George Washington Biography

George Washington is regarded as the father of the nation; United States of America because he was involved in the founding of the country. He was the commander-in-chief and the leader of the colonial military army for the period of the American Revolution. He went on to become the first president of the United States of America during the period between 1789 and 1797.

Washington was born in 1732 in a humble family of a successful planter and a slaveholder, Augustine Washington and grew up in the colonial city of Virginia.

Washington led a career in land surveying from the age of seventeen years after successfully completing his education. His father was a leader in the military that made his son Washington easily recruited in the army and was immediately promoted to the leadership role of the Virginia militia during the French-Indian war. Due to the experience, he got while serving in the continental congress he was again appointed to command the army during the American revolutionary war.

Washington had brother referred to as Lawrence who they used to travel most of the time and who had married from a famous person within Virginia. After returning from a certain visit, Lawrence died leaving behind Washington to inherit his Mount Vernon that he owned till his death. In his fourteen years, George Washington really wanted to join the royal army but his mother refused the idea. His education is not clearly known but several sources contend that he spend some eight years of school in around. The founding president was an Anglican and also a member of the freemason’s society.

His married life was a bit controversial because while he was still at 27 years he married Martha Custis who was a widow and with them, they had two children, all from his wife’s previous union. They jeered and condemned for not having children prompting the two to move away but still in Mount Vernon, near Alexandria. The wife embarked seriously on the plantation work because they moved away from the frustrating public.

The American Revolution

George Washington led the colonial army against the British mercenaries during the American Revolution and he led them to a successful conquest. This made him a famous personality in the United States. He was voted as the president of the United States convention that was writing 1787, he was elected leader of the convention that drafted the U.S. Constitution. In 1789, Washington was elected by a majority of the Electoral College as the first president of the United States.

As the founding father of the nation, he realized the need for building a strong foundation anchored on stability, integrity and national purpose. He retired from the presidency after serving his two constitutional terms and died three years later at his Virginia farm located at Mount Vernon. One notable thing about his death was that before dying, he used to own 300 slaves but before his demise, he wrote a while directing for their freedom after passing away of his wife.

Until the 1960s, Washington had learned the primary effects of increasing taxes charged by the British who had colonized America. He noted and advanced for the end of these inequalities and for the American people to be granted their rights. With Washington serving in the continental congress, he rose up the ladder to the position of a general at the American Revolution.

He worked tirelessly and was recognized as to be having good commanding skills than military strategist. The better general skills were noticed through his capability of keeping the army unified even during its turbulent periods. Despite his troops being poorly trained and lacked essentials for combat such as food, water, and shoes, Washington guided them through motivational words that kept them going(Cunliffe,2017).

During the eight years of war, the British colonialist were winning most of the battles to the detriment of Washington led side. In fact, they won a few battles and when in October 1781 received reinforcements from the French who were rivals to the British, they captured the colonialist troops at a place in Virginia known as Yorktown. This culminated the American Revolution and his commander declared a hero in the country.

Life as President

After the signing of the peace treaty between Britain and America, Washington relinquished his commanding position at the army and left for his Mount Vernon to lead a normal life he used to do back before becoming an army officer. He was called afterward to attend a constitutional convention that at Philadelphia in 1787. Washington agreed to their request and when he got into the conference he was appointed the leader of the group drafting the constitution. With exemplary work performances, those convening the meetings were astonished by his brilliance and noted that no other American citizen was qualified more than Washington to be able to take up as the president of United States of America.

There was a widespread strong opinion across the country for George Washington to take up the role as the president, a request he had been rescinding for a while. However, the general public mood coerced him into submission. With John Adams who was later appointed as the vice president of the country. Washington was sworn in as the president in April the same year at the city of New York because the current capital was yet to be established.

At the time of his presidency, Washington did not favor any of the political establishments but instead remained impartial even to their development. Furthermore, he notes that the presence of these parties would alter the operations of the republicanism system; therefore it was better not to have them.

This came at the backdrop of a growing rift between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton who were differing on how to develop the country. At the height of these divisions, the two key advisors of the president developed steps towards the state’s agenda; Thomas developed “”Jeffersonian Republicans”” while Alexander came up with the Hamilton agenda (Hayes, 2017). The Hamilton agenda was supported by Washington, thereby showing how he had started taking sides on issues of national importance.

During the time of Washington as the president, there were only eleven states in the USA with only a population of four million people. He did not a precedent to look after and benchmark their performances with his; therefore he was tasked with laying the foundation stone of USA. In his foreign interactions with actors in the international system, he acknowledged the power of cordial relations and sometimes stayed away from interventions outside that could harm her reputation.

At the office he appointed two chief persons amongst his group of secretaries of the state. The two were Thomas Jefferson who acted as the secretary of the state and Alexander Hamilton who was in charge of the treasury. The two members of his cabinet disagreed greatly alongside differences emanating from the duties that were performed by the federal government. The second term was a walkover for Washington with an election of 70-50 and John Adams was also elected as the vice president (Washington, 2018). He took over after the retirement of George Washington.

Retirement

Washington retired finally after serving the nation for two terms and declined to demands for him to contest for the presidency in the third term in 1796. In his final address to the nation he urged his predecessors and the state to always maintain a higher level of standards and to keep external involvement at its minimum. The farewell speech is read in the USA senate to remember the birthday of Washington.

After vacating office he resumed his earlier duties at the plantation at Mount Vernon. He would later die from an infection he got after being rained over while inspecting the progress of his vast farm in December of 1799 aged 67( Washington,2018). His remain remained were entombed at Mount Vernon where it was recognized as a national historic site in 1960. He left behind a strong legacy like his face appearing in the American dollar together with several roads, schools, the capital city and other towns referred by his name.

In conclusion about the essay, I have discussed the various roles George Washington played as the father of the United States of America. Top on the list was being a commander-in-chief of the colonial army, being the president of the convention drafting the USA Constitution and finally, he was the first president of the United States of America. He really fits the honor and privileges his name commands across the country.

Work Cited

1. Cunliffe, Marcus. George Washington: man and monument. Pickle Partners Publishing, 2017.
2. Hayes, Kevin J. George Washington: A Life in Books. Oxford University Press, 2017.
3. Washington, George. George Washington’s Barbados Diary, 1751-52. University of VIRGINIA Press, 2018.
4. Washington, George. State of the Union Addresses. BoD–Books on Demand, 2018.

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