four of them by his first wife, Jane Butler. George idolized his eldest half brother, Lawrence, who had been educated in England. Lawrence was a wise and affectionate counselor to George, and he was like a second father to him after Augustine’s death when George was eleven years old. Early Public Service Lawrence’s inheritance from his father included an estate near Hunting Creek, later called Mount Vernon. When George was fifteen years old, he earned money as a surveyor, thanks to his skill in simple mathematics. The next year George was asked to go with a surveying party to map out land west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and he made his first long journey from home. Two years later he was appointed to his first public office, as a surveyor. Washington acquired an interest in the Ohio Company, which was organized to explore western lands.
Washington traveled to Barbados with his brother Lawrence in 1751, where he survived a case of smallpox. This bout with smallpox would later make him immune to the disease when it ravaged his army during the American Revolution. Lawrence died of tuberculosis after his return to Mount Vernon, and George inherited part of his estate. He also inherited Lawrence’s duties as adjutant (administrative officer) of Virginia, an office then divided among four men. The office brought Washington the rank of major at the age of twenty. He gained wide public notice the next year when he volunteered to deliver a message from Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie to the French, who were moving into the Ohio country. The journey was long and incredibly difficult, but the young George was remarkably brave. The message directed the French to leave the territory, which was claimed by the British king. Early in 1754, Washington was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel, and he set out with 400 men to reinforce Fort Duquesne at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers in Pennsylvania. But the French captured the fort before he could get there. The French defeated him with superior forces, and Washington returned to Virginia with the survivors of his command. He was made commander in chief of the Virginia militia, and in 1758 he commanded one of three brigades on General John Forbes’s expedition, which retook the now abandoned Fort Duquesne. Late in 1758, Washington resigned his Virginia commission. After several youthful flirtations, in January 1759 he married a young widow with two children, Martha Dandridge Custis, one of the wealthiest women in the colony. They lived at Mount Vernon, from which he directed both white and slave labor on his 4,000 acres and on Martha’s 15,000-acre estate. Later, as president, he resolved to never buy another slave, indicating that he was somewhat troubled by the institution. However, when his cook ran away, the Virginian went back on his vow. Commander in Chief Washington was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses (1759–74) and was a leader in the opposition to British colonial policy. In 1774–75, he was one of Virginia’s seven delegates to the First Continental Congress. Upon his
return to Virginia in November 1774, Washington took command of the volunteer companies training there. Though the colony had many experienced officers, the troops turned naturally to Washington. It was understood that Virginia expected Washington to be its general. The New England army had been hastily formed after the clash of British troops and American minutemen at Lexington and Concord in April 1775. In May, the Second Continental Congress named Washington commander in chief by unanimous vote. On July 3, 1775, the troops paraded on Cambridge Common, and Washington formally took command. He began with characteristic decision, energy, and efficiency to organize the raw volunteers, collect provisions, and rally support in Congress and the colonies. Meanwhile, the political storm surrounding the Revolution was building. Thomas Paine’s electrifying pamphlet Common Sense , which described many of the problems with the British monarchy, was becoming increasingly popular. Washington liked it so much that he ordered it read to his troops. Over the next eight months, Washington brought discipline to the army of about 20,000 men. He dealt with his quarreling subordinate officers and kept the siege of Boston alive. Washington sent Benedict Arnold north with 1,100 men to either regain the friendship of Montreal and Quebec or to capture them. He invited the king’s subjects in Montreal and Quebec to join the thirteen colonies in an “indissoluble union.” Washington encouraged American privateers to attack British shipping. He brought heavy artillery into position and seized the Dorchester heights, commanding the city and harbor. Washington’s position finally forced the British to withdraw on March 17, 1776, leaving 200 cannon and supplies of small arms and ammunition. Washington had won the first round, but the war would last five years more. In July and August 1776, a British army of 34,000 invaded southern New York. In June, Congress called up 19,800 militia, which Washington added to his experienced force of 7,500. After several minor defeats, Washington was forced to retreat. This was a low point for the general. Thousands of his troops deserted as the demoralized army moved across New Jersey, reaching the Delaware River in December. The British were expected to march on Philadelphia. The
Congress moved to Baltimore. At this darkest hour of the Revolution, Washington struck brilliant blows at Trenton and Princeton. He revived the hopes and energies of the nation. With 2,400 men Washington launched a surprise attack on the strong British post at Trenton on Christmas Day, 1776. There he captured 1,000 prisoners and arms and ammunition. British general Charles Cornwallis hastened to Trenton with 8,000 men. After brief fighting, Cornwallis decided to wait overnight “to bag the old fox.” Washington deceptively left campfires burning. He moved in the night to the British rear and, at daybreak, attacked the three British regiments at Princeton, 10 miles away. The British were put to flight with a loss of 500 men. Washington, with more captured munitions, marched to Morristown, 45 miles to the north. The British forces retreated to New York. Washington’s victories brought a strong revival of hope to the colonies. With warmer weather, recruits came to Washington’s camp in large numbers. Washington’s position at Morristown enabled him to defend Philadelphia and strike at the British in New York. General William Howe’s main British army of 18,000 left New York by ship on July 23. The army landed a month later in Delaware below Philadelphia. Washington had 11,000 men whom the Marquis de Lafayette described as “badly armed and worse clothed.” Washington engaged the British at Brandywine Creek, about 13 miles north of Wilmington. General Cornwallis, with part of his army, made a secret 17-mile march to attack the American right and rear. Washington was badly defeated but withdrew his forces in fairly good order. The British bypassed the new American position at the Schuylkill fords and marched into Philadelphia. Congress moved to the interior of Pennsylvania, and Washington took up winter quarters at Valley Forge. His defeated army was near exhaustion. Washington’s character and courage enabled him to hold his strong strategic position in spite of the grumbling of his men and the meddling of a Congress that was too weak to help him. In 1781 the British invaded Virginia. France had joined the Americans as a formal ally three years earlier, putting French troops at Washington’s disposal and giving him a naval force that he believed was essential to victory. In August, Washington marched American and French troops from New York to Yorktown, Virginia, where Cornwallis was entrenched. Meanwhile, the French fleet seized control of the Chesapeake Bay to prevent a British escape.
Outnumbered, Cornwallis found himself surrounded on land and cut off by sea. On October 21, he surrendered his troops. Britain had other large forces in America, but it was plagued by war weariness brought on by six years of failure. The decisive defeat at Yorktown prompted the resignation of the war party in England in March 1782. A British government willing to recognize the independence of the United States took its place. Washington remained in Philadelphia during the winter of 1781–1782. He called on the Continental Congress to settle the claims of the army and its officers. The discontent of his unpaid men led to a threat of a march to Philadelphia and the use of force to settle the dispute. Washington addressed the officers, counseling them to obey Congress and promising to work toward a settlement. On December 23, 1783, in a solemn ceremony at Annapolis, Washington resigned his commission to the Continental Congress. This garnered much attention—his prestige was so high at this point that he could have taken any position that he wanted. Instead, Washington chose to walk away from public life for a time. His own expenditures during the war, of which he had kept a careful record, amounted to 14,500 pounds. He had received no salary. The First President At the Constitutional Convention held in Philadelphia in May 1787, delegates adopted Washington’s essential idea of a balanced government divided among three branches, which remains the basis for the American system of federal government. He was the unanimous choice for president. No other candidates were nominated.
Washington was inaugurated as president in New York on April 30, 1789. He chose for his cabinet two liberals, Thomas Jefferson and Edmund Randolph, and two conservatives, Alexander Hamilton and Henry Knox. But Washington’s major decisions favored the conservative position, and he became alienated from Jefferson. Hamilton was twenty-five years younger than Washington and had been his secretary during the Revolution.
Washington’s program as president included payment of the national debt, the creation of a sound currency, and the promotion of industry. The controversial Excise Tax (1791), a direct tax on goods, brought in a great deal of revenue. It was enough to pay both Union and state debts. A national bank system was established, mostly privately owned. The Republicans, led by Jefferson, charged that Washington’s administration and the Federalist Party favored a strong central government that would destroy the independent powers of the states. In 1792 Washington was unanimously chosen for a second term as president. War between Britain and France began in 1793, and each side seized American ships that were trading with its rival. American opinion initially favored France, but Washington feared that involvement in the war would wreck the new government. He thus proclaimed a policy of neutrality. Because American neutrality helped England more than it did France, he was accused of being pro-British. In the West, General Anthony Wayne defeated the allied Indian tribes at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. In the Treaty of Greenville (1795), the Indians ceded to the United States large areas of Ohio and small tracts of Detroit, Chicago, and Fort Wayne. Washington refused to accept the nomination for a third term. In March 1797 he retired to Mount Vernon. There, Washington devoted the last two and a half years of his life to his farm, his family, and the care of his slaves. He had resolved years before never to buy another slave. Washington “wished from
his soul” that Virginia would abolish slavery because “it might prevent much future mischief.” In December 1799, after many hours on horseback in the cold, he contracted acute laryngitis. George Washington died two days later on December 14. Legacy As the first American president, George Washington’s character in popular memory has become a mixture of legend and fact. He was thin, tall—6 foot, 2–3 inches—and carried himself like the soldier he was, even later in life. He was a successful farmer who never had children of his own but was devoted to his wife’s children. By all contemporary accounts he was considered honest, modest, and an extraordinary leader. Washington’s actions set a precedent for the office of president. Thomas Jefferson, one of his successors, wrote, “His integrity was the most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have ever known. He was, indeed, in every sense of the word, a wise, a good, and a great man.” His military prowess was instrumental in ensuring the American victory over the British and his evenhanded skill in governing and devotion to public service were key to the functioning of the young republic. As a soldier, he took as much pride in building up the strength of the Continental Army as he did in defeating the British. Without George Washington, the course of American history would have been vastly different. This was a fact that his contemporaries recognized, After his death, many wondered how the young country would fare without its leader. Washington, though, was supremely confident that America would flourish without him, and he believed that the new nation was far greater than one man. That belief may be his most enduring legacy.
The Library of Congress
George Washington, first president of the United States, refused to accept the nomination for a third term. The Lincoln Library Press
Milestones in the Life of George Washington
Further Study Books Andrist, George, ed. A Biography in His Own Words . New York: Newsweek, 1972. (M) Marrin, Albert. George Washington and the Founding of a Nation . New York: Dutton Books, 2001. (Juvenile/YA) McClung, Robert M. Young George Washington and the French and Indian War . North Haven: Linnet Books, 2002. (Juvenile/YA) Smith, Richard Norton. Patriarch: George Washington and the New American Nation . New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1993. (M) Web Sites University of Virginia. The Papers of George Washington. http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/ (accessed November 2007).
Source: Lincoln Library of Shapers of Society Online Lexile® measure: 1070L Reading level: 9 Word count: 2378 Cite this article as: "Washington, George." FactCite: Lincoln Library of Shapers of Society Online. Lincoln Lib. P, 2011. Web. 5 Dec. 2014.
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