George Washington The first president of the United States, George Washington, was born in Virginia, on February 22, 1732.he didn’t have much formal training as a youngster, but he learned to survey land at sixteen. Later on he became the county surveyor. In the early 1750s George Washington was a major in the Virginia militia. He made a three-hundred mile journey to report the French’s presence to colonial officials. IN 1754, in Fort Duquesne, he fought three-hundred French soldiers. He was promoted to colonel by this time. A year later two horses were shot beneath him, but he survived unharmed. He was later given a job to command all the troupes of Virginia the same year. He married Martha D. Custis, a widow, on January 6/1759. He and Martha …show more content…
The British government now wanted to tax the colonies. Many men, including Washington, thought it unfair for Britain to place a tax on them when they weren’t allowed to make any decisions with British government. The first shots of the American Revolution were fired by a group of colonist in 1775. Later that year, second Continental Congress chose Washington to be in charge of the Continental Army. He accepted the position, but refused pay. His only request was reimbursement for the expenses. Washington led his untrained, but willing army through many battles against the British soldiers. The British had the upper hand at first, but the persistence of the Continental soldiers started to pay off. The French Navy aided the Continental army in 1778, that’s when the tables started to turn. General C. Cornwallis surrendered to the continental army on October 19, 1781. A treaty was signed in 1783. Washington didn’t return to civilian life for very long before he was drawn back into politics. As a delegate from Virginia, he was involved in writing the Constitution. After the Constitution was ratified, Washington was harmoniously elected for
George Washington was born on February 22, 1732 in Westmoreland County, Virginia. He attended school for approximately eight years. Washington lived with his mother until the age of 16. At the age of 15, Washington took a job as an assistant land surveyor. In 1748, he began working in the Shanandoah Valley to help survey the land holdings of Lord Fairfax. By 1749, he established a good reputation as a land surveyor and was appointed Culpeper counties official land surveyor.
Washington had many tough decisions in his life that pulled him in every direction and called for him to think every decision through. One of these decisions, and probably the one that was on his mind the most, was the idea of the emancipation of slavery. As it is stated on page 164, Washington told his manager, Lund Washington, that he wanted to abandon slave labor at Mount Vernon and replace it with hired workers. Eventually he began to lose profits so he debated selling his slaves. His heart would not allow for him to split up families, so he was forced to deal with the consequences of using hired laborers. Another
Unfortunately, one major problem Washington and his army faced early on in the war, was the absence of money. With low revenue coming in for the soldiers, food, clothes, training, and living conditions faced a sad decline. To keep soldiers performing at their best, food was a necessity, and maintaining the food supply was starting to decline. This soon led to starvation leading to the death of men who were without food for too long. Since money was attributed to necessities only, wants such as uniforms were denied and looked at as unneeded. Without uniforms, “field officers were all but indistinguishable from the troops they led”, which contributed to unprofessionalism and confusion causing Washington to distribute certain color ribbons to officials in order to distinguish between the ranks (32). Sadly, there were even men who had to live without shoes, because there wasn’t any money to spare. With money being an issue, it also affected the amount of soldiers the army had. Men didn’t feel a strong need to return since they weren’t being paid. Washington wanted to pay men in advance so they would have another reason, other than for the love of their country, to stay and fight, but there was not enough money to give out (63). Sadly, only 2,540 of Washington’s army had reenlisted, out of a total around 10,000 (63-64). With more money, like the British contained, the Continental Army could have been healthier, fuller, and even better trained. I believe this could have helped the army by providing an easier way to reach freedom for America. With this not being the case, I have a higher respect for Washington and his army for continuing to persevere and move forward when they had little hope at times. Although there was many negatives about being in the Continental Army at this time, McCullough kept stating how Washington
George Washington at the very young age of 21 played a tremendous role in the French and Indian War. He was appointed to lead a mission after a series of incidents and attacks in the upper Ohio River Valley. Being appointed to lead a small cavalry to order the removal of the French forts. During this quest, once there they were accepted courteously but was denied possession of the forts. Later, they decided that the rejection required retaliation.
On July 4, 1776 the Declaration of Independence was established and many of the U.S. citizens toppled down a statue of King George the III. In response to this, King George sent over a thousand troops over to “tame” the rebels in the U.S. George Washington was a short-tempered general but he had much courage, and his troops respected him. The American Revolution lasted for eight years with Washington having three wins, four losses, and one draw. His tactics persuaded the French Army to help Washington’s troop with the war. The war finally ended when General Howe surrendered to Washington and his troops on November
Before the outbreak of the American Revolution that led to the rise of George Washington, tensions between British authorities and the colonists had built up; This was due to the British parliament’s attempts to raise revenue by taxing the colonies. Examples of these taxes were the Stamp Act of 1765, the Townshend Tariffs of 1767, and the Tea Act of 1773. In turn, the First Continental Congress was formed in Philadelphia in September 1774 in hopes to solve the problems between the colonists and the British government. During the Second Continental Congress, delegates voted to declare independence from England and form a Continental army with Washington as commander in chief. Thus, the Revolutionary War starts. To end the war, the Americans
George Washington was born February 11th, 1731 but according to the Gregorian calendar he was born February 22nd, 1732. He grew up in Stanford County, Virginia with his brothers and sisters. When Washington was just 20 years old his brother Lawrence
George Washington, a man of many military achievements, brought ragtag farmers to military men, and destroyed the most powerful army in the world. Washington was appointed the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army on June 14, 1775. Washington, who had military experience before serving in the Continental Army, had never commanded an army of this size. He was appointed leader of the Continental Army because John Hancock, president of the Second Continental Congress, thought of him as a man of great character who would help unite the colonies. Brilliant character and leadership help George Washington win battles over the British, and make farmers into true military men.
This magnificent man was our first president. He was the first born child of his mother but not his father. His father was Augustine Washington, but had two other boys and one girl with his former wife Jane Butler who died in 1730. Augustine remarried Mary Ball in 1731 and on February 22, 1732 they had George Washington. In 1743 Augustine died and left Mary to take care of all the children they had together and the children he had with Jane. He had a total of ten children. George was only eleven when his father died and had to look up to his older half brother Lawrence for guidance. Lawrence tutored and tried to give George as much of an education he could. George was excited and ambitious to start
Later on, in 1775 George was unanimously selected to be Commander-in-Chief of the Second Continental Congress, ("Primary Documents in American History"). Even though Washington was used to commanding a small militia, he had an excellent strategy. His first move was to occupy Dorchester Heights, where he brought supplies from Fort Ticonderoga and forced the British to evacuate Boston. Throughout the war for Independence, Washington continued to use his unique strategies. His strategies he used on the Hessians in Trenton was the surprise attack. Most of the battles he fought, he planned out very well. He failed sometimes, but that didn’t stop him from fighting. Washington was well organized, very attentive to details, and expected hard work and effort from his troops. During every war Washington would visit his home ten times, he stayed in Valley Forge. During the wars he would also write letters to help his army by giving cattle to his army to feed them. Then, The Treaty of Paris ended the war for Independence and started The Revolutionary War. In June of 1775, Congress ordered General Washington to lead the Continental Army in
General George Washington gained command of the continental army in July 3, 1775 from the directions of General Artemus Ward who said, “The Continental Congress having now taken all the Troops of the several Colonies, which have been
George Washington, son of Augustine Washington and Mary Ball Washington, was born on February 22, 1732, in Westmoreland County, Virginia. He served as general and commander in chief of the Revolutionary War, and was later chosen as one of the seven Virginia delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in May 1787. The convention met with the purpose of creating a constitution for the newly formed nation of the United States of America. Due to Washington’s background, he was unanimously elected president of the convention. His favor with the other delegates promoted the ratification of the US Constitution in 1788. One year later, in 1789, members of the Electoral College unanimously nominated him as the new nation’s
George Washington is seen, to the general public, as a larger than life figure. As a society, Americans have a tendency to view him as a legend, even to the point of creating stories that tell us false stories about his childhood and adulthood. Myths are taught to us from a young age about how the very first president had wooden teeth, and that he was somehow so pure that he could not tell a lie, and that he had such magnificent upper body strength that he threw a silver dollar across the Pontiac. George Washington was both an experienced military leader and a strong political leader, but in which field did he have the most impact?
There are many fascinating events and people that make up American history. Some events have changed the very ways that American values have formed and many people have risen to the challenges of their time to make a better country for every American citizen. George Washington was one of those people. He is widely known as one of the founding fathers of America. George Washington was born February 22, 1732 in Westmoreland County, Virginia. He was the oldest son of Augustine and Mary Washington. George Washington lived through and was part of many of America’s first couple defining moments in history. He served as a politician, Army officer, and became the first President of the United States. His time as an Army officer had its ups and
The American Revolutionary War in 1755 spouted from a conflict between the British government and British people living in the then 13 American colonies. The crown and his legislature passed tax measures, which the people of the thirteen American colonies fiercely opposed. American leaders took action against taxes because the government that created the laws offered no representation for those being taxed which is where taxation without any representation stems from. The crown only allowed upper-class men vote in England and most elections within American colonies, although the American voting class weren’t able to express on the ballots their views of the parliament.