George Washington

George Washington was born on February 22, 1732 in Westmoreland, VA. He was the first son of Augustine Washington and Mary Ball Washington. George Washington's father died in 1743 after that he moved to Mount Vernon with his brother. When he wanted to go out to sea his mother had discouraged him so instead he turned to surveying. Later on his brother had died and he inherited Mount Vernon.

In April 1754, George was on his way to establish a post at Forks of the Ohio, That's when he learned that the French had already made a fort there. He heard that the French were advancing so he hurried and put a fort together in Pennsylvania. Washington would later on lose that battle with the French. In 1755 at the age of 23 he was promoted to colonel and appointed commander in chief of the Virginia militia. Assuming that the Virginia Fort was safe from a French attack he left the army in 1758 and went back to Mount Vernon, focusing his attention on restoring his neglected estate. With the support from his friends he went into politics he severed in Virginia House of Burgesses. In January 1759 he married Martha Dandridge Cutis, she already had 2 children when they got married. After 1769, Washington became a leader in Virginia's opposition to Great Britain's colonial policies. In March 1776, using cannon brought down from Ticonderoga by Henry Knox, Washington occupied Dorchester Heights, effectively commanding the city and forcing the British to evacuate on March 17. In the last months of 1776, desperately short of men and supplies, Washington almost despaired. He had lost New York City to the British. In June 1778 he attacked the British near Monmouth Courthouse, N.J. on their withdrawal from Philadelphia to New York. In 1780 the main theater of the war moved to the south. Washington had grown enormously in stature during the war. After the war Washington returned to Mount Vernon, which had declined in his absence. Preferring to concentrate on restoring Mount Vernon, he added a greenhouse, a mill, an icehouse, and new land to the estate. In May 1787, Washington headed the Virginia delegation to the Constitutional Convension in Philadelphia and was unanimously elected presiding officer. His presence lent prestige to the proceedings, and although he made few direct contributions, he generally supported the advocates of a strong central government. After the new Constitution was submitted to the states for ratification and became legally operative, he was unanimously elected president.

Apr. 30, 1789, Washington was elected President of the United States. Hoping to prevent sectionalism from dividing the new nation, he toured the New England states and the South. Because he supported many of