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George Washington ... Founding Father (Virginia) |
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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. |
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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 adjutantship 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" (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. | |
Information from The National Archives ...
Image: Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution | |
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