The eldest of six children from his father's second
marriage, George Washington was born into the landed
gentry in 1732 at Wakefield Plantation, VA. Until reaching
16 years of age, he lived there and at other plantations
along the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers, including
the one that later became known as Mount Vernon. His
education was rudimentary, probably being obtained from
tutors but possibly also from private schools, and he
learned surveying. After he lost his father when he
was 11 years old, his half-brother Lawrence, who had
served in the Royal Navy, acted as his mentor. As a
result, the youth acquired an interest in pursuing a
naval career, but his mother discouraged him from doing
so.
At the age of 16, in 1748, Washington joined a surveying
party sent out to the Shenandoah Valley by Lord Fairfax,
a land baron. For the next few years, Washington conducted
surveys in Virginia and present West Virginia and gained
a lifetime interest in the West. In 1751-52 he also
accompanied Lawrence on a visit he made to Barbados,
West Indies, for health reasons just before his death.
The next year, Washington began his military career
when the royal governor appointed him to an adjutantship
in the militia, as a major. That same year, as a gubernatorial
emissary, accompanied by a guide, he traveled to Fort
Le Boeuf, PA, in the Ohio River Valley, and delivered
to French authorities an ultimatum to cease fortification
and settlement in English territory. During the trip,
he tried to better British relations with various Indian
tribes.
In 1754, winning the rank of lieutenant colonel and
then colonel in the militia, Washington led a force
that sought to challenge French control of the Ohio
River Valley, but met defeat at Fort Necessity, PA -
an event that helped trigger the French and Indian War
(1754-63). Late in 1754, irked by the dilution of his
rank because of the pending arrival of British regulars,
he resigned his commission. That same year, he leased
Mount Vernon, which he was to inherit in 1761.
In 1755 Washington reentered military service with
the courtesy title of colonel, as an aide to Gen. Edward
Braddock, and barely escaped death when the French defeated
the general's forces in the Battle of the Monongahela,
PA. As a reward for his bravery, Washington rewon his
colonelcy and command of the Virginia militia forces,
charged with defending the colony's frontier. Because
of the shortage of men and equipment, he found the assignment
challenging. Late in 1758 or early in 1759, disillusioned
over governmental neglect of the militia and irritated
at not rising in rank, he resigned and headed back to
Mount Vernon.
Washington then wed Martha Dandridge Custis, a wealthy
widow and mother of two children. The marriage produced
no offspring, but Washington reared those of his wife
as his own. During the period 1759-74, he managed his
plantations and sat in the Virginia House of Burgesses.
He supported the initial protests against British policies;
took an active part in the nonimportation movement in
Virginia; and, in time, particularly because of his
military experience, became a Whig leader.
By the 1770s, relations of the colony with the mother
country had become strained. Measured in his behavior
but strongly sympathetic to the Whig position and resentful
of British restrictions and commercial exploitation,
Washington represented Virginia at the First and Second
Continental Congresses. In 1775, after the bloodshed
at Lexington and Concord, Congress appointed him as
commander in chief of the Continental Army. Overcoming
severe obstacles, especially in supply, he eventually
fashioned a well-trained and disciplined fighting force.
The strategy Washington evolved consisted of continual
harassment of British forces while avoiding general
actions. Although his troops yielded much ground and
lost a number of battles, they persevered even during
the dark winters at Valley Forge, PA, and Morristown,
NJ. Finally, with the aid of the French fleet and army,
he won a climactic victory at the Battle of Yorktown,
VA, in 1781.
During the next 2 years, while still commanding the
agitated Continental Army, which was underpaid and poorly
supplied, Washington denounced proposals that the military
take over the government, including one that planned
to appoint him as king, but supported army petitions
to the Continental Congress for proper compensation.
Once the Treaty of Paris (1783) was signed, he resigned
his commission and returned once again to Mount Vernon.
His wartime financial sacrifices and long absence, as
well as generous loans to friends, had severely impaired
his extensive fortune, which consisted mainly of his
plantations, slaves, and landholdings in the West. At
this point, however, he was to have little time to repair
his finances, for his retirement was brief.
Dissatisfied with national progress under the Articles
of Confederation, Washington advocated a stronger central
government. He hosted the Mount Vernon Conference (1785)
at his estate after its initial meetings in Alexandria,
though he apparently did not directly participate in
the discussions. Despite his sympathy with the goals
of the Annapolis Convention (1786), he did not attend.
But, the following year, encouraged by many of his friends,
he presided over the Constitutional Convention, whose
success was immeasurably influenced by his presence
and dignity. Following ratification of the new instrument
of government in 1788, the electoral college unanimously
chose him as the first President.
The next year, after a triumphal journey from Mount
Vernon to New York City, Washington took the oath of
office at Federal Hall. During his two precedent-setting
terms, he governed with dignity as well as restraint.
He also provided the stability and authority the emergent
nation so sorely needed, gave substance to the Constitution,
and reconciled competing factions and divergent policies
within the government and his administration. Although
not averse to exercising presidential power, he respected
the role of Congress and did not infringe upon its prerogatives.
He also tried to maintain harmony between his Secretary
of State Thomas Jefferson and Secretary of the Treasury
Alexander Hamilton, whose differences typified evolving
party divisions from which Washington kept aloof.
Yet, usually leaning upon Hamilton for advice, Washington
supported his plan for the assumption of state debts,
concurred in the constitutionality of the bill establishing
the Bank of the United States, and favored enactment
of tariffs by Congress to provide federal revenue and
protect domestic manufacturers.
Washington took various other steps to strengthen governmental
authority, including suppression of the Whisky Rebellion
(1794). To unify the country, he toured the Northeast
in 1789 and the South in 1791. During his tenure, the
government moved from New York to Philadelphia in 1790,
he superintended planning for relocation to the District
of Columbia, and he laid the cornerstone of the Capitol
(1793).
In foreign affairs, despite opposition from the Senate,
Washington exerted dominance. He fostered United States
interests on the North American continent by treaties
with Britain and Spain. Yet, until the nation was stronger,
he insisted on the maintenance of neutrality. For example,
when the French Revolution created war between France
and Britain, he ignored the remonstrances of pro-French
Jefferson and pro-English Hamilton.
Although many people encouraged Washington to seek
a third term, he was weary of politics and refused to
do so. In his "Farewell Address" (1796), he urged his
countrymen to forswear party spirit and sectional differences
and to avoid entanglement in the wars and domestic policies
of other nations.
Washington enjoyed only a few years of retirement at
Mount Vernon. Even then, demonstrating his continued
willingness to make sacrifices for his country in 1798
when the nation was on the verge of war with France
he agreed to command the army, though his services were
not ultimately required. He died at the age of 67 in
1799. In his will, he emancipated his slaves.
(National Archives & Records Administration)
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