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| Affiliation | Nonpartisan |
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| <- |
1797-01-01 |
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| Name | George Washington |
| Address | 3200 Mt Vernon Memorial Hwy
Alexandria, Virginia , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
February 22, 1732
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| Died | December 14, 1799
(67 years)
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| Contributor | Jake |
| Last Modifed | NJLBT
Feb 17, 2021 10:13am |
| Tags |
English - Married - Army - Freemason - Episcopalian - Straight -
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| Info | Born in 1732 into a Virginia planter family, he learned the morals, manners, and body of knowledge requisite for an 18th century Virginia gentleman.
He pursued two intertwined interests: military arts and western expansion. At 16 he helped survey Shenandoah lands for Thomas, Lord Fairfax. Commissioned a lieutenant colonel in 1754, he fought the first skirmishes of what grew into the French and Indian War. The next year, as an aide to Gen. Edward Braddock, he escaped injury although four bullets ripped his coat and two horses were shot from under him.
From 1759 to the outbreak of the American Revolution, Washington managed his lands around Mount Vernon and served in the Virginia House of Burgesses. Married to a widow, Martha Dandridge Custis, he devoted himself to a busy and happy life. But like his fellow planters, Washington felt himself exploited by British merchants and hampered by British regulations. As the quarrel with the mother country grew acute, he moderately but firmly voiced his resistance to the restrictions.
When the Second Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia in May 1775, Washington, one of the Virginia delegates, was elected Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. On July 3, 1775, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, he took command of his ill-trained troops and embarked upon a war that was to last six grueling years.
He realized early that the best strategy was to harass the British. He reported to Congress, “we should on all Occasions avoid a general Action, or put anything to the Risque, unless compelled by a necessity, into which we ought never to be drawn.” Ensuing battles saw him fall back slowly, then strike unexpectedly. Finally in 1781 with the aid of French allies–he forced the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.
Washington longed to retire to his fields at Mount Vernon. But he soon realized that the Nation under its Articles of Confederation was not functioning well, so he became a prime mover in the steps leading to the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia in 1787. When the new Constitution was ratified, the Electoral College unanimously elected Washington President.
He did not infringe upon the policy making powers that he felt the Constitution gave Congress. But the determination of foreign policy became preponderantly a Presidential concern. When the French Revolution led to a major war between France and England, Washington refused to accept entirely the recommendations of either his Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, who was pro-French, or his Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, who was pro-British. Rather, he insisted upon a neutral course until the United States could grow stronger.
To his disappointment, two parties were developing by the end of his first term. Wearied of politics, feeling old, he retired at the end of his second. In his Farewell Address, he urged his countrymen to forswear excessive party spirit and geographical distinctions. In foreign affairs, he warned against long-term alliances.
Washington enjoyed less than three years of retirement at Mount Vernon, for he died of a throat infection December 14, 1799. For months the Nation mourned him.
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| Date | Firm | Approve | Disapprove | Don't Know |
| 06/13/2007-06/24/2007 |
Rasmussen Reports |
94.00% ( 0.0) |
2.00% ( 0.0) |
4.00% ( 0.0) |
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| INFORMATION LINKS |
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| 1st Congressional Gold Medal Recipient George Washington |
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| Farewell Address - George Washington |
Discuss |
| George Washington - Eighth Annual Message to Congress (December 7, 1796) |
Discuss |
| George Washington - Fifth Annual Message to Congress (December 3, 1793) |
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| George Washington - First Annual Message to Congress (January 8, 1790) |
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| George Washington - Fourth Annual Message to Congress (November 6, 1792) |
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| George Washington - Message to the House of Representatives, Declining to Submit Diplomatic Instructions and Correspondence (March 30, 1796) |
Discuss |
| George Washington - Proclamation Against Crimes Against the Cherokee Nations (December 12, 1792) |
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| George Washington - Proclamation against Opposition to Execution of Laws and Excise Duties in Western Pennsylvania (August 7, 1794) |
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| George Washington - Proclamation of Militia Service (September 25, 1794) |
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| George Washington - Proclamation of Neutrality (April 22, 1793) |
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| George Washington - Proclamation of Pardons in Western Pennsylvania (July 10, 1795) |
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| George Washington - Second Annual Message to Congress (December 8, 1790) |
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| George Washington - Seventh Annual Message to Congress (December 8, 1795) |
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| George Washington - Sixth Annual Message to Congress (November 19, 1794) |
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| George Washington - Talk to the Cherokee Nation (August 29, 1796) |
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| George Washington - Talk to the Chiefs and Counselors of the Seneca Nation (December 29, 1790) |
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| George Washington - Thanksgiving Proclamation (October 3, 1789) |
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| George Washington - Third Annual Message to Congress (October 25, 1791) |
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| George Washington - Veto Message on Congressional Redistricting (April 5, 1792) |
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| President George Washington Inaugural Address April 30, 1789 |
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| President George Washington Inaugural Address March 4, 1793 |
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| Recruiting and Maintaining an Army - George Washington |
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