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The first American President George Washington was born on February 22, 1732.
When he was born, America was not a nation yet. It belonged to England, a country
across the ocean. People in America didn't want to belong to England so they
fought a war to become a separate country. George Washington was an American
general in the war. America won the war and picked a new name for itself: The
United States of America. George Washington was elected to be its first President.
Historically, the American public has had a curious relationship with the actual
facts of George Washington's life. As definitions of "American virtues"
have shifted over time, our grasp of the historically accurate traits and events
that constitute his life have changed. From the famous cherry tree story, to
Washington's (apocryphal) wooden teeth, the biography of Washington has been
enlarged to mythic proportions. In an attempt to separate fact from fiction,
academic biographers have delineated a skeletal view of Washington's "real"
life.
On February 22, 1732 in the British Commonwealth of Virginia, Mary Ball Washington
gave birth to her first son. Although she could not have possibly understood
the importance of his birth at the time, his name, George Washington, would
someday become synonymous with the founding of the United States of America. |
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Washington's childhood offered few omens of greatness. He was one of ten children
(six by Mary Ball and four by George Washington's father's first wife) in an
aristocratic Virginian family, bent almost exclusively on growing tobacco and
preparing timber. Washington received his primary education at a nearby churchyard
school and then was sent to a boarding school 30 miles away. He enjoyed learning
about the practical world (how to count one's goods and be a good gentleman
farmer), but was not versed in the literary classics of the day, nor did he
excel in reading or languages. In Washington's early teens his formal education
came to an end.
A legend is told about George Washington as a boy. Young George had a new hatchet
and with it he cut down a small cherry tree. When his father saw the tree, he
was angry. "George," he said. "Did you do that?" George
was afraid to admit that he did. Nevertheless, the boy decided to tell the truth.
"Yes, Father," he said, "I cut down the cherry tree with my hatchet.
I cannot tell a lie." George Washington's father was proud of George for
telling the truth. |
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When Washington was 16, he met Lord Thomas Fairfax, an Englishman who owned
an enormous tract of land in the northern neck of the colony. Fairfax gave Washington
his first job, surveying the lands of the Shenandoah Valley. Through his surveying
work, Washington was able to earn enough money to begin buying plots of land.
By the age of 21 (now employed as the offical surveyor of the county of Culpeper),
he owned more than 1500 acres, all purchased out of his own accounts.
In 1752, Washington's older brother Lawrence died, endowing George with care
of his Mount Vernon estate and asking him to replace his office as an adjutant
general of the colony. His responsibilities included overseeing the militia
of the districts. In 1753, Washington successfully carried a British ulimatum
to the French in the Ohio River Valley. A year later, he served as a colonel
in the French and Indian War.
By the late 1700s, the public knew well of Washington's military skill--just
at the time the American Revolution was taking shape. In 1775, Washington was
appointed military advisor for New York, defending it from British attack. Weeks
later, the Second Continental Congress appointed him Commander-in-Chief of the
entire military, a position he did not seek and asked not to be paid for. |
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In the beginning, Washington's military maneuvers consisted mainly of sharp
correspondence with the British. He lost his first battle, but was overwhelmingly
successful in New Jersey.
By 1781, with a bedraggled but determined regiment
behind him, Washington forced the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. The war
was won.
Washington's success next brought him the duty of presiding over the Constitutional
Convention in 1789. By the time the Constitution was enacted, Washington was
elected president, a position he took with reluctance. He served two terms,
managing the affairs of a nation in the debt of war, and refused a third term
in 1796.
Three years later, he died at Mount Vernon of what physicians today
say may have been strep throat. The country mourned as it never had before. |
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