George Washington: Life and Presidency

Overview of George Washington

• Born on February 22, 1732, and died December 14, 1799.
• A Founding Father and the first president of the United States (1789–1797).
• Commander of the Continental Army, leading Patriot forces to victory in the American Revolutionary War.
• Commonly known as the "Father of His Country" for his role in achieving American independence.

Early Life and Education (1732–1752)

• Born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, to Augustine and Mary Ball Washington.
• He was the first of six children.
• He had a close relationship with his older half-brother Lawrence.
• In 1735, the family moved to a plantation on Little Hunting Creek, and in 1738, they settled at Ferry Farm near Fredericksburg.
• Washington inherited Ferry Farm and ten slaves upon his father’s death in 1743.
• Lawrence inherited Little Hunting Creek and renamed it Mount Vernon.
• He attended the Lower Church School in Hartfield due to his father's death, where he learned mathematics and land surveying.
• Became a talented draftsman and mapmaker.
• Washington compiled "The Rules of Civility," a set of rules for social interaction.
• In 1748, spent a month surveying William Fairfax's Shenandoah Valley property.
• Received a surveyor's license from the College of William & Mary in 1749.
• Appointed surveyor of Culpeper County, Virginia, in 1749 and resigned in 1750.
• By 1752, he owned 2,315 acres (937 ha).
• Accompanied Lawrence to Barbados in 1751, where he contracted smallpox, leaving his face slightly scarred.
• Leased Mount Vernon from his widow, Anne, after Lawrence’s death in 1752 and inherited it outright in 1761.

Colonial Military Career (1752–1758)

• Appointed as a major and commander of one of the four militia districts by Virginia's lieutenant governor, Robert Dinwiddie.
• In October 1753, appointed as a special envoy to demand the French forces vacate land claimed by the British.
• Met with Iroquois leader Tanacharison at Logstown, who named him Conotocaurius, meaning "devourer of villages".
• Reached the Ohio River in November 1753 and was intercepted by a French patrol, then escorted to Fort Le Boeuf.
• Completed a mission to deliver the British demand to vacate to the French commander Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, but the French refused to leave.

French and Indian War

• Promoted to lieutenant colonel and second-in-command of the Virginia Regiment in February 1754, with orders to confront the French at the Forks of the Ohio.
• Commanded an ambush on a French detachment in May, killing their commander Joseph Coulon de Jumonville.
• The French blamed Washington after finding their dead countrymen scalped, who then retreated to Fort Necessity.
• Promoted to colonel and given command of the full Virginia Regiment.
• On July 3, 1754, 900 French soldiers attacked Fort Necessity, leading to Washington's surrender.
• Signed a surrender document taking responsibility for "assassinating" Jumonville, which he later blamed the translator for not properly translating.
• He volunteered as an aide to General Edward Braddock in 1755, who led a British expedition to expel the French from Fort Duquesne.
• Washington rallied survivors after Braddock's defeat at the Battle of the Monongahela, where he had two horses shot out from under him.
• Appointed commander of the Virginia Regiment in August 1755, with the rank of colonel.
• Clashed with Captain John Dagworthy over seniority at Fort Cumberland.
• In 1758, the Virginia Regiment was assigned to the British Forbes Expedition to capture Fort Duquesne.
• Resigned his commission after seeing a friendly fire incident, and returned to Mount Vernon.
• Increased the regiment's professionalism and gained leadership skills, despite not getting the royal commission.

Marriage, Civilian, and Political Life (1759–1775)

• Married Martha Dandridge Custis, a wealthy widow, on January 6, 1759.
• Lived at Mount Vernon and cultivated tobacco and wheat.
• Became one of the wealthiest men in Virginia due to the marriage which increased his social standing.
• Inspected lands in the Ohio and Great Kanawha regions in 1770 on Governor Lord Botetourt's orders, and engaged William Crawford to subdivide it.
• Washington was allotted 23,200 acres (9,400 ha), and purchased 20,147 acres (8,153 ha) from veterans.
• Doubled the size of Mount Vernon to 6,500 acres (2,600 ha) and increased its slave population to over one hundred by 1775.
• Represented Frederick County in the Virginia House of Burgesses for seven years, starting in 1758.
• Criticized Britain's taxation and mercantilist policies.
• Diversified his holdings between 1764 and 1766 which changed Mount Vernon's primary cash crop from tobacco to wheat, and expanded operations to include flour milling and hemp farming.

Opposition to the British Parliament and Crown

• Opposed taxes imposed by the British Parliament without proper representation.
• Believed the Stamp Act 1765 was oppressive and celebrated its repeal.
• Urged Virginians to boycott British goods in response to the Townshend Acts.
• Angered by the Royal Proclamation of 1763 and British interference in American western land speculation.
• Saw the Coercive Acts as "an invasion of our rights and privileges".
• Drafted resolutions for the Fairfax County committee in July 1774, including a call to end the Atlantic slave trade.
• Attended the First Virginia Convention and was selected as a delegate to the First Continental Congress.
• Helped train militias in Virginia and enforced the boycott of British goods instituted by the Congress.

Commander-in-Chief of the Army (1775–1783)

• The American Revolutionary War broke out on April 19, 1775.
• Appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army by the Second Continental Congress on June 15, 1775, mainly because of his military experience and the belief that a Virginian would better unite the colonies.
• He gave an acceptance speech on June 16, declining a salary, but later reimbursed expenses.
• Primary staff officers included Artemas Ward, Horatio Gates, Charles Lee, Philip Schuyler, and Nathanael Greene.
• Alexander Hamilton became aide-de-camp.
• Initially banned the enlistment of Black soldiers, but overturned his ban in response to the British promise of freedom to slaves who joined their forces.

Siege of Boston

• British troops occupied Boston in April 1775, led by General Thomas Gage.
• Local militias surrounded the city, trapping the British troops in a standoff.
• Washington arrived in July 2, 1775 and initiated reforms, instituting military drills and disciplinary measures.
• King George III declared the colonies in open rebellion and replaced Gage with General William Howe.
• Secured the Dorchester Heights above Boston which forced British evacuation in March.
• Entered the city with 500 men which gave explicit orders not to plunder.

New York and New Jersey

• He correctly guessed that the British would return to New York City.
• Arrived in New York City on April 13, 1776, and ordered the construction of fortifications as well as his forces to treat citizens and their property with respect.

Battle of Long Island

• The British forces, including over a hundred ships and thousands of troops, began arriving on Staten Island in July to lay siege to the city.

• Howe's troop strength totaled 32,000 regulars and Hessian auxiliaries; Washington had 23,000 men, mostly untrained recruits and militia.

• In August, Howe landed 20,000 troops at Gravesend, Brooklyn, and approached Washington's fortifications.

• In the Battle of Long Island, Howe assaulted Washington's flank and inflicted 1,500 Patriot casualties.

• Washington retreated to Manhattan.

• He sent a message to Washington to negotiate peace, addressing him as "George Washington, Esq."

• George declined to accept the message, demanding to be addressed with diplomatic protocol—not as a rebel.

• Despite misgivings, Washington heeded the advice of General Greene to defend Fort Washington, but was ultimately forced to abandon it.

• Howe pursued and Washington retreated across the Hudson River to Fort Lee.

• In November, Howe captured Fort Washington.

• Washington's army retreated through New Jersey, reduced to 5,400 troops.

Crossing the Delaware, Trenton, and Princeton

• Washington crossed the Delaware River into Pennsylvania.
• At sunrise on December 26, 1776, Washington led his men in a successful surprise attack on the Hessians at Trenton.
• Returned to New Jersey on January 3, 1777, launching an attack on the British regulars at Princeton.
• Howe retreated to New York City for the winter.
• Washington took up winter headquarters in Morristown, New Jersey.
• These victories revived Patriot morale and quashed the British strategy.

Philadelphia

• George and Gilbert, Marquis de Lafayette rushed to Philadelphia to engage Howe.
• In the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777, Howe outmaneuvered Washington and marched unopposed into Philadelphia.
• A Patriot attack against the British at Germantown in October failed.

Brandywine, Germantown, and Saratoga

• In Upstate New York, the Patriots were led by General Horatio Gates.
• On October 7, 1777, Burgoyne tried to take Bemis Heights but was isolated from support and forced to surrender.
• This emboldened Washington's critics, who favored Gates as a military leader.

Valley Forge and Monmouth

• Washington and his army of 11,000 men went into winter quarters at Valley Forge in December 1777.
• Washington faced low troop morale and increased desertions.
• Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben's incessant drilling transformed Washington's recruits into a disciplined fighting force; Washington appointed him Inspector General.
• The French entered into a Treaty of Alliance with the Americans in early 1778.
• The British evacuated Philadelphia for New York that June, and Washington ordered a limited strike on the retreating British.
• The British continued their retreat to New York
• British attention shifted to the Southern theatre.
• Washington, meanwhile, ordered an expedition against the Iroquois, the Indigenous allies of the British, destroying their villages.

Espionage and West Point

• America's first spymaster by designing an espionage system against the British.
• In 1778, Major Benjamin Tallmadge formed the Culper Ring at Washington's direction to covertly collect information about the British in New York.
• Washington disregarded incidents of disloyalty by Arnold, who began supplying the British spymaster John André with sensitive information intended to allow the British to capture West Point.
• He assumed personal command at West Point and reorganized its defenses.

Southern Theater and Yorktown

• By June 1780, the British had occupied the South Carolina Piedmont and had firm control of the South.
• The veterans French troops led by Marshal Rochambeau arrived at Newport, Rhode Island in July.
• General Clinton sent Arnold, now a British brigadier general, to Virginia in December with 1,700 troops.
• Washington sent Lafayette south to counter Arnold's efforts.
• He began amarch to Yorktown on August 19, 1781 and was in command of an army of 7,800 Frenchmen, 3,100 militia, and 8,000 Continental troops.
• Despite inexperience, Rochambeau never challenged Washington's authority as the battle's commanding officer.
• By late September, Patriot-French forces surrounded Yorktown, trapping the British Army.
• The siege ended with a British surrender on October 19, 1781, after the French navy emerged victorious at the Battle of the Chesapeake; over 7,000 British soldiers became prisoners of war.

Demobilization and Resignation

• When peace negotiations began in April 1782, both the British and French began gradually evacuating their forces.
• In March 1783, Washington successfully calmed the Newburgh Conspiracy, a planned mutiny by American officers dissatisfied with a lack of pay.
• Account was settled which was vague about large sums and included expenses his wife had incurred through visits to his headquarters.
• When the Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783, Britain officially recognized American independence, so Washington disbanded his army.
• In early December 1783, Washington resigned as commander-in-chief.
• Washington's resignation was acclaimed at home and abroad.
• Appointed president-general of the Society of the Cincinnati the same month.

Early Republic (1783–1789)

Return to Mount Vernon

• Eager to return home, he arrived on Christmas Eve where he received a constant stream of visitors paying their respects at Mount Vernon.
• He then reactivated interests in the Great Dismal Swamp and Potomac Canal projects.
• Undertook a 34-day, 680-mile (1,090 km) trip in 1784 to check on his land holdings in the Ohio Country.
• Overseeing remodeling work at Mount Vernon also occurred at this time.
• Recorded consistently poor crop yields due to pestilence and bad weather. His estate recorded its eleventh year running at a deficit in 1787.
• To make his estate profitable again, Washington undertook a new landscaping plan and succeeded in cultivating a range of fast-growing trees and native shrubs, and began breeding mules.

Constitutional Convention of 1787

• Called for a strong union and sent a circular letter to the states, maintaining that the Articles of Confederation were "a rope of sand".
• Shays' Rebellion erupted in Massachusetts in August 1786.
• Congress agreed to a Constitutional Convention to be held in Philadelphia in 1787, with each state to send delegates.
• Washington was chosen to lead the Virginia delegation, and was unanimously elected to preside over the meeting.
• Lobbied many to support the ratification of the Constitution.
• The final version adopted the Connecticut Compromise, and was signed by 39 of 55 delegates on September 17, 1787.

First Presidential Election

• Delegates to the convention for the first presidential election anticipated a Washington presidency which was left to him to define the office once elected.
• When the state electors voted on February 4, 1789, Washington was unanimously elected, while John Adams was elected vice president.

Presidency (1789–1797)

First Term

• Inaugurated on April 30, 1789, at Federal Hall in New York City
• Congress insisted that he should receive an annual salary of $25,000 (compared to $5,000 annually for the vice president).
• Executive precedents included the inaugural address, messages to Congress, and the cabinet form of the executive branch; He also selected the first justices for the Supreme Court.
• Congress created executive departments in 1789, including the State Department, the War Department, and the Treasury Department.
• Appointed Edmund Randolph as Attorney General, Samuel Osgood as Postmaster General, Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State, Henry Knox as Secretary of War, and Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury.
• His closest advisors formed two factions, portending the First Party System: Hamilton formed the Federalist Party, while Jefferson founded the Jeffersonian Republicans.
• Proclaimed November 26, 1789, as a day of Thanksgiving to encourage national unity.

Second Term

• Re-elected president by the Electoral College on February 13, 1793, and sworn into office on March 4, 1793, in Congress Hall in Philadelphia.
• On April 22, 1793, issued a proclamation declaring American neutrality after the French Revolutionary Wars broke out.
• During his second term Washington faced the Whiskey Rebellion (1791–1794) and the Northwest Indian War.
• Hamilton formulated the Jay Treaty which was signed on November 19, 1794, but faced frequent public criticism and political controversy.
• Thomas Pinckney negotiated the Treaty of San Lorenzo in 1795. settling the border between the United States and Spanish territory, and guaranteeing American navigational access to the Mississippi River
• Henry Knox was forced to resign for profiting from contracts for the construction of U.S. frigates under the Naval Act of 1794.

Farewell Address

• Wanted to ensure that a truly contested presidential election could be held.
• Instructed James Madison to prepare a "valedictory address", May 1792, which was revised by Hamilton in May 1796.
• On September 19, 1796, David Claypoole's American Daily Advertiser published the address.
• Warned against the dangers of political parties and entangling foreign alliances with domestic affairs.
• He closed the address by reflecting on his legacy.

Post-Presidency (1797–1799)

Retirement

• Retired to Mount Vernon in March 1797.
• Became an even more committed Federalist, as well as vocally supported the Alien and Sedition Acts .
• Nominated him for a lieutenant general commission and the position of commander-in-chief of the armies on July 4, 1798. Washington served as the commanding general from July 13, 1798, until his death 17 months later.
• At the time of his death in 1799, his estate was worth an estimated $780,000, and he held title to more than 58,000 acres (23,000 ha) of land across Virginia, Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Kentucky, and the Northwest Territory.

Death

• After inspecting his farms on horseback in inclement weather on December 12, 1799, George contracted a sore throat.
• Suffered an inflamed throat and difficulty breathing.
• Doctors continued bloodletting to approximately five pints, but his condition deteriorated further.
• On his deathbed, afraid of being entombed alive, Washington instructed his private secretary Tobias Lear to wait three days before his burial.
• Died between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. on December 14, 1799, with Martha seated at the foot of his bed with his last words "'Tis well."
• Modern medical authors have largely concluded that he likely died from severe epiglottitis complicated by the treatments he was given, which included multiple doses of calomel and extensive bloodletting, likely resulting in hypovolemic shock.

Funeral and Burial

• Funeral was held on December 18, 1799, at Mount Vernon.
• Service was restricted to family and friends.
• Word of his death traveled slowly where memorial processions were held in major cities of the United States.
• Buried in the Washington family vault at Mount Vernon which was completed in 1831.

Philosophy and Views

Slavery

• During Washington's lifetime at least 577 slaves lived and worked at Mount Vernon.
• Slavery was deeply ingrained in the economic and social fabric of the Colony of Virginia.
• He remained publicly silent on the topic, believing it was a nationally divisive issue that could undermine the union.
• Washington privately expressed support for emancipation to prominent Methodists Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury in 1785 but declined to sign their petition.
• Washington emancipated 123 or 124 slaves, which was highly unusual among the large slave-holding Virginians during the Revolutionary era.
• Martha Washington signed an order to free his slaves on January 1, 1801.

Religious and Spiritual Views

• Was baptized as an infant in April 1732 and was a devoted member of the Anglican Church.
• He believed in a divine power who watched over battlefields, influenced the outcome of war, protected his life, and was involved in American politics and specifically in the creation of the United States.
• At the same time, Washington frequently quoted from or paraphrased the Bible, and often referred to the Anglican Book of Common Prayer.
• While president, Washington acknowledged major religious sects, gave speeches on religious toleration, and opposed state religion.
• He adopted the ideas, values, and modes of thinking of the Enlightenment, but he harbored no contempt for organized Christianity and its clergy.

Freemasonry

• Freemasonry was a widely accepted institution in the late 18th century, known for advocating moral teachings.
• A Masonic lodge was established in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and Washington was initiated two months later at the age of 20 as one of its first Entered Apprentices.
• He served as the charter Master of Alexandria Masonic lodge No. 22 in 1788–1789.

Personal Life

• Washington's 1751 bout with smallpox may have rendered him sterile.
• He was somewhat reserved in personality, although he was known for having a strong presence.
• He drank alcohol in moderation but was morally opposed to excessive drinking, smoking tobacco, gambling, and profanity.
• He was known for his strength with grey-blue eyes and long reddish-brown hair.
• He suffered from severe tooth decay and ultimately lost all of his teeth except one.
• He was a talented equestrian.

Legacy

• Is one of the most influential figures in American history.
• Virginia's Governor Henry Lee eulogized him as "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen".
• Polls have consistently placed Washington among the highest-ranked of presidents.
• Became an international symbol for liberation and nationalism as the leader of the first successful revolution against a colonial empire.
• In 1879, Congress proclaimed Washington's Birthday to be a federal holiday.
• In 1976, he was posthumously appointed General of the Armies of the United States during the American Bicentennial.
• Washington's presidential library is housed at Mount Vernon which is now a National Historic Landmark as well as his papers being held by the Library of Congress.

Namesakes and Monuments

• Many places and monuments have been named in honor of Washington, including the capital city of Washington, D.C., and the state of Washington.
• On February 21, 1885, the Washington Monument was dedicated.
• Washington appears as one of four presidents on Mount Rushmore.
• He appears on contemporary United States currency.
• Washington was pictured on the nation's first postage stamp in 1847, and has since appeared on more United States postage stamps than anyone else.