George Washington

George Washington Biography

Lansdowne portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, 1796

Born on February 22, 1732, Washington was the first President and is best known as the Commander in Chief of the Colonial Army. If you’re in a rush, just read our fact file. We also have speeches, quotations and pictures of Washington.

Born on February 22, 1732 (by the Gregorian Calendar), Washington was known as the Father of His Country. He was an American general as well as the Commander in Chief of the colonial armies in the
American Revolutionary War, then served as President of the 1787 Constitutional Convention and became the first President of the United States.

George Washington was the President while securing America’s independence and is generally accepted as one of the most important Presidents in the history of our country. Washington voluntarily stepped down after 8 years in service to his country as President, handing the reins to John Adams.

Early Life

Washington was raised by English parents, Augustine Washington (1693 – 1743) and Mary Ball Washington (1708 – 1789) on their Pope’s Creek Estate at Colonial Beach in Virginia, near Fredericksburg. During his younger years he surveyed the Shenandoah Valley, overcame smallpox in 1751 while in Barbados where Washington had travelled with his half brother Lawrence to help him overcome tuberculosis. Washington was initiated as a Freemason in Fredericksburg.

In 1754, Washington began his service with the Virginia Militia as a colonel. He served in the Ohio Valley before being asked to aid the British Army during the French and Indian War. Before resigning his commission to marry in 1757, Washington organized the First Virginia Regiment.

George Washington in 1772 by Charles Willson Peale - the earliest authenticated portrait

After 20 years, in 1774, of work and shrewd investment, Washington was asked to be a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congress’, though he did not support independence until 1776.

American Revolutionary War

The Continental Congress named Washington the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, after which Washington drove the British out of Boston in 1776. Washington was then driven out of New York City, Long Island and into New Jersey.

On Christmas Day, 1776, Washington lead a surprise attack on Trenton New Jersey, swinging the war back in the favor of the revolutionaries. This was followed up by another major victory at Princeton on January 3rd. Despite the moral boost of the victories, the particularly harsh winter lead to a large contraction in the size of Washington’s army to number as low as a thousand, through both lack of reenlistment and desertion. American victory was despite the brilliance of the victories not guaranteed at this stage. Washington set about a reorganisation of the army in response with both a carrot and stick method – a carrot of promise of monetary reward for three-year enlistment or land for enlisting for the duration of the war, a stick of increasing punishment from 39 to 100 lashes in order to discourage desertion. This was effective and numbers quickly rose again to ten thousand under Washington’s direct command.

Washington continued to battle effectively against the British, losing some battles but remaining an effective leader throughout, until he helped stopped the British attempts to quell the Revolution by joining American and French forces in Yorktown Virginia and successfully negotiating a surrender.

After resigning as Commander in Chief, Washington presided over the American Constitutional Congress in 1787. Washington’s presence, more than his participation, was enough to encourage the Congress forward, after which he pushed for the adoption of the Constitution where, again, his very presence was enough to convince most states, including Virginia.

Presidency

In 1789, George Washington was unanimously elected as the first President of the United States, the only man to ever achieve a unanimous election by the electoral college.

During his service as President, Washington was, more than anything, a model of democracy to future presidents, setting precedents in many areas including a faith in civil, not military, rule and a focus on the will of the people above all things.

Later Life

Washington relinquished the presidency to John Adams in March of 1797, at which time he returned to Mount Vernon where he spent time on his farming, turning an unprofitable farm into one of the largest distilleries in the United States which produced whiskey and fruit brandy. Two years later, on 13th July 1799, Adams appointed Washington Commander in Chief of the American army in any war that might break out with France, later that year, on December 14, Washington died.

Religion

From a religious perspective, George Washington was a controversial figure. Like many of the founding fathers, he was a Deist – believing in God, but not believing that God intervenes on a day to day basis. Before the Revolution, he served as a member of the laity of two Episcopal churches in Virginia.

Many of Washington’s talks and personal affairs had to do with his deeply engrained religious and Masonic beliefs. Most of “Washington’s Prayers” are regarded by historians as having been edited or written by other authors entirely.

George Washington painting by John Trumbull, circa 1780

Washington was an early supporter of religious pluralism. In 1775 he ordered that his troops not burn in the Pope in effigy on Guy Fawkes night. In 1790 he wrote that he envisioned a country “which gives bigotry no sanction…persecution no assistance…. May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.” This letter was seen by the Jewish community as a significant event; they felt that for the first time in millennia Jews would enjoy full human and political rights.

Politics and Legacy

Throughout his life, Washington was a proponent of democracy, fair treatment of slaves, and the will of the Freemasons, and organization in which he was heavily involved.

The capital city of the United States, Washington, D.C., is named after him and he was very involved in the placement of the White House, the creation of the District of Columbia and the placement of the United States Military Academy.

Numerous ships, the state of Washington and hundreds of schools are named after him, and his picture is on the one dollar bill and the quarter-dollar coin.

George Washington set a precedent of valuing his office and continuously seeking the will of the people for every decision – though sometimes he did choose what he felt was best for the country, to the point of having been the first President ever to use the Presidential veto. He is, to this day, revered as one of the greatest Presidents to ever serve, one of the most influential founding fathers and as a beacon of democracy in a time where military might was seen as more important than the will of the people.

George Washington Facts

• President No: 1
• Party: None, but Federalist leaning
• First term: April 30, 1789 to March 4, 1793
• Second term: March 4, 1793 to March 4, 1797
• Age when he became President: 57
• First Lady: Martha Washington (Martha Dandridge Custis), 1732-1802
• Married in year: 1759
• Born in: Westmoreland County, Virginia
• Died: 14th December, 1799, Mount Vernon, Virginia
• Grave site: Washington Burial Vault, Mount Vernon, Virginia
• Children: 2 step, 2 adopted. Stepchildren: John Curtis (1754-81) and Martha Curtis (1755-73)
• Religion: Episcopalian
• Population at time George Washington was president: 3,929,214
• Hobbies: Fishing, riding
• Pets: Horse named Nelson
• Transportation George Washington would have taken: Horse and carriage
• Communication Methods: Letter
• Parents: Augustine and Mary Bell Washington
• Education: Did not attend college, but instead studied at home
• From: Virginia
• Martha Washington’s maiden name: Martha Dandridge Custis
• Jobs Before President: Planter, surveyor, farmer, soldier, general
• Previous government positions: Virginia House of Burgesses member, Continental Congress representative and Chairman of the Constitutional Convention
• Height: 6 feet, 2 inches

Places Associated with George Washington

Mount Vernon

- Washington’s home and farm, around 18 miles south of Washington D.C., offers tours around the historic house as well as museum exhibits featuring both objects Washington owned and demonstrations of what living in his era was like. Mount Vernon official website

George Washington Timeline

Timeline Key

• World Events
• Personal Life
• Political Events

Timeline:

• 1732: George Washington is Born on February 22nd
• 1749: Becomes Official Surveyor of Culpeper County, Virginia
• 1751: Visits Barbados with his brother
• 1753: As Major, George Washington carries the British ultimatum to the French in the Ohio Valley River
• 1754: As Colonel, George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity during the French and Indian War
• 1755: On July 9th, Colonel Washington and General Edward Braddock are ambushed by the French and Indians
• 1755-1758: Colonel Washington placed in command of Virginia’s frontier soldiers.
• 1759: January 6th. Marries Martha Dandridge Custis
• 1759-74: Member of Virginia House of Burgesses.
• 1774: Elected delegate to the First Continental Congress.
• 1775: Elected delegate to the Second Continental Congress.
• 1775: June 15th. Continent Congress unanimously elect Washington to command Continental Army
• 1776: July 4th. Continental Congress signs the Declaration of Independence.
• 1776: December 26th Leads surprise attack on Trenton, New Jersey which swings war in revolutionaries favour.
• 1777: January 3rd. Successful attack on Princeton led by Washington.
• 1781: October 19th. Yorktown Victory.
• 1787: May 25th. Elected as Chairman of Constitutional Convention.
• 1789: Washington’s tenure as President begins.
• 1789: June 1st Washington signs the first act on Congress, which deals with administration of oaths.
• 1789: Establishment by Congress of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
• 1789: North Carolina becomes a state.
• 1789-99: French Revolution ends absolute monarchy in France, in part inspired by the American Revolution.
• 1790: Plans for the U.S. Capitol approved by Washington.
• 1790: First census of the country takes place over nine months, revealing the population to be 3,929,214
• 1790: Rhode Island achieves statehood.
• 1793: In war between Britain and France declares American neutrality.
• 1794: Uses federal troops against the Whiskey Rebellion in Western Pennsylvania.
• 1799: Passes away.

Books about George Washington

George Washington Speeches

George Washington Inaugural Addresses

• 1789 Inaugural Address
• 1793 Inaugural Address

George Washington State of the Union Addresses

• January 1790 State of the Union Address
• December 1790 State of the Union Address
• 1791 State of the Union Address
• 1792 State of the Union Address
• 1793 State of the Union Address
• 1794 State of the Union Address
• 1795 State of the Union Address
• 1796 State of the Union Address

Other George Washington Speeches

• George Washington Farewell Address

George Washington Quotes

We try our best to find citations for all sources we include below. Many quote sites fail to provide citations and therefore the quotations in question might not actually be verifiable. Here we only include ones we can find a source for.

Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience.

The 110th of the 110 Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior, which Washington copied out as a teenager.

We must consult Brother Jonathan.

Attributed to Washington multiple times during the American Revolution. Brother Jonathan is a reference to Jonathan Trumbull, the Governor of Connecticut.

Put none but Americans on guard tonight.

30 April 1777, Circular letter to commanders of regiments.

When we assumed the solider, we did not lay aside the citizen.

26 June, 1775. Letter to New York Legislature.

It is too probable that no plan we propose will be adopted. Perhaps another dreadful conflict is to be sustained. If to please the people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterwards defend our work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and the honest can repair. The event is in the hand of God.

14 May, 1787, Speech at Constitutional Convention, Philadelphia.

The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.

30 April, 1789, First Inaugural Address, New York.

Happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.

17 August, 1790. Letter to Hebrew congregation of Newport, Rhode Island.

The basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and to alter their Constitution of government. But the Constitution which at any times exists, ’til changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole People, is sacredly obligatory upon all.

17 September 1796, Farewell Address

It is our true policy to street clear of permanent alliance with any portion of the foreign world.

17 September 1796, Farewell Address

Avoid the necessity of those overgrown Military establishments, which under any form of Government are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to Republican Liberty.

17 September 1796, Farewell Address

Observe good faith and justice towards all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.

17 September 1796, Farewell Address

The Nation, which indulges towards another an habitual hatred, or an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest.

17 September 1796, Farewell Address

It is well, I die hard, but I am not afraid to go.

14 December 1799, Last Words

Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.

29 July, 1759, Letter of Instructions to the Captains of the Virginia Regiments

Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world that a Freeman, contending for liberty on his own ground, is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth.

2 July, 1776, General Orders, New York Headquarters

The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness from which no human efforts will deliver them. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice of brave resistance, or the most abject submission. We have, therefore, to resolve to conquer or die.

27 August, 1776, Address to the Continental Army before the battle of Long Island

There is nothing that gives a man consequence, and redners him fit for command, like a support that renders him independent of everybody but the State he serves.

24 September, 1776. Letter to the President of Congress, Heights of Harlem.

To place any dependence upon militia, is, assuredly, resting upon a broken staff.

Letter to the President of Congress, Heights of Harlem.

Without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive. And with it, everything honorable and glorious.

15 November, 1781. To Lafayette.

If men are to be precluded from offering their sentiments on a matter which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences that can invite the consideration of mankind, reason is of no use to us; the freedom of speech may be taken away, and dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.

15 March, 1783. Address to officers of the army.

To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.

8 January, 1790. First Annual Address to both Houses of Congress

I heard the bullets whistle; and believe me, there is something charming in the sound.

3rd May, 1754. Letter to his mother.

Wherever and whenever one person is found adequate to the discharge of a duty by close application thereto, it is worse executed by two persons, and scarcely done at all if three or more persons are employed therein.

24th September, 1792. Letter to Henry Knox (Secretary of War)

Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence … the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake; since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government.

17th September, 1796. Farewell Address.

True friendship is a plant of slow growth.

15th January, 1783. Letter to Bushrod Washington, his nephew.

The child of avarice, the brother of iniquity, and the father of mischief.

15th January, 1783. On gambling in a letter.

The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey established government.

17th September, 1796. Farewell address.

I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain (what I consider the most enviable of all titles) the character of an “Honest Man”.

28th August, 1788. Letter to Alexander Hamilton.

I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy.

17th September, 1796. Farewell address.

In the Presence of Others Sing not to yourself with a humming Noise, nor Drum with your Fingers or Feet.

1747. Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation.

Guard against the postures of pretend patriotism.

17th September, 1796. Farewell address.

My movements to the chair of government will be accompanied by feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution.

1st April, 1789. Letter to Henry Knox.

Every man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience.

May 1789. Letter to United Baptist Churches in Virginia.

Let me now … warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party.

Farewell Address

There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation.

Farewell Address

With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take my leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable.

4th December, 1783. Farewell address to officers at Fraunces Tavern, New York City

Necessity, dire necessity, will, nay must, justify my attack.

Attributed. 25th December, 1776.

The land at the point is 20 or 25 feed above the common surface of the water; and a considerable bottom of flat, well-timbered land all around it, very convenient for building.

1754. Journal. On Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. From a scouting mission to find the future location for Fort Duquesne.

We pour legislation into the senatorial saucer to cool it.

Quoted in Omitted Chapters of History Disclosed in the Life and Papers of Edmund Randolph, by Moncure D. Conway

Men who are familiarized to danger, meet it without shrinking, whereas those who have never seen service often apprehend danger where no danger lies.

9th February, 1776. Letter to the President of the Continental Congress.

We should never despair; our situation before has been unpromising and has changed for the better, so I trust, it will again. If new difficulties arise, we must only put forth new exertions and proportion our efforts to the exigency of the times.

15th July, 1777. Letter to Major General Philip Schuyler regarding the fall of Fort Ticonderoga.

I can’t tell a lie, Pa; you know I can’t tell a lie. I did cut it with my hatchet.

Attributed to Washington by Parson Weems in Life of George Washington, 1800.

As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible.

17th September, 1796. Farewell Address.

Pictures of George Washington

1776 Portrait of George Washington by Charles Willson Peale. Oil on Canvas.

1772 Portrait of George Washington by Charles Willson Peale. French and Indian War Uniform.

1779 Portrait of George Washington by Charles Willson Peale. Oil on canvas.

Gilbert Stuart's Williamstown Portrait of George Washington, Oil on Canvas, painted after 1796

General George Washington at Trenton, by John Truman, 1792

Washington and Lafayette at Valley Forge, painting by John Ward Dunsmore, published 1907

The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown October 19 1781, John Trumbull, circa 1787

General George Washington Resigning his Commission, John Trumbull, 1817

Portrait of George Washington by Rembrandt Peale, circa 1850

George Washington Lansdowne portrait by Gilbert Stuart, 1796

George Washington Constable-Hamilton Portrait by Gilbert Stuart, 1797

George Washington at the Battle of Princeton, 1784, Charles Willson Peale

George Washington by James Peale, 1787-1790

George Washington by Robert Edge Pine, 1785

Washington Before Yorktown, 1823, Rembrandt Peale

Administration

Those who took part in George Washington’s administration are listed below. These cabinet members include some of the most famous of the American revolutionaries.

1788-89 Election Results

Please note that each elector had two votes, and thus Washington got 100% of the first votes and then the rest were divided among other candidates to decide a vice-president.