George Washington

George Washington was born on February 22, 1732, at Pope’s Creek in Westmoreland County, Virginia. He was the eldest child of Augustine Washington and Augustine’s second wife, Mary Ball Washington. After his father died in 1743, George did not receive the formal English education available to wealthy colonists enjoyed by his elder half-brothers. He learned surveying, mathematics, and land management, skills that tied him to Virginia’s expanding western frontier. In 1749, Culpeper County appointed him county surveyor. He later acquired western land and served as a surveyor for Lord Fairfax. In 1759, he married Martha Dandridge Custis, a wealthy widow.

Her holdings and his own Mount Vernon estate made him a major Virginia planter. Washington first gained military experience during the French and Indian War. In 1754, as a Virginia militia officer, he led a force into the Ohio Valley; the clash at Jumonville Glen helped ignite a wider imperial war. He survived General Edward Braddock’s defeat near the Monongahela in 1755 and afterward commanded Virginia’s regiment. Frustrated by frontier defense and disputes over rank, he resigned his commission in 1758. As a planter and burgess, Washington served in Virginia’s House of Burgesses and criticized British policies toward the colonies.

He attended the First Continental Congress in 1774 and the Second Continental Congress in 1775. On June 15, 1775, Congress unanimously chose him commander in chief of the Continental Army. He forced the British from Boston in March 1776, then endured defeats around New York. His Christmas night crossing of the Delaware River led to victories at Trenton and Princeton. Washington’s army suffered severe shortages at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777–78, while Baron von Steuben drilled its troops. With French assistance, he trapped Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia, prompting the British surrender on October 19, 1781. He

resigned his military commission at Annapolis in 1783, a gesture that strengthened civilian authority. Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. Elected unanimously as the first president of the United States, he took office in New York on April 30, 1789. His administration established precedents for a cabinet, executive departments, and created presidential authority. He selected Alexander Hamilton as treasury secretary and backed the assumption of state debts and creation of a national bank. In 1794, he led militia forces toward western Pennsylvania during the Whiskey Rebellion, affirming federal law. His 1796 Farewell Address warned against permanent alliances.