George Washington

George Washington (February 22, 1732–December 14, 1799) was an American planter, political figure, and military leader. Born of English descent into a moderately wealthy family in the Province of Virginia, Washington worked as a surveyor before inheriting his parents' plantation, Mount Vernon.

Washington first gained prominence as an officer during the French and Indian War, a war which he inadvertently helped to start. Afterwards, he resigned his post to marry Martha Dandridge Custis, a wealthy widow with two children. He was elected to the House of Burgesses and became a revolutionary leader at the outset of the American Revolution, attending both the first and second Continental Congresses. Washington was appointed Commander in Chief of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War (1775–83), leading the Americans to victory over the British. After the war, he served as president of the 1787 Constitutional Convention.

Washington, a hugely popular and generally nonpartisan figure, was elected as the first President of the United States (1789–97) after the U.S. Constitution was adopted. The two-term Washington Administration was marked by the establishment of key American institutions that continue to operate. After his term was up, Washington retired to Mount Vernon for the remainder of his life, again voluntarily relinquishing power even as some wanted him to retain that power for life. Because of his central role in the founding of the United States and enduring legacy, Washington is sometimes called the "Father of his Country."

Early life

According to the Julian calendar, Washington was born on February 11, 1731; according to the Gregorian calendar, which was adopted during Washington's life and is used today, he was born on February 22, 1732 (Washington's Birthday is celebrated on the Gregorian date). At the time of his birth, the English year began March 25 (Annunciation Day, or Lady Day), hence the difference in his birth year. His birthplace was Pope's Creek Plantation, south of Colonial Beach in Westmoreland County, Virginia.

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. He spent much of his boyhood at Ferry Farm in Stafford County, near Fredericksburg and visited his Washington cousins at Chotank in King George County. As a youth, he trained as a surveyor (obtaining his certificate from the College of William and Mary) and helped survey the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. He visited Barbados with his sick half brother Lawrence in 1751, and survived an attack of smallpox, although his face was scarred by the disease. He was initiated as a Freemason in Fredericksburg on February 4, 1752. On Lawrence's death in July 1752, he rented and eventually inherited the estate, Mount Vernon in Fairfax County, Virginia (near Alexandria).

French and Indian War and afterwards

At twenty-two years of age, George Washington fired some of the first shots of what would become a world war. In 1752, France began the military occupation of the Ohio Country, a region that was also claimed by Virginia. In 1753, Washington volunteered to deliver an ultimatum to the French from Robert Dinwiddie, the governor of Virginia. The French declined to leave, and Dinwiddie moved to counter the French advance.

In 1754, Washington, now commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the First Virginia Regiment, led a mission into the Ohio Country. He ambushed a French Canadian scouting party, killing ten, including its leader, Ensign Jumonville. Washington then built Fort Necessity, which soon proved inadequate, as he was compelled to surrender to a larger French and American Indian force. The surrender terms that Washington signed included an admission that he had "assassinated" Jumonville. (The document was written in French, which Washington could not read.) The "Jumonville affair" became an international incident and helped to ignite the French and Indian War, known outside the United States as the Seven Years' War.

Washington was released by the French with the promise not to return to the Ohio Country for one year. In 1755, Washington accompanied the Braddock Expedition, a major effort by the British Army to retake the Ohio Country. The expedition ended in disaster at the Battle of the Monongahela. Washington distinguished himself in the debacle—he had two horses shot out from under him, and four bullets pierced his coat— yet he sustained no injuries and showed coolness under fire in organizing the retreat. In Virginia, Washington was acclaimed as a hero, and he commanded the First Virginia Regiment for several more years, although the focus of the war had shifted elsewhere. In 1758, he accompanied the Forbes Expedition, which successfully drove the French away from Fort Duquesne.

Washington's goal at the outset of his military career had been to secure a commission as a British officer—which in the British colonies was a big step-up from being a mere colonial officer. The promotion did not come, and so in 1759 Washington resigned his commission and married Martha Dandridge Custis, a wealthy widow with two children. Washington adopted the two children, but never fathered any of his own. The newlywed couple moved to Mount Vernon where he took up the life of a genteel farmer and slave owner. 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. Although the American Revolution had not yet devolved into open warfare, tensions between the colonies and Great Britain continued to rise, and Washington attended the Second Continental Congress (1775) in military uniform—the only delegate to do so.

American Revolution

Main article: American Revolutionary War

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 forces 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 save 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 surprise attack on General Charles Cornwallis's forces at Princeton on the eve of January 2, 1777, eventually retaking the colony. 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 to Valley Forge. While at Valley Forge, Washington insisted on vaccinations to protect the soldiers from smallpox and it is believed that this helped to stem the rate of disease over the harsh winter.

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

Against tremendous odds, Washington sustained his army 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. His ability to delay British advances earned him the nickname "American Fabius."

In 1779, Washington ordered a fifth of the army to carry out the Sullivan Expedition, an offensive against four of the six nations of the Iroquois Confederacy which had allied with the British and attacked Patriot communities along the frontier. At least forty Iroquois villages were destroyed in the massive expedition, and this (according to some sources) led the Iroquois to nickname Washington "Town Destroyer."

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 March 1783, Washington learned about a conspiracy that was being planned by some of his officers who were upset about back pay in the Continental Army's winter camp at Newburgh, New York. He was able to defuse this plot. Later 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, he formally bid his officers farewell.

Activities between Revolution and Presidency

On December 23, 1783, 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. This action was of great significance for the young nation, establishing the precedent that civilian elected officials, rather than military officers, possessed ultimate authority. Washington's stature was such that had he wanted to seize and retain power—like Julius Caesar before him or Napoleon after him—he probably would have been able to do so. Indeed, there was even some support among his most devoted followers for making Washington a permanent ruler or king, but Washington, like most of the Founding Fathers of the United States, abhorred the very idea.

At the time of Washington's departure from military service, he was listed on the rolls of the Continental Army as "General and Commander in Chief." (See Retirement, death, and honors section below for more on this topic.)

Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. For the most part he did not participate in the debates involved, but his prestige was great enough to maintain collegiality and to keep the delegates at their labors. He adamantly enforced the secrecy adopted by the Convention during the summer. Many believe that the Framers created the Presidency with Washington in mind. After the Convention, his support convinced many, including the Virginia legislature, to support the Constitution.

Washington farmed roughly 8,000 acres (32 km²). Like many Virginia planters at the time, he was frequently in debt 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.

In 1788–9, George Washington was elected the first President of the United States. The First U.S. Congress voted to pay Washington a salary of $25,000 a year—a significant sum in 1789. Washington, whose wealth by some estimates exceeded $500 million in current dollars, refused to accept his salary.

Presidency

Main article: Washington Administration

Cabinet

Supreme Court appointments

As the first President, Washington appointed the entire Supreme Court, a feat almost repeated by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during his four terms in office (1933–45). Washington appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States:

• John Jay - Chief Justice - 1789
• James Wilson - 1789
• John Rutledge - 1790
• William Cushing - 1790
• John Blair - 1790
• James Iredell - 1790
• Thomas Johnson - 1792
• William Paterson - 1793
• John Rutledge - Chief Justice, 1795 (an associate justice since 1790)
• Samuel Chase - 1796
• Oliver Ellsworth - Chief Justice - 1796

Major Presidential Acts

• Signed Judiciary Act of 1789
• Signed Indian Intercourse Acts, starting in 1790
• Signed Residence Act of 1790
• Signed Bank Act of 1791
• Signed Coinage Act of 1792
• Signed Fugitive Slave Act of 1793
• Signed Naval Act of 1794

States admitted to the Union

• North Carolina (1789)
• Rhode Island (1790)
• Vermont (1791)
• Kentucky (1792)
• Tennessee (1796)

Retirement, death, and honors

After retiring from the presidency in March 1797, Washington returned to Mount Vernon with a profound sense of relief.

In 1798, Washington was appointed Lieutenant General in the United States Army (then the highest possible rank) by President John Adams. Washington's appointment was to serve as a warning to France, with which war seemed imminent. Washington never saw active service, however, and upon his death one year later the U.S. Army rolls listed him as a retired Lieutenant General, which was then considered the equivalent to his rank as General and Commander in Chief during the Revolutionary War.

Within a year of this 1798 appointment, Washington fell ill from a bad cold with a fever and a sore throat that turned into acute laryngitis and pneumonia and died on December 14, 1799, at his home. Modern doctors 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. One of the physicians who administered bloodletting to him was Dr. James Craik, one of Washington's closest friends, who had been with Washington at Fort Necessity, the Braddock expedition, and throughout the Revolutionary War. Washington's remains were buried in a family graveyard at Mount Vernon.

Congressman Henry Light Horse Harry Lee, a Revolutionary War comrade, famously eulogized Washington as "a citizen, first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."

With the exception of Dwight Eisenhower, who held a lifetime commission as General of the Army (five star), George Washington is the only President with military service to reenter the military after leaving the office of President. Even though he had been the highest-ranking officer of the Revolutionary War, having in 1798 been appointed a Lieutenant General (now three stars), it seemed, somewhat incongruously, that all later full (that is, four star) generals in U.S. history (starting with General Ulysses S. Grant), and also all five-star generals of the Army, were considered to outrank Washington. General John J. Pershing had attained an even higher rank of General of the Armies (above five star—though the most stars Pershing actually ever wore were four). This issue was resolved in 1976 when Washington was, by Act of Congress, posthumously promoted to the rank of General of the Armies, outranking any past, present, and future general, and declared to permanently be the top-ranked military officer of the United States. [1]

Summary of Military Career

• 1753: Commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of the Virginia Militia
• 1754: Led abortive expedition to Fort Duquesne, later served as aide to General Edward Braddock
• 1755: Promoted to Colonel and named Commander of all Virginia Forces. Commissioned a Brigadier General later that year
• 1758–75: Retired from active military service
• June 1775: Commissioned General and Commander in Chief of the Continental Army
• 1775–81: Commands the Continental Army in over seven major battles with the British
• December 1783: Resigns commission as Commander in Chief of the Army
• July 1798: Appointed Lieutenant General and Commander of the Provisional Army to be raised in the event of a war with France
• 1799: Dies and is listed as a Retired Lieutenant General on the U.S. Army rolls
• 19 January 1976: Approved by the United States Congress for promotion to General of the Armies
• 11 October 1976: Declared the senior most U.S. military officer for all time by Presidential Order of Gerald Ford
• 13 March 1978: Promoted by Army Order 31-3 to General of the Armies with effective date of rank July 4, 1776

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, so he 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 naïve "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 Washington praying for help in a lonely spot in the woods near Valley Forge.

Nevertheless, Washington was a man of great personal integrity, with a deeply held sense of duty, honor and patriotism. He was courageous and farsighted, holding the Continental Army together through eight hard years of war and numerous privations, sometimes by sheer force of will.

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

Washington was plagued throughout his adult life with bad teeth, losing about one tooth a year from the age of 24. In his later years he consulted a number of dentists and used a number of sets of false teeth (but none of wood). Washington routinely smoked marijuana to alleviate the pain from his ailing teeth. Washington's own diary recounts, on several occasions, his efforts to better cultivate and enhance his crops of marijuana, which he used both for hemp (fiber) production and for medicine: May 12–13, 1765: "Sowed Hemp at Muddy hole by Swamp." August 7, 1765: ". . .began to seperate (sic) the Male from the Female Hemp at Do—rather too late."

Washington was notable for his modesty and carefully controlled ambition. He never accepted pay during his military service, and was genuinely reluctant to assume any of the offices thrust upon him. When John Adams recommended him to the Continental Congress for the position of general and commander in chief of the Continental Army, Washington left the room to allow any dissenters to freely voice their objections. In later accepting the post, Washington told the Congress that he was unworthy of the honor. However, it should be reminded that Washington was always an ambitious man. He ensured that during the Continental Congress he arrived and was always present wearing his old colonial uniform so as to make it clear to all that he was deeply interested in commanding the continental troops. Congress actually made him the commander of the continental army before they authorized an army for him to command. In reality, no one else could have ensured the southern colonies would assist the northern ones unless Washington was part of the equation and aside from a few other, less endearing leaders, Washington was, overall, the only choice that would achieve this.

It is often said that one of Washington's greatest achievements was refraining from taking more power than was due. He was conscientious of maintaining a good reputation by avoiding political intrigue. He had no interest in nepotism or cronyism, rejecting, for example, a military promotion during the war for his deserving cousin William Washington lest it be regarded as favoritism. Thomas Jefferson wrote, "The moderation and virtue of a single character probably prevented this Revolution from being closed, as most others have been, by a subversion of that liberty it was intended to establish."

Washington had to be talked into a second term of office as President, and very reluctantly agreed to it. However, he refused to serve a third term, setting a precedent that held until the Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt. At John Adams's inauguration, Washington is said to have approached Adams afterwards and stated "Well, I am fairly out and you are fairly in. Now we shall see who enjoys it the most!" Washington also declined to leave the room before Adams and the new Vice President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, establishing the principle that even a former president is only, after all, a private citizen.

Trivia

• A popular belief is that Washington wore a wig, as was the fashion among some at the time. He did not.
• A number of younger men were essentially surrogate sons to the childless Washington, including Alexander Hamilton, Lafayette, and Nathanael Greene.
• Washington was a cricket enthusiast and was known to have played the sport, which was popular at that time in the British colonies.

Washington and slavery

Washington owned slaves throughout his adult life, as did most of his peers in the Virginia plantation aristocracy. He was noteworthy, however, for the humane treatment of his slaves and for his growing unease with the "peculiar institution." Historian Roger Bruns has written, "As he grew older, he became increasingly aware that it was immoral and unjust. Long before the Revolution, Washington had taken the unusual position of refusing to sell any of his slaves or to allow slave families to be separated." After the Revolution, Washington told an English friend, "I clearly foresee that nothing but the rooting out of slavery can perpetuate the existence of our [Federal] union by consolidating it on a common bond of principle." He wrote to his friend John Francis Mercer in 1786, "I never mean... to possess another slave by purchase; it being among my first wishes to see some plan adopted, by which slavery in this country may be abolished by slow, sure, and imperceptible degrees." Ten years later, he wrote to Robert Morris, "There is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do to see some plan adopted for the gradual abolition [of slavery]."

As President, Washington was mindful of the risk of splitting apart the young republic over the question of slavery (as in fact happened in 1861). He did not advocate the abolition of slavery while in office, but did sign legislation enforcing the prohibition of slavery in the Northwest Territory, writing to his good friend the Marquis de la Fayette that he considered it a wise measure.

Unlike all the other slaveholding Founding Fathers, Washington included provisions in his will which freed his slaves upon his death. His widow Martha freed those she owned shortly before she died.

As cited in Henry Weincek's Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America, one of his slaves, Ona Judge Staines, escaped the Executive Mansion in Philadelphia in 1796 and lived the rest of her life free in New Hampshire.

Religious beliefs

Washington's religious views are a matter of some controversy. There is considerable evidence that he (like a number of Founding Fathers of the United States) was a Deist—believing in God but not believing in revelation or miracles. Before the Revolution, when the Episcopal Church was still the state religion in Virginia, he served as a vestryman (lay officer) for his local church. He spoke often of the value of prayer, righteousness, and seeking and offering thanks for the "blessings of Heaven". He sometimes accompanied his wife to Christian church services; however there is no record of his ever becoming a communicant in any Christian church, and he would regularly leave services before communion—with the other non-communicants. When Rev. Dr. James Abercrombie, rector of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, mentioned in a weekly sermon that those in elevated stations set an unhappy example by leaving at communion, Washington ceased attending at all on communion Sundays. Long after Washington died, asked about Washington's beliefs, Abercrombie replied: "Sir, Washington was a Deist"; however, his adopted daughter, Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis, and several others have said that he was, indeed, a Christian. Various prayers said to have been composed by him in his later life are highly edited. He did not ask for any clergy on his deathbed, though one was available. His funeral services were those of the Freemasons at the request of his wife, Martha.

Washington was an early supporter of religious pluralism. In 1775 he ordered that his troops not burn the pope in effigy on Guy Fawkes Night. In 1790 he wrote to Jewish leaders that he envisioned a country "which gives to bigotry no sanction, to 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 highly significant; for the first time in millennia, Jews would enjoy full human and political rights.

Legacy

Washington peacefully relinquished the presidency to John Adams after serving two terms in office. Only one president since Washington has exceeded this tenure (Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected four times), and the Constitution was subsequently amended by the Twenty-second Amendment to set an express two-term limit upon future presidents. Washington set many other precedents that established tranquility in the presidential office in the years to come and is generally regarded by historians as one of the greatest presidents. 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. Men considered as the Father of His Country in other nations are also given the nickname "the George Washington of his nation".

Perhaps the most pervasive commemoration of his legacy is the use of his image on the one dollar bill and the quarter-dollar coin. The image used on the dollar bill is derived from a famous portrait of him painted by Gilbert Stuart, itself one of the most notable works of early American art.

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. The Washington Monument, one of the most well-known landmarks in the city, was built in his honor. The George Washington University, also in D.C., was named after him, and it was in part founded with shares Washington bequeathed to an endowment to create a national university in Washington.

The only state named for a president is the state of Washington in the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

Washington selected West Point, New York, as the site for the United States Military Academy. The United States Navy has named three ships after Washington.

Other examples include the George Washington Bridge, which extends between New York City and New Jersey, and the palm tree genus Washingtonia is also named after him.

See also: List of places named for George Washington

Further reading

The literature on George Washington is immense. The Library of Congress has a comprehensive bibliography online. Notable recent works include:

• Comora, Madeleine & Deborah Chandra. George Washington's Teeth. Illustrated by Brock Cole. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003; ISBN 0374325340. A lighthearted chronicle of his dental struggles, aimed at children and adults.
• Ellis, Joseph J. His Excellency: George Washington. New York: Knopf, 2004. ISBN 1400040310.
• Flexner, James Thomas. Washington: The Indispensable Man. Boston: Little, Brown, 1974. ISBN 0316286168 (1994 reissue). Single-volume condensation of Flexner's four-volume biography.
• Grizzard, Frank E., Jr. George! A Guide to All Things Washington. Buena Vista and Charlottesville, VA: Mariner Publishing. 2005. ISBN 0-9768238-0-2.
• Grizzard, Frank E., Jr. The Ways of Providence: Religion and George Washington. Buena Vista and Charlottesville, VA: Mariner Publishing. 2005. ISBN 0-9768238-1-0.
• Lengel, Edward G. General George Washington: A Military Life. New York: Random House, 2005. ISBN 1400060818.
• Wiencek, Henry. An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003. ISBN 0374175268.

Related articles

• George Washington's presidency
• U.S. presidential election, 1789
• U.S. presidential election, 1792
• Famous military commanders
• George Washington's farewell address
• List of U.S. Presidential religious affiliations
• Newburgh conspiracy

In recent years, a number of anti-Semitic groups have attributed false quotations to George Washington and other Founding Fathers, 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.