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 Updated June 23, 2001 02:06 AM 
 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 adjutant ship 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" <../speeches/gwfar.htm> (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.
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