George Washington Biography

Period 5
Constitutional Law
George Washington Biography
George Washington is a very well known American historical figure. He was, among other things, most notable for leading the troops American troops during the Revolution, becoming the First President of the United States, and signing the Constitution of the United States.
George Washington was born on February 22, 1732 in Westmoreland County, Virginia to Augustine and Mary. From age seven to fifteen, Washington was homeschooled in the areas of math, geography, Latin, and English. When he was sixteen, George was appointed the official surveyor of Culpeper County. Washington spent two years actively surveying the land around Culpeper County, in which he became very interested in the western lands and purchasing them to be colonized. At age twenty, when his brother, Lawrence and his niece died in 1752, George became the head of one of the largest estates in Virginia, Mount Vernon. After Washington had shown a good amount of leadership from taking over Mount Vernon, Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie appointed him rank of major in the Virginia militia. Newly appointed Major Washington was sent out by Lieutenant Colonel to Fort LeBoeuf to warn the French to back out of already-claimed British territory. When the French refused, Washington was ordered to attack, which began the French and Indian War. He was later given the honorary rank of colonel and joined General Braddock’s army in 1755. During one of the attacks on the French, General Braddock was mortally wounded, and as the story goes, Washington escaped with four bullet holes in his coat and two horses shot out from under him. After Washington and his men retreated, later that year, he was made Commander of all Virginian troops. Washington later retired from the army in 1758.
A month out of the army, Washington married Martha Dandridge Custis, a widow only a few months his senior. Martha brought along riches in land, money, and children. She inherited money and land and had two children, John and Martha. Throughout the years between his retirement and the Revolution, Washington maintained his land, crops, and livestock, and enjoyed the life of land gentry.
Washington entered the world of politics when he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1758. In 1796, tensions had been building between the colonies and Britain for some time, and Washington proposed a resolution to the House of Burgesses for Virginia to boycott British goods until the Townshend Acts were repealed. When the Intolerable Acts were passed in 1774, Washington called for the meeting of the Continental Congress and set the use of armed resistance at the last result. Washington was selected as a delegate of the First Continental Congress in 1775. After the battles of Lexington and Concord, the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Washington attended in full military dress, showing he was ready for war. In June of 1775, Washington was appointed Major General and Commander-in-Chief of all of the colonial troops against Great Britain.
Washington and his small army won a few battles here and there, but was really no match for the expertise and sheer size of the English army. When the largest deployment of English soldiers to date landed in the colonies, they immediately attacked and took New York. Camped at Trenton, drunken from celebration and arrogance on Christmas night of 1776, the Hessian mercenaries never expected Washington to make a surprise attack. Washington sent his men back across the Delaware River to the unsuspecting Hessian camp and attacked, forcing their surrender. Not too long after the Hessian mercenaries surrendered at Trenton, Washington attacked again, at Princeton, and dealt another humiliating blow for Britain. Philadelphia fell to British control in 1777. The turning point of the war, the battle of Saratoga, occurred in late summer of 1777 and allowed France to openly support the colonies. Washington, with the help of the French, surrounded General Cornwallis at Yorktown. He later surrendered which ended the war.
In 1783, Washington retired again from the military to his home in Mount Vernon. For four years, he attempted to revive his plantation and return to a “normal” farm life. During this time, the country was failing under the Articles of Confederation and in 1786; Congress approved a convention to be held in Philadelphia to amend the Articles. George Washington, among others called for the Articles to be dramatically changed, to basically rewrite them and make a new set of laws, what would be called the Constitution. At the convention, the delegates decided with Washington and drafted a new Constitution in which there were three branches of government, all equal, that would rule the country. In the executive branch, they made a spot for a President, and George Washington was unanimously chosen. He was elected in 1789. As the First President, George Washington set many precedents. Washington surrounded himself with some of the most respected and intelligent men in the country, appointing what we now call, the Cabinet. He put down the Whiskey Rebellion, and retired after two terms. In 1797, he retired and peacefully handed over the Presidency to John Adams. Washington returned to Mount Vernon where he spent the next two years living out the rest of his life, tending his land. He died on December 14, 1799. When the news was spread that the great George Washington had died, many cities around the country held mock funerals and eulogies for their fallen hero. Britain got word and the British fleet paid tribute to his memory, and Napoleon ordered ten days of mourning. George Washington will always be remembered as a hero, not as a king, but as a citizen, a common man, one who wanted the best for his country and his people.