Facts about george washington biography

On April 30, 1789, George Washington, standing on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York, took his oath of office as the first President of the United States. "As the first of every thing, in our situation will serve to establish a Precedent," he wrote James Madison, "it is devoutly wished on my part, that these precedents may be fixed on true principles."

Born in 1732 into a Virginia planter family, he learned the morals, manners, and body of knowledge requisite for an 18th century Virginia gentleman.

He pursued two intertwined interests: military arts and western expansion. At 16 he helped survey Shenandoah lands for Thomas, Lord Fairfax. Commissioned a lieutenant colonel in 1754, he fought the first skirmishes of what grew into the French and Indian War. The next year, as an aide to Gen. Edward Braddock, he escaped injury although four bullets ripped his coat and two horses were shot from under him.

From 1759 to the outbreak of the American Revolution, Washington managed his lands around Mount Vernon and served in the Virginia House of Burgesses. Married to a widow, Martha Dandridge Custis, he devoted himself to a busy and happy life. But like his fellow planters, Washington felt himself exploited by British merchants and hampered by British regulations. As the quarrel with the mother country grew acute, he moderately but firmly voiced his resistance to the restrictions.

When the Second Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia in May 1775, Washington, one of the Virginia delegates, was elected Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. On July 3, 1775, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, he took command of his ill-trained troops and embarked upon a war that was to last six grueling years.

He realized early that the best strategy was to harass the British. He reported to Congress, "we should on all Occasions avoid a general Action, or put anything to the Risque, unless compelled by a necessity, into which we ought never to be d

George Washington, c. 1790  ©Washington led the American army during the War of Independence and was the first president of the United States. He is one of the most important figures in American history.

George Washington was born on 22 February 1732 in Westmoreland County, Virginia, into a family of prosperous farmers. At 16 he became a surveyor and a year later he was appointed surveyor of Culpeper County, Virginia, his first public office. In 1752, he joined the colonial militia.

During the French and Indian War (known in Europe as the Seven Years War) Washington won a reputation for bravery. He then returned to farming at Mount Vernon, a plantation he had inherited from his half-brother. In 1759, he married Martha Custis, a wealthy widow.

In the same year, Washington entered the Virginia House of Burgesses where he consistently opposed what he saw as unfair British taxes. By 1774, Washington was one of the leading Virginian figures supporting the colonial cause. He was sent by Virginia to both the first and second Continental Congresses in 1774 and 1775.

In June 1775, Washington was appointed commander of all colonial forces. He set about forming the Continental Army and trying to feed, clothe and equip his soldiers. His early military fortunes were mixed, but an American victory at Saratoga in October 1777 prompted the French to agree to an alliance with the Americans.

Although Washington's fortunes did not immediately improve, with French military and naval assistance the tide began to turn. On 19 October 1781, the British army surrendered at Yorktown. Peace talks began in Paris and a treaty was signed in 1783.

In 1787, Washington was elected president of the Constitutional Convention and used his immense influence to persuade the states to ratify the resulting constitution. In 1789, he was unanimously elected the first president of the United States. He faced huge challenges in welding together the individual st

Founding Father and first U.S. president (1789–1797)

"General Washington" redirects here. For other uses, see General Washington (disambiguation) and George Washington (disambiguation).

George Washington (February 22 1732 [O.S. February 11, 1731] – December 14, 1799) was a Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot forces to victory in the American Revolutionary War against the British Empire. He is commonly known as the Father of His Country for his role in brin

(1732-1799)

Who Was George Washington?

George Washington was a Virginia plantation owner who served as a general and commander-in-chief of the colonial armies during the American Revolutionary War, and later became the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797.

Early Life and Family

Washington was born on February 22, 1732, in Westmoreland County, Virginia. He was the eldest of Augustine and Mary’s six children, all of whom survived into adulthood.

The family lived on Pope's Creek in Westmoreland County, Virginia. They were moderately prosperous members of Virginia's "middling class."

Washington could trace his family's presence in North America to his great-grandfather, John Washington, who migrated from England to Virginia. The family held some distinction in England and was granted land by Henry VIII.

But much of the family’s wealth in England was lost under the Puritan government of Oliver Cromwell. In 1657 Washington’s grandfather, Lawrence Washington, migrated to Virginia. Little information is available about the family in North America until Washington’s father, Augustine, was born in 1694.

Augustine Washington was an ambitious man who acquired land and enslaved people, built mills, and grew tobacco. For a time, he had an interest in opening iron mines. He married his first wife, Jane Butler, and they had three children. Jane died in 1729 and Augustine married Mary Ball in 1731.

Mount Vernon

In 1735, Augustine moved the family up the Potomac River to another Washington family home, Little Hunting Creek Plantation — later renamed Mount Vernon.

They moved again in 1738 to Ferry Farm on the Rappahannock River, opposite Fredericksburg, Virginia, where Washington spent much of his youth.

Childhood and Education

Little is known about Washington's childhood, which fostered many of the fables later biographers manufactured to fill in the gap. Among these are the stories that Washington threw