George Washington - America's Founding Father

In addition to being an American Commander-in-Chief, he was the first President of the United States during the period of 1789 until 1797. Let's take a look at the life of George Washington. George Washington was born on February 22, 1732, to a wealthy English family of English origin in Popes Creek, a town in Westmoreland County, Virginia. In 1657, George's great-grandfather had emigrated to the United States from England. George was the oldest of six children of Augustine Washington and his second wife Mary Johnson Ball, who were married in 1731. George's father Augustine was a slave owner. He owned several tobacco plantations and was financially well-off. His mother was a pious, spiritually strong, but also stubborn and cruel woman who had an important formative influence on George's life. George was partly like her. He too was headstrong, enterprising and wanted to control everything in his life and immediate environment. On the other hand, George characterized himself as the opposite of his mother. George was literate, had a broad outlook and constantly needed positive affirmation from others to feel good about himself. In 1735, when George was three years old, the Washington family moved to Little Hunting Creek. In 1738, the family moved again, this time to an estate near Fredericksburg. When George was eleven, his father died. Shortly thereafter, George's family moved to Mount Vernon, where George was homeschooled in mathematics, geography and other subjects. In 1748, at the age of sixteen, George trained as a surveyor and in that position helped design the town of Belhaven, which is now known as Alexandria in Virginia. In his younger years, Washington was also active in the military. In 1753, for example, he led a small Virginia militia unit that raided a camp of French scouts. During these years, France and England opposed each other during the Seven Years' War, which had started because of clashing colonial aspirations in North America and the struggle over trade in the East Indies. Washington's first battle ended in defeat. In July 1752, George's half-brother Lawrence, who had inherited the family plantation from their father Augustine, died of tuberculosis. After Lawrence's death, the estate was inherited by George in 1761. On January 6, 1759, at the age of 26, George Washington married the wealthy widow Martha Dandridge Custis. Martha had two children from a previous marriage, but the couple had no children of their own, presumably George had become infertile due to a smallpox infection in his youth. The marriage made George extremely wealthy. He became one of the richest and most important men in Virginia. George and his wife continued to maintain the plantations they had come to own, keeping up their level of prosperity. In the years following his marriage, George became active in politics. As a plantation owner, he started to denounce the regulations and financial exploitation by the English crown. Washington grew to dislike the English. He was one of the first to raise his voice against the taxes Americans had to pay to a country that was far overseas, a country where, moreover, Americans had no political influence. In the fall of 1774, George became a delegate for Virginia at the First Continental Congress, which was a meeting of 12 of the 13 British colonies that would go on to become the United States in 1789. Americans became fed up with British law and meddling, such as the Proclamation Act of 1763 and the Stamp Act of 1765. The growing political divisions led to war in April 1775, with the first battles being the Battle of Lexington and the Battle of Concord. Washington was appointed General of the American Army to fight the British on June 15, 1775. General Washington provided thorough training for the American troops and led several battles against the English from 1777 until 1781. Although he lost most of the battles, Washington always fought on, showed courage and thus became the initiator and hero of the American Revolution. In 1780, the American fight for independence started to receive support from France, who were at war with England. The French support caused a turnaround. During the Battle of Yorktown, the British General Charles Cornwallis was forced to surrender, virtually ending the American Revolutionary War. George Washington left the army in December 1783 and returned to his plantation. In 1789, the Constitutional Congress in Philadelphia drafted a new constitution and decided that a president should be elected. On September 17, 1787, the new constitution was finally completed. In 1789, this constitution officially went into effect. The constitution created the tighter federation of the 13 colonial states that had been operating quite independently until that time. In 1789, George Washington took office as the first president of the United States after being unanimously elected. George had not declared himself a candidate, preferring to lead a quiet life on his plantation, but because of the large number of votes, he decided to accept the position. He took the presidential oath at Federal Hall in New York City, which at the time was the capital of the United States. John Adams became the vice president and would go on to become the second president after Washington. Washington's first term went off without a hitch. This was due to his political talents, but also due to the qualities of the political associates beside him, including Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury and Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State. One of Washington's famous actions during his first term was to end the so-called Whiskey Rebellion. When Washington signed the bill in 1791, that provided for the taxation of liquor, it led to a major revolt in rural Pennsylvania called the Whiskey Rebellion. Through the Militia Act, Washington established local military militias in 1792, which quickly ended the rebellion under the command of Washington himself, who led the troops into Pennsylvania. Washington was re-elected in 1792. During his second term, Washington had to navigate within the framework of international tensions between Britain and France, who had again gone to war with each other in 1793. President Washington managed to keep the United States out of this conflict. In March 1797, George Washington handed over his presidency to Vice President John Adams. His last action as president was a general pardon for the participants in the Whiskey Rebellion. George returned to Mount Vernon and spent his last days there. In the late evening of December 14, 1799, George Washington died after a short illness. He was mourned throughout the United States, but also abroad. Napoleon Bonaparte, for example, proclaimed 10 days of national mourning in France to honor Washington. Thank you for watching.