Life of george washington summary biography

He was able to land this prestigious job through vital connections that his older brother, Lawrence Washington, possessed. Lawrence Washington was close partners with the wealthy Colonel William Fairfax, a very wealthy Virginian politician and landholder. After receiving a good word from the influential Colonel Fairfax, George Washington not only became a successful surveyor, but also was placed in a position to gain land and political positions.

Upon the death of his brother Lawrence, George achieved his first political position in Virginia's Northern District. Furthermore, Colonel Fairfax took the young Washington under his wing as a role model and a sort of surrogate father, fostering in the ambitious George Washington a yearning to also learn about the art of war. Following a failed attempt to enter the British Royal Navy thwarted, in part, by George's motherWashington finally got his chance to serve in the militia.

Much of the surveying work that George did was for the Ohio Company, operated by the Fairfax family. A dispute between France and Great Britain over western lands in the Ohio territory prompted Fairfax to send George Washington on a scouting expedition to the lands in question. His mission was to deliver notice to the encamped French forces that the land was claimed by the British.

By the late s, Washington had experienced firsthand the effects of rising taxes imposed on American colonists by the British and came to believe that it was in the best interests of the colonists to declare independence from England. Washington served as a delegate to the First Continental Congress in in Philadelphia. By the time the Second Continental Congress convened a year later, the American Revolution had begun in earnest, and Washington was named commander in chief of the Continental Army.

Over the course of the grueling eight-year war, the colonial forces won few battles but consistently held their own against the British. In Octoberwith the aid of the French who allied themselves with the colonists over their rivals the Britishthe Continental forces were able to capture British troops under General Charles Cornwallis in the Battle of Yorktown.

This action effectively ended the Revolutionary War and Washington was declared a national hero. However, inhe was asked to attend the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and head the committee to draft the new constitution. At first, Washington balked.

Life of george washington summary biography: George Washington was born to Mary

He wanted to, at last, return to a quiet life at home and leave governing the new nation to others. But public opinion was so strong that eventually he gave in. The first presidential election was held on January 7,and Washington won handily. Because Washington, D. While in office, he signed a bill establishing a future, permanent U. The 'Father of the Nation' stressed education among his family's younger generations and even offered advice on navigating love.

The first U. He's America's first president. The icon we all think we know. But in reality, he was a complicated human being. The United States was a small nation when Washington took office, consisting of 11 states and approximately 4 million people, and there was no precedent for how the new president should conduct domestic or foreign business.

Mindful that his actions would likely determine how future presidents were expected to govern, Washington worked hard to set an example of fairness, prudence and integrity. In foreign matters, he supported cordial relations with other countries but also favored a position of neutrality in foreign conflicts. Domestically, he nominated the first chief justice of the U.

Washington applied for a commission with the British army but was turned down. Inhe resigned his commission and returned to Mount Vernon disillusioned. The same year, he entered politics and was elected to Virginia's House of Burgesses. A month after leaving the army, Washington married Martha Dandridge Custis, a widow, who was only a few months older than he.

Martha brought to the marriage a considerable fortune: an 18,acre estate, from which Washington personally acquired 6, acres. With this and land he was granted for his military service, Washington became one of the more wealthy landowners in Virginia. The marriage also brought Martha's two young children, John Jacky and Martha Patsyages six and four, respectively.

Washington lavished great affection on both of them, and was heartbroken when Patsy died just before the Revolution. Jacky died during the Revolution, and Washington adopted two of his children. During his retirement from the Virginia militia until the start of the Revolution, Washington devoted himself to the care and development of his land holdings, attending the rotation of crops, managing livestock and keeping up with the latest scientific advances.

By the s, Washington kept over enslaved people at Mount Vernon. He was said to dislike the institution of slaverybut accepted the fact that it was legal. Washington, in his will, made his displeasure with slavery known, as he ordered that all his enslaved people be granted their freedom upon the death of his wife Martha. Washington loved the landed gentry's life of horseback riding, fox hunts, fishing and cotillions.

He worked six days a week, often taking off his coat and performing manual labor with his workers. He was an innovative and responsible landowner, breeding cattle and horses and tending to his fruit orchards. Much has been made of the fact that Washington used false teeth or dentures for most of his adult life. Indeed, Washington's correspondence to friends and family makes frequent references to aching teeth, inflamed gums and various dental woes.

Washington had one tooth pulled when he was just 24 years old, and by the time of his inauguration in he had just one natural tooth left. But his false teeth weren't made of wood, as some legends suggest. Instead, Washington's false teeth were fashioned from human teeth — including teeth from enslaved people and his own pulled teeth — ivory, animal teeth and assorted metals.

Washington's dental problems, according to some historians, probably impacted the shape of his face and may have contributed to his quiet, somber demeanor: During the Constitutional Convention, Washington addressed the gathered dignitaries only once. Though the British Proclamation Act of — prohibiting settlement life of george washington summary biography the Alleghenies — irritated Washington and he opposed the Stamp Act ofhe did not take a leading role in the growing colonial resistance against the British until the widespread protest of the Townshend Acts in His letters of this period indicate he was totally opposed to the colonies declaring independence.

However, byhe wasn't opposed to resisting what he believed were fundamental violations by the Crown of the rights of Englishmen. InWashington introduced a resolution to the House of Burgesses calling for Virginia to boycott British goods until the Acts were repealed.

Life of george washington summary biography: George Washington – first American

After the passage of the Coercive Acts inWashington chaired a meeting in which the Fairfax Resolves were adopted, calling for the convening of the Continental Congress and the use of armed resistance as a last resort. He was selected as a delegate to the First Continental Congress in March After the battles of Lexington and Concord in Aprilthe political dispute between Great Britain and her North American colonies escalated into an armed conflict.

In May, Washington traveled to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia dressed in a military uniform, indicating that he was prepared for war. As was his custom, he did not seek out the office of commander, but he faced no serious competition. Washington was the best choice for a number of reasons: he had the prestige, military experience and charisma for the job and he had been advising Congress for months.

Another factor was political: The Revolution had started in New England and at the time, they were the only colonies that had directly felt the brunt of British tyranny. Virginia was the largest British colony and New England needed Southern colonial support. Political considerations and force of personality aside, Washington was not necessarily qualified to wage war on the world's most powerful nation.

Washington's training and experience were primarily in frontier warfare involving small numbers of soldiers. He wasn't trained in the open-field style of battle practiced by the commanding British generals. He also had no practical experience maneuvering large formations of infantry, commanding cavalry or artillery, or maintaining the flow of supplies for thousands of men in the field.

But he was courageous and determined and smart enough to keep one step ahead of the enemy. Washington and his small army did taste victory early in March by placing artillery above Boston, on Dorchester Heights, forcing the British to withdraw. Washington then moved his troops into New York City. But in June, a new British commander, Sir William Howearrived in the Colonies with the largest expeditionary force Britain had ever deployed to date.

In Augustthe British army launched an attack and quickly took New York City in the largest battle of the war. Washington's army was routed and suffered the surrender of 2, men. He ordered the remains of his army to retreat into Pennsylvania across the Delaware River. Confident the war would be over in a few months, General Howe wintered his troops at Trenton and Princeton, leaving Washington free to attack at the time and place of his choosing.

On Christmas night,Washington and his men returned across the Delaware River and attacked unsuspecting Hessian mercenaries at Trenton, forcing their surrender. A few days later, evading a force that had been sent to destroy his army, Washington attacked the British again, this life of george washington summary biography at Princeton, dealing them a humiliating loss.

General Howe's strategy was to capture colonial cities and stop the rebellion at key economic and political centers. He never abandoned the belief that once the Americans were deprived of their major cities, the rebellion would wither. In the summer ofhe mounted an offensive against Philadelphia. Washington moved in his army to defend the city but was defeated at the Battle of Brandywine.

Philadelphia fell two weeks later. In the late summer ofthe British army sent a major force, under the command of John Burgoyne, south from Quebec to Saratoga, New York, to split the rebellion between New England and the southern colonies. Without support from Howe, who couldn't reach him in time, Burgoyne was forced to surrender his entire 6, man army.

The victory was a major turning point in the war as it encouraged France to openly ally itself with the American cause for independence. Through all of this, Washington discovered an important lesson: The political nature of war was just as important as the military one. His early military fortunes were mixed, but an American victory at Saratoga in October 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 Octoberthe British army surrendered at Yorktown. Peace talks began in Paris and a treaty was signed in InWashington was elected president of the Constitutional Convention and used his immense influence to persuade the states to ratify the resulting constitution.

Life of george washington summary biography: George Washington was an American general

Inhe was unanimously elected the first president of the United States. He faced huge challenges in welding together the individual states to establish a new nation, and creating a government for that nation. Washington was also dismayed by the emergence of political parties, the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans, led by his two closest advisers, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson respectively.