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George Washington (February 22,
1732–December 14, 1799) was an Agriculture
in the United States|American planter, Politics of
the United States|political figure, and military
leader. Born of English people|English descent
into a moderatly wealthy family in the Province of
Virginia, Washington worked as a surveyor before
inheriting his parents' plantation, Mount Vernon
(plantation)|Mount Vernon. 

Washington was a leader in the British Army during
the French and Indian War and other conflicts, but
later resigned his post to marry Martha
Washington|Martha Dandridge Custis, a wealthy
widow with two children. He became a member of the
House of Burgesses and on the onset of the
American Revolution became a revolutionary leader,
attending both the first and second Continental
Congresses. Washinhton was appointed
Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army in the
American Revolutionary War (1775–1783),
leading the Americans to victory over the British.
After the war, he served as president of the 1787
History of the United States
Constitution|Constitutional Convention.

Washington, a hugely popular and generally
non-partisan figure, was elected as the first
President of the United States (1789–1797)
after the United States Constitution|U.S.
Constitution was adopted. The two-term Washington
Administration was marked by the establishment of
key American institutions that continue to
operate. After his term was up, Washington retired
to Mount Vernon for the remainder of his life,
voluntarily relinquishing power even as some
wanted him to retain that power for life. Because
of his central role in the founding of the United
States and enduring legacy, Washington is
sometimes called the "Father of the Nation|Father
of the Country."

==Early life==
According to the Julian calendar, Washington was
born on February 11, 1731; according to the
Gregorian calendar, which was adopted during
Washington's life and is used today, he was born
on February 22 (Washington's Birthday is
celebrated on the Gregorian date).

Also note that the English year began on March 25
(Annunciation Day, or Lady Day) at the time of his
birth, hence the difference in his birth year. His
birthplace was Pope's Creek Plantation, south of
Colonial Beach, Virginia|Colonial Beach in
Westmoreland County, Virginia. 

Washington was part of the economic and cultural
elite of the slavery|slave-owning planters of
Virginia. His parents Augustine Washington (1693 -
April 12, 1743) and Mary Ball (1708 - August 25,
1789) were of England|English descent. He spent
much of his boyhood at Ferry Farm in Stafford
County, Virginia|Stafford County, near
Fredericksburg, Virginia|Fredericksburg and
visited his Washington cousins at Chotank in King
George County. As a youth, he trained as a
surveyor (obtaining his certificate from the
College of William and Mary) and helped survey the
Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. He visited
Barbados, with his sick half-brother Lawrence in
1751, and survived an attack of smallpox, although
his face was scarred by the disease. He was
initiated as a Freemasonry|Freemason in
Fredericksburg on February 4, 1752. On Lawrence's
death in July 1752, he rented and eventually
inherited the estate, Mount Vernon
(plantation)|Mount Vernon in Fairfax County,
Virginia (near Alexandria, Virginia|Alexandria).

==French and Indian War and afterwards==


At twenty-two years of age, George Washington
fired some of the first shots of what would become
a world war. In 1752, France began the military
occupation of the Ohio Country, a region that was
also claimed by Virginia. In 1753, Washington
volunteered to deliver an ultimatum to the French
from Robert Dinwiddie, the governor of Virginia.
The French declined to leave, and Dinwiddie moved
to counter the French advance.

In 1754, Washington, now commissioned a lieutenant
colonel in the First Virginia Regiment, led a
mission into the Ohio Country. He ambushed a
French Canadian scouting party, killing ten,
including its leader, Joseph Coulon de
Jumonville|Ensign Jumonville. Washington then
built Fort Necessity, which soon proved
inadequate, as he was Battle of the Great
Meadows|compelled to surrender to a larger French
and American Indian force. The surrender terms
that Washington signed included an admission that
he had "assassinated" Jumonville. (The document
was written in French, which Washington could not
read.) The "Battle of Jumonville Glen|Jumonville
affair" became an international incident, and
helped to ignite the French and Indian War, known
outside the United States as the Seven Years' War.

Washington was released by the French with the
promise not to return to the Ohio Country for one
year. In 1755, Washington accompanied the Braddock
Expedition, a major effort by the British Army to
retake the Ohio Country. The expedition ended in
disaster at the Braddock Expedition#Battle of the
Monongahela|Battle of the Monongahela. Washington
distinguished himself in the debacle — he
had two horses shot out from under him, and four
bullets pierced his coat — and showed
coolness under fire in organizing the retreat. In
Virginia, Washington was acclaimed as a hero, and
he commanded the First Virginia Regiment for
several more years, although the focus of the war
had shifted elsewhere. In 1758, he accompanied the
John Forbes (General)|Forbes Expedition, which
successfully drove the French away from Fort
Duquesne. 

Washington's goal at the outset of his military
career had been to secure a commission as a
British officer — which in the British
colonies was a big step up from being a mere
colonial officer. The promotion did not come, and
so in 1759 Washington resigned his commission and
married Martha Washington|Martha Dandridge Custis,
a wealthy widow with two children. Washington
adopted the two children, but never fathered any
of his own. The newlywed couple moved to Mount
Vernon where he took up the life of a genteel
farmer and slavery|slave owner. He became a member
of the House of Burgesses.

By 1774, Washington had become one of the
colonies' wealthiest men. In that year, he was
chosen as a delegate from Virginia to the First
Continental Congress. Although the American
Revolution had not yet devolved into open warfare,
tensions between the colonies and Great Britain
continued to rise, and Washington attended the
Second Continental Congress (1775) in military
uniform — the only delegate to do so.

==American Revolution==
see details|American Revolutionary War

The Continental Congress appointed Washington as
commander-in-chief of the newly-formed Continental
Army on June 15, 1775. The Massachusetts delegate
John Adams suggested his appointment, citing his
"skill as an officer... great talents and
universal character." He assumed command on July
3. 

Washington successfully drove the Kingdom of Great
Britain|British forces out of Boston,
Massachusetts|Boston on March 17, 1776 by
stationing artillery on Dorchester Heights. The
British army, led by General William Howe,
retreated to Halifax, Nova Scotia|Halifax, Canada,
and Washington's army moved to New York City in
anticipation of a British offensive there.
Washington lost the Battle of Long Island on
August 22 but managed to save most of his forces.
However, several other battles in the area sent
Washington scrambling across New Jersey, leaving
the future of the Revolution in doubt.

On the night of December 25, 1776, Washington led
the American forces across the Delaware River to
attack Hessians|Hessian forces in Trenton, New
Jersey, who did not anticipate an attack near
Christmas. Washington followed up the assault with
a surprise attack on General Charles Cornwallis's
forces at Battle of Princeton|Princeton on the eve
of January 2, 1777, eventually retaking the
colony. The successful attacks built morale among
the pro-independence colonists.

Later in the year, General Howe led an offensive
aimed at taking the colonial capital of
Philadelphia. He severely defeated Washington's
forces at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11
and succeeded in his task. An attempt to dislodge
the British, the Battle of Germantown, failed as a
result of fog and confusion, and Washington was
forced to retire for the winter to Valley Forge.

However, Washington's army recovered from the
defeats and harsh winter conditions and drilled
during the spring under the Prussia|German Baron
Friedrich von Steuben, steadily improving its
fighting capabilities. Later, it attacked the
British army moving from Philadelphia to New York
at the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778.

Against tremendous odds, Washington sustained his
army throughout the Revolution, keeping British
forces tied down in the center of the country
while Generals Horatio Gates and Benedict Arnold
won the Battle of Saratoga in 1777. After
Monmouth, the British concentrated their
offensives in the southern colonies, and rather
than attack them there, Washington's forces moved
to Rhode Island, where he commanded military
operations until the war's end. His ability to
delay British advances earned him the nickname
"American Fabius Maximus|Fabius".

In 1779, Washington ordered a fifth of the army to
carry out the Sullivan Expedition, an offensive
against four of the six nations of the Iroquois
Confederacy which had allied with the British and
attacked Patriot communities along the frontier.
At least forty Iroquois villages were destroyed in
the massive expedition, and this (according to
some sources) led the Iroquois to nickname
Washington "Town Destroyer."

In 1781, American and French forces and a French
fleet had Battle of Yorktown (1781)|trapped
General Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia|Yorktown
in Virginia. Washington quick-marched south,
joining the armies on September 14, and pressed
the siege until the army surrendered. The British
surrender there was the effective end of British
attempts to quell the Revolution. 

In March 1783, Washington learned about a Newburgh
conspiracy|conspiracy that was being planned by
some of his officers who were upset about back pay
in the Continental Army's winter camp at Newburgh,
New York. He was able to defuse this plot. Later
in 1783, by means of the Treaty of Paris
(1783)|Treaty of Paris, the Kingdom of Great
Britain recognized American independence. As a
result, on November 2 of that year at Rocky Hill,
New Jersey General Washington gave his farewell
address to the army. Then, at Fraunces Tavern in
New York on December 4, he formally bid his
officers farewell.

==Activities between Revolution and Presidency ==


On December 23, 1783, General George Washington
resigned his commission as Commander-in-Chief of
the Army to the
Congress_of_the_United_States|Congress, which was
then meeting at the Maryland State House in
Annapolis. This action was of great significance
for the young nation, establishing the precedent
that civilian elected officials, rather than
military officers, possessed ultimate authority.
Washington's stature was such that had he wanted
to seize and retain power—like Julius Caesar
before him or Napoleon after him—he probably
would have been able to do so. Indeed, there was
even some support among his most devoted followers
for making Washington a permanent ruler or king,
but Washington, like most of the Founding Fathers
of the United States, abhorred the very idea.

At the time of Washington's departure from
military service, he was listed on the rolls of
the Continental Army as "General and
Commander-in-Chief." See Retirement, death, and
honors section #Retirement, death, and
honors|below for more on this topic.

Washington presided over the Constitutional
Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. For the most
part he did not participate in the debates
involved, but his prestige was great enough to
maintain collegiality and to keep the delegates at
their labors. He adamantly enforced the secrecy
adopted by the Convention during the summer. Many
believe that the Framers created the Presidency
with Washington in mind. After the Convention, his
support convinced many, including the Virginia
legislature, to support the U.S.
Constitution|Constitution.

Washington farmed roughly 8,000 acres (32
km²). Like many Virginia planters at the
time, he was frequently in debt, and never had
much cash on hand. In fact, he had to borrow £600
to relocate to New York, then the center of the
American government, to take office as president.

In 1788-1789, George Washington was elected the
first President of the United States|President of
the United States of America|United States. The
First United States Congress|First U.S. Congress
voted to pay Washington a salary of $25,000 a year
— a significant sum in  1789. Washington, whose
wealth has been estimated anywhere from $500
million to $1,000 million in current dollars,
refused to accept his salary.

==Presidency==
Main article: Washington Administration



===Cabinet===
{| cellpadding="1" cellspacing="4"
style="margin:3px; border:3px solid #000000;"
align="left"
!bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"|
|-
|align="left"|OFFICE||align="left"|NAME||align="le
ft"|TERM
|-
!bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"|
|-
|align="left"|President of the United
States|President||align="left" |George
Washington||align="left"|1789–1797
|-
|align="left"|Vice President of the United
States|Vice President||align="left"|John
Adams||align="left"|1789–1797
|-
!bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"|
|-
|align="left"|United States Secretary of
State|Secretary of State||align="left"|Thomas
Jefferson||align="left"|1789–1793
|-
|align="left"| ||align="left"|Edmund
Randolph||align="left"|1794–1795
|-
|align="left"| ||align="left"|Timothy
Pickering||align="left"|1795–1797
|-
|align="left"|United States Secretary of the
Treasury|Secretary of the
Treasury||align="left"|Alexander
Hamilton||align="left"|1789–1795 
|-
|align="left"| ||align="left"|Oliver Wolcott,
Jr.||align="left"|1795–1797
|-
|align="left"|United States Secretary of
War|Secretary of War||align="left"|Henry
Knox||align="left"|1789–1794
|-
|align="left"| ||align="left"|Timothy
Pickering||align="left"|1795–1796
|-
|align="left"| ||align="left"|James
McHenry||align="left"|1796–1797
|-
|align="left"|Attorney General of the United
States|Attorney General||align="left"|Edmund
Randolph||align="left"|1789–1793
|-
|align="left"| ||align="left"|William
Bradford (1755-1795)|William
Bradford||align="left"|1794–1795
|-
|align="left"| ||align="left"|Charles_Lee_(At
torney_General)|Charles
Lee||align="left"|1795–1797
|-
|align="left"|Postmaster General of the United
States|Postmaster General||align="left"|Samuel
Osgood||align="left"|1789–1791
|-
|align="left"| ||align="left"|Timothy
Pickering||align="left"|1791–1795
|-
|align="left"| ||align="left"|Joseph
Habersham||align="left"|1795–1797
|}



=== Supreme Court appointments ===
As the first President, Washington appointed the
entire Supreme Court, a feat almost repeated by
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during his
four terms in office (1933-1945).  Washington
appointed the following Justices to the Supreme
Court of the United States:

* John Jay - Chief Justice of the United
States|Chief Justice - 1789
* James Wilson - 1789
* John Rutledge - 1790
* William Cushing - 1790
* John Blair - 1790
* James Iredell - 1790
* Thomas Johnson (governor)|Thomas Johnson - 1792
* William Paterson (jurist)|William Paterson -
1793
* John Rutledge - Chief Justice, 1795 (an
associate justice since 1790) 
* Samuel Chase - 1796
* Oliver Ellsworth - Chief Justice - 1796

=== Major Presidential Acts ===
* Signed Judiciary Act (United States)#Judiciary
Act of 1789|Judiciary Act of 1789
* Signed Indian Intercourse Acts, starting in 1790
* Signed Residence Act|Residence Act of 1790
* Signed Bank of North America|Bank Act of 1791
* Signed Coinage Act (1792)|Coinage Act of 1792
* Signed Fugitive Slave Act (1793)|Fugitive Slave
Act of 1793
* Signed Naval Act of 1794

=== States admitted to the Union ===
* North Carolina (1789)
* Rhode Island (1790)
* Vermont (1791)
* Kentucky (1792)
* Tennessee (1796)

==Retirement, death, and honors==


After retiring from the presidency in March of
1797, Washington returned to Mount Vernon with a
profound sense of relief.

In 1798, Washington was appointed Lieutenant
General in the United States Army (then the
highest possible rank) by President John Adams.
Washington's appointment was to serve as a warning
to France, with which war seemed imminent. 
Washington never saw active service, however, and
upon his death one year later the U.S. Army rolls
listed him as a retired Lieutenant General, which
was then considered the equivalent to his rank as
General and Commander-in-Chief during the
Revolutionary War.

Within a year of this 1798 appointment, Washington
fell ill from a bad cold with a fever and a sore
throat that turned into acute laryngitis and
pneumonia and died on December 14, 1799 at his
home. Modern doctors believe that Washington died
from either a strep throat|streptococcal infection
of the throat or, since he was bled as part of the
treatment, a combination of shock from the loss of
blood, asphyxia, and dehydration. One of the
physicians who administered bloodletting to him
was Dr. James Craik, one of Washington's closest
friends, who had been with Washington at Fort
Necessity, the Braddock expedition, and throughout
the Revolutionary War. Washington's remains were
buried in a family graveyard at Mount Vernon
(plantation)|Mount Vernon.

Congressman Henry Light Horse Harry Lee, a
Revolutionary War comrade, famously eulogized
Washington as "a citizen, first in war, first in
peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."

With the exception of Dwight Eisenhower, who held
a life-time commission as General of the Army
(five star), George Washington is the only
President with military service to reenter the
military after leaving the office of President.
Even though he had been the highest-ranking
officer of the Revolutionary War, having in 1798
been appointed a Lieutenant General (now three
stars), it seemed, somewhat incongruously, that
all later full (that is, four-star) generals in
U.S. history (starting with General Ulysses S.
Grant), and also all five-star generals of the
Army, were considered to outrank Washington.
General John J. Pershing had attained an even
higher rank of General of the Armies (above five
star—though the most stars Pershing actually
ever wore were four). This issue was resolved in
1976, when Washington was, by Act of Congress,
posthumously promoted to the rank of General of
the Armies, outranking any past, present, and
future general, and declared to permanently be the
top-ranked military officer of the United States.
https://www.perscom.army.mil/tagd/tioh/rank/goa.ht
m

===Summary of Military Career===
* 1753: Commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of the
Virginia Militia
* 1754: Led abortive expedition to Fort Duquesne,
later served as aide to General Edward Braddock
* 1755: Promoted to Colonel and named Commander of
all Virginia Forces.  Commissioned a Brigadier
General later that year
* 1758 - 1775: Retired from active military
service
* June 1775: Commissioned General and
Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army
* 1775 - 1781: Commands the Continental Army in
over seven major battles with the British
* December 1783: Resigns commission as
Commander-in-Chief of the Army
* July 1798: Appointed Lieutenant General and
Commander of the Provisional Army to be raised in
the event of a war with France
* 1799: Dies and is listed as a Retired Lieutenant
General on the U.S. Army rolls
* 19 January 1976:  Approved by the United States
Congress for promotion to General of the Armies
* 11 October 1976: Declared the senior most U.S.
military officer for all time by Presidential
Order of Gerald Ford
* 13 March 1978: Promoted by Army Order 31-3 to
General of the Armies with effective date of rank
July 4, 1776.

==Personal information==

Admirers of Washington circulated an apocryphal
story about his honesty as a child. In the story,
he wanted to try out a new axe, so he chopped down
his father's cherry tree; when questioned by his
father, he gave the famous non-quotation: "I
cannot tell a lie. It was I who chopped down the
cherry tree." The story first appeared after
Washington's death in a naïve "inspirational"
children's book by Parson Mason Weems, who had
been rector of the Mount Vernon parish. See also
George Washington's axe for an elaboration of this
story. Parson Weems also fabricated a famous story
about Washington praying for help in a lonely spot
in the woods near Valley Forge.  

Nevertheless, Washington was a man of great
personal integrity, with a deeply-held sense of
duty, honor and patriotism. He was courageous and
far-sighted, holding the Continental Army together
through eight hard years of war and numerous
privations, sometimes by sheer force of will.

Because of Washington's involvement in
Freemasonry, some publicly visible collections of
Washington memorabilia are maintained by Masonic
lodges, most notably the George Washington Masonic
Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia. The museum at
Fraunces Tavern Museum in New York City includes
specimens of Washington's false teeth.

Washington was plagued throughout his adult life
with bad teeth, losing about one tooth a year from
the age of 24. In his later years he consulted a
number of dentists and used a number of sets of
false teeth (but none of wood). Washington
routinely smoked marijuana to alleviate the pain
from his ailing teeth. Washington's own diary
recounts, on several occasions, his efforts to
better cultivate and enhance his crops of
marijuana, which he used both for hemp (fiber)
production and for medicine: May 12-13, 1765:
"Sowed Hemp at Muddy hole by Swamp." August 7,
1765: "--began to seperate (sic) the Male from the
Female Hemp at Do--rather too late."

Washington was notable for his modesty and
carefully-controlled ambition. He never accepted
pay during his military service, and was genuinely
reluctant to assume any of the offices thrust upon
him.  When John Adams recommended him to the
Continental Congress for the position of general
and commander-in-chief of the Continental Army,
Washington left the room to allow any dissenters
to freely voice their objections. In later
accepting the post, Washington told the Congress
that he was unworthy of the honor.

It is often said that one of Washington's greatest
achievements was refraining from taking more power
than was due. He was conscientious of maintaining
a good reputation by avoiding political intrigue.
He had no interest in nepotism or cronyism,
rejecting, for example, a military promotion
during the war for his deserving cousin William
Washington lest it be regarded as favoritism.
Thomas Jefferson wrote, "The moderation and virtue
of a single character probably prevented this
Revolution from being closed, as most others have
been, by a subversion of that liberty it was
intended to establish."

Washington had to be talked into a second term of
office as President, and very reluctantly agreed
to it.  However, he refused to serve a third term,
setting a precedent that held until the Presidency
of Franklin D. Roosevelt. At John Adams's
inauguration, Washington is said to have
approached Adams afterwards and stated "Well, I am
fairly out and you are fairly in. Now we shall see
who enjoys it the most!" Washington also declined
to leave the room before Adams and the new Vice
President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson,
establishing the principle that even a former
president is only, after all, a private citizen.

Washington was a cricket enthusiast and was known
to have played the sport, which was popular at
that time in the British colonies.

===Washington and slavery===
Washington owned slaves throughout his adult life,
as did most of his peers in the Virginia
plantation aristocracy.  He was noteworthy,
however, for the humane treatment of his slaves
and for his growing unease with the "peculiar
institution."  Historian Roger Bruns has written,
"As he grew older, he became increasingly aware
that it was immoral and unjust. Long before the
Revolution, Washington had taken the unusual
position of refusing to sell any of his slaves or
to allow slave families to be separated." After
the Revolution, Washington told an English friend,
"I clearly foresee that nothing but the rooting
out of slavery can perpetuate the existence of our
Federal union by consolidating it on a common bond
of principle." He wrote to his friend John Francis
Mercer in 1786, "I never mean... to possess
another slave by purchase; it being among my first
wishes to see some plan adopted, by which slavery
in this country may be abolished by slow, sure,
and imperceptible degrees." Ten years later, he
wrote to Robert Morris, "There is not a man living
who wishes more sincerely than I do to see some
plan adopted for the gradual abolition" of
slavery.  

As President, Washington was mindful of the risk
of splitting apart the young republic over the
question of slavery (as in fact happened in 1861).
He did not advocate the abolition of slavery while
in office, but did sign legislation enforcing the
prohibition of slavery in the Northwest Territory,
writing to his good friend the Marquis de la
Fayette that he considered it a wise measure.

Unlike all the other slaveholding Founding
Fathers, Washington included provisions in his
will which freed his slaves upon his death. His
widow Martha freed those she owned shortly before
she died.

As cited in Henry Weincek's Imperfect God: George
Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of
America, one of his slaves, Ona Judge Staines
escaped the Executive Mansion in Philadelphia in
1796 and lived the rest of her life free in New
Hampshire.

===Religious beliefs===
Washington's religious views are a matter of some
controversy. There is considerable evidence that
he (like many of the Founding Fathers) was a
Deism|Deist - believing in God, but not believing
in Miracle|divine intervention in the world after
the initial design. Before the Revolution, when
the Episcopal Church in the United States of
America|Episcopal Church was still the state
religion in Virginia, he served as a vestryman
(lay officer) for his local church. He spoke often
of the value of religion in general, and he often
accompanied his wife to Christian church services.
However, there is no record of his ever becoming a
communicant in any Christianity|Christian church
and he would regularly leave services before
communion - with the other non-communicants. When
Rev. Dr. James Abercrombie (Episcopal
Priest)|James Abercrombie, rector of St. Peter's
Episcopal Church in Philadelphia mentioned in a
weekly sermon that those in elevated stations set
an unhappy example by leaving at communion,
Washington ceased attending at all on communion
Sundays. Long after Washington died, asked about
Washington's beliefs, Abercrombie replied: "Sir,
Washington was a Deist." Various prayers said to
have been composed by him in his later life are
highly edited. He did not ask for any clergy on
his deathbed, though one was available. His
funeral services were those of the
Freemasonry|Freemasons.

Washington was an early supporter of religious
pluralism. In 1775 he ordered that his troops not
burn the Pope in effigy on Guy Fawkes night. In
1790 he wrote to Jewish leaders that he envisioned
a country "which gives to bigotry no sanction, to
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 highly significant; for the
first time in millennia, Jews would enjoy full
human and political rights.

==Legacy==

Washington peacefully relinquished the presidency
to John Adams after serving two terms in office. 
Only one president since Washington has exceeded
this tenure (Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected
four times), and the Constitution was subsequently
amended by the Twenty-second Amendment to the
United States Constitution|Twenty-second Amendment
to set an express two-term limit upon future
presidents.  Washington set many other precedents
that established tranquility in the presidential
office in the years to come and is historical
rankings of U.S. Presidents|generally regarded by
historians as one of the greatest presidents. He
was also lauded posthumously as the "Father of His
Country" and is often considered to be the most
important of the United States' "Founding
Fathers". Therefore, he has been commemorated
frequently.

Perhaps the most pervasive commemmoration of his
legacy is the use of his image is on the U.S. one
dollar bill|one dollar bill and the Quarter (U.S.
coin)|quarter-dollar coin.  The image used on the
dollar bill is derived from a famous portrait of
him painted by Gilbert Stuart, itself one of the
most notable works of early American art.

The capital city of the United States, Washington,
DC|Washington, D.C., is named for him. The
District of Columbia was created by an Act of
Congress in 1790, and Washington was deeply
involved in its creation, including the siting of
the White House.  The Washington Monument, one of
the most well known landmarks in the city, was
built in his honor.  George Washington
University|The George Washington University, also
in D.C., was named after him, and it was in part
founded with shares Washington bequeathed to an
endowment to create a national university in
Washington.

The only state named for a president is the state
of Washington in the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

Washington selected West Point, New York, as the
site for the United States Military Academy.  The
United States Navy has USS George Washington|named
three ships after Washington.

Other examples include the George Washington
Bridge, which extends between New York City and
New Jersey, and the Arecaceae|palm tree genus
Washingtonia is also named after him.

See also: List of places named for George
Washington

==Further reading==
The literature on George Washington is immense.
The Library of Congress has a comprehensive
bibliography
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gwhtml/gwbib.html
online. Notable recent works include:

*Comora, Madeleine & Deborah Chandra. George
Washington's Teeth. Illustrated by Brock Cole.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003; ISBN 0374325340.
A lighthearted chronicle of his dental struggles,
aimed at children and adults.
*Joseph J. Ellis|Ellis, Joseph J. His Excellency:
George Washington. New York: Knopf, 2004. ISBN
1400040310.
*Flexner, James Thomas. Washington: The
Indispensable Man. Boston: Little, Brown, 1974.
ISBN 0316286168 (1994 reissue). Single-volume
condensation of Flexner's four-volume biography.
*Lengel, Edward G. General George Washington: A
Military Life. New York: Random House, 2005. ISBN
1400060818.
*Wiencek, Henry. An Imperfect God: George
Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of
America. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux,
2003. ISBN 0374175268.

==Related articles==
* George Washington's presidency
* U.S. presidential election, 1789
* U.S. presidential election, 1792
* Famous military commanders
* George Washington's farewell address
* List of U.S. Presidential religious affiliations
* Newburgh conspiracy

In recent years, a number of anti-Semitic groups
have attributed false quotations to George
Washington and other Founding Fathers, with the
intention of inciting anti-Semitism. This subject
is discussed in Neo-Nazi Theory (American founding
fathers).
==Notes==
#anb|fatherThe earliest known image in which
Washington is identified as such is on the cover
of the circa 1778 Pennsylvania German almanac
(Lancaster: Gedruckt bey Francis Bailey). This
identifies Washington as "Landes Vater" or Father
of the Land.
==External links==
commons|George Washington

Wikisource author
*http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/ Full version of the
on-line Papers of George Washington and other
information from the University of Virginia
*http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/presiden/washpa
p.htm The Papers of George Washington from the
Avalon Project (includes Inaugural Addresses,
State of the Union Messages, and other materials)
*http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/commiss
ion.html Library of Congress: Washington's
Commission as Commander in Chief
*http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democra
c/49.htm Farewell Address
*http://www.libraryreference.org/washington.html
Biography of George Washington
*http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~jamesdow
/s004/f647706.htm A pedigree of George Washington
*http://www.ericdigests.org/1999-2/washington.htm
Teaching about George Washington
*http://www.thirty-thousand.org/pages/section_IB5.
htm The First Presidential Veto Analysis of the
first veto by a U.S. President
*https://www.perscom.army.mil/tagd/tioh/rank/goa.h
tm General Washington's military rank
*http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/gw1.
html White House Biography

start box
succession box|title=President of the United
States|before=(none)|after=John Adams|years=April
30, 1789(a) – March 4, 1797
succession footnote| marker=(a)|
footnote=Washington's term as President is
sometimes listed as starting on either March 4 or
April 6.  March 4 is the official start of the
first presidential term.  April 6 is the date on
which Congress counted the electoral votes and
certified a winner.  April 30 is the date on which
Washington took the oath of office.
end box
start box
USpresidents | before=(none) | after=John Adams|
years=1789–1797
end box

	Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

George Washington (February 22,
1732–December 14, 1799) was an Agriculture
in the United States|American planter, Politics of
the United States|political figure, and military
leader. Born of English people|English descent
into a moderatly wealthy family in the Province of
Virginia, Washington worked as a surveyor before
inheriting his parents' plantation, Mount Vernon
(plantation)|Mount Vernon. 

Washington was a leader in the British Army during
the French and Indian War and other conflicts, but
later resigned his post to marry Martha
Washington|Martha Dandridge Custis, a wealthy
widow with two children. He became a member of the
House of Burgesses and on the onset of the
American Revolution became a revolutionary leader,
attending both the first and second Continental
Congresses. Washington was appointed
Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army in the
American Revolutionary War (1775–1783),
leading the Americans to victory over the British.
After the war, he served as president of the 1787
History of the United States
Constitution|Constitutional Convention.

Washington, a hugely popular and generally
non-partisan figure, was elected as the first
President of the United States (1789–1797)
after the United States Constitution|U.S.
Constitution was adopted. The two-term Washington
Administration was marked by the establishment of
key American institutions that continue to
operate. After his term was up, Washington retired
to Mount Vernon for the remainder of his life,
again voluntarily relinquishing power even as some
wanted him to retain that power for life. Because
of his central role in the founding of the United
States and enduring legacy, Washington is
sometimes called the "Father of the Nation|Father
of his Country."

==Early life==
According to the Julian calendar, Washington was
born on February 11, 1731; according to the
Gregorian calendar, which was adopted during
Washington's life and is used today, he was born
on February 22, 1732 (Washington's Birthday is
celebrated on the Gregorian date).
At the time of his birth, the English year began
March 25 (Annunciation Day, or Lady Day), hence
the difference in his birth year. His birthplace
was Pope's Creek Plantation, south of Colonial
Beach, Virginia|Colonial Beach in Westmoreland
County, Virginia. 

Washington was part of the economic and cultural
elite of the slavery|slave-owning planters of
Virginia. His parents Augustine Washington (1693 -
April 12, 1743) and Mary Ball (1708 - August 25,
1789) were of England|English descent. He spent
much of his boyhood at Ferry Farm in Stafford
County, Virginia|Stafford County, near
Fredericksburg, Virginia|Fredericksburg and
visited his Washington cousins at Chotank in King
George County. As a youth, he trained as a
surveyor (obtaining his certificate from the
College of William and Mary) and helped survey the
Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. He visited
Barbados, with his sick half-brother Lawrence in
1751, and survived an attack of smallpox, although
his face was scarred by the disease. He was
initiated as a Freemasonry|Freemason in
Fredericksburg on February 4, 1752. On Lawrence's
death in July 1752, he rented and eventually
inherited the estate, Mount Vernon
(plantation)|Mount Vernon in Fairfax County,
Virginia (near Alexandria, Virginia|Alexandria).

==French and Indian War and afterwards==


At twenty-two years of age, George Washington
fired some of the first shots of what would become
a world war. In 1752, France began the military
occupation of the Ohio Country, a region that was
also claimed by Virginia. In 1753, Washington
volunteered to deliver an ultimatum to the French
from Robert Dinwiddie, the governor of Virginia.
The French declined to leave, and Dinwiddie moved
to counter the French advance.

In 1754, Washington, now commissioned a lieutenant
colonel in the First Virginia Regiment, led a
mission into the Ohio Country. He ambushed a
French Canadian scouting party, killing ten,
including its leader, Joseph Coulon de
Jumonville|Ensign Jumonville. Washington then
built Fort Necessity, which soon proved
inadequate, as he was Battle of the Great
Meadows|compelled to surrender to a larger French
and American Indian force. The surrender terms
that Washington signed included an admission that
he had "assassinated" Jumonville. (The document
was written in French, which Washington could not
read.) The "Battle of Jumonville Glen|Jumonville
affair" became an international incident, and
helped to ignite the French and Indian War, known
outside the United States as the Seven Years' War.

Washington was released by the French with the
promise not to return to the Ohio Country for one
year. In 1755, Washington accompanied the Braddock
Expedition, a major effort by the British Army to
retake the Ohio Country. The expedition ended in
disaster at the Braddock Expedition#Battle of the
Monongahela|Battle of the Monongahela. Washington
distinguished himself in the debacle — he
had two horses shot out from under him, and four
bullets pierced his coat — and showed
coolness under fire in organizing the retreat. In
Virginia, Washington was acclaimed as a hero, and
he commanded the First Virginia Regiment for
several more years, although the focus of the war
had shifted elsewhere. In 1758, he accompanied the
John Forbes (General)|Forbes Expedition, which
successfully drove the French away from Fort
Duquesne. 

Washington's goal at the outset of his military
career had been to secure a commission as a
British officer — which in the British
colonies was a big step up from being a mere
colonial officer. The promotion did not come, and
so in 1759 Washington resigned his commission and
married Martha Washington|Martha Dandridge Custis,
a wealthy widow with two children. Washington
adopted the two children, but never fathered any
of his own. The newlywed couple moved to Mount
Vernon where he took up the life of a genteel
farmer and slavery|slave owner. He became a member
of the House of Burgesses.

By 1774, Washington had become one of the
colonies' wealthiest men. In that year, he was
chosen as a delegate from Virginia to the First
Continental Congress. Although the American
Revolution had not yet devolved into open warfare,
tensions between the colonies and Great Britain
continued to rise, and Washington attended the
Second Continental Congress (1775) in military
uniform — the only delegate to do so.

==American Revolution==
see details|American Revolutionary War

The Continental Congress appointed Washington as
commander-in-chief of the newly-formed Continental
Army on June 15, 1775. The Massachusetts delegate
John Adams suggested his appointment, citing his
"skill as an officer... great talents and
universal character." He assumed command on July
3. 

Washington successfully drove the Kingdom of Great
Britain|British forces out of Boston,
Massachusetts|Boston on March 17, 1776 by
stationing artillery on Dorchester Heights. The
British army, led by General William Howe,
retreated to Halifax, Nova Scotia|Halifax, Canada,
and Washington's army moved to New York City in
anticipation of a British offensive there.
Washington lost the Battle of Long Island on
August 22 but managed to save most of his forces.
However, several other battles in the area sent
Washington scrambling across New Jersey, leaving
the future of the Revolution in doubt.

On the night of December 25, 1776, Washington led
the American forces across the Delaware River to
attack Hessians|Hessian forces in Trenton, New
Jersey, who did not anticipate an attack near
Christmas. Washington followed up the assault with
a surprise attack on General Charles Cornwallis's
forces at Battle of Princeton|Princeton on the eve
of January 2, 1777, eventually retaking the
colony. The successful attacks built morale among
the pro-independence colonists.

Later in the year, General Howe led an offensive
aimed at taking the colonial capital of
Philadelphia. He severely defeated Washington's
forces at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11
and succeeded in his task. An attempt to dislodge
the British, the Battle of Germantown, failed as a
result of fog and confusion, and Washington was
forced to retire for the winter to Valley Forge.

However, Washington's army recovered from the
defeats and harsh winter conditions and drilled
during the spring under the Prussia|German Baron
Friedrich von Steuben, steadily improving its
fighting capabilities. Later, it attacked the
British army moving from Philadelphia to New York
at the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778.

Against tremendous odds, Washington sustained his
army throughout the Revolution, keeping British
forces tied down in the center of the country
while Generals Horatio Gates and Benedict Arnold
won the Battle of Saratoga in 1777. After
Monmouth, the British concentrated their
offensives in the southern colonies, and rather
than attack them there, Washington's forces moved
to Rhode Island, where he commanded military
operations until the war's end. His ability to
delay British advances earned him the nickname
"American Fabius Maximus|Fabius".

In 1779, Washington ordered a fifth of the army to
carry out the Sullivan Expedition, an offensive
against four of the six nations of the Iroquois
Confederacy which had allied with the British and
attacked Patriot communities along the frontier.
At least forty Iroquois villages were destroyed in
the massive expedition, and this (according to
some sources) led the Iroquois to nickname
Washington "Town Destroyer."

In 1781, American and French forces and a French
fleet had Battle of Yorktown (1781)|trapped
General Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia|Yorktown
in Virginia. Washington quick-marched south,
joining the armies on September 14, and pressed
the siege until the army surrendered. The British
surrender there was the effective end of British
attempts to quell the Revolution. 

In March 1783, Washington learned about a Newburgh
conspiracy|conspiracy that was being planned by
some of his officers who were upset about back pay
in the Continental Army's winter camp at Newburgh,
New York. He was able to defuse this plot. Later
in 1783, by means of the Treaty of Paris
(1783)|Treaty of Paris, the Kingdom of Great
Britain recognized American independence. As a
result, on November 2 of that year at Rocky Hill,
New Jersey General Washington gave his farewell
address to the army. Then, at Fraunces Tavern in
New York on December 4, he formally bid his
officers farewell.

==Activities between Revolution and Presidency ==


On December 23, 1783, General George Washington
resigned his commission as Commander-in-Chief of
the Army to the
Congress_of_the_United_States|Congress, which was
then meeting at the Maryland State House in
Annapolis. This action was of great significance
for the young nation, establishing the precedent
that civilian elected officials, rather than
military officers, possessed ultimate authority.
Washington's stature was such that had he wanted
to seize and retain power—like Julius Caesar
before him or Napoleon after him—he probably
would have been able to do so. Indeed, there was
even some support among his most devoted followers
for making Washington a permanent ruler or king,
but Washington, like most of the Founding Fathers
of the United States, abhorred the very idea.

At the time of Washington's departure from
military service, he was listed on the rolls of
the Continental Army as "General and
Commander-in-Chief." See Retirement, death, and
honors section #Retirement, death, and
honors|below for more on this topic.

Washington presided over the Constitutional
Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. For the most
part he did not participate in the debates
involved, but his prestige was great enough to
maintain collegiality and to keep the delegates at
their labors. He adamantly enforced the secrecy
adopted by the Convention during the summer. Many
believe that the Framers created the Presidency
with Washington in mind. After the Convention, his
support convinced many, including the Virginia
legislature, to support the U.S.
Constitution|Constitution.

Washington farmed roughly 8,000 acres (32
km²). Like many Virginia planters at the
time, he was frequently in debt, and never had
much cash on hand. In fact, he had to borrow £600
to relocate to New York, then the center of the
American government, to take office as president.

In 1788-1789, George Washington was elected the
first President of the United States|President of
the United States of America|United States. The
First United States Congress|First U.S. Congress
voted to pay Washington a salary of $25,000 a year
— a significant sum in  1789. Washington, whose
wealth has been estimated anywhere from $500
million to $1,000 million in current dollars,
refused to accept his salary.

==Presidency==
Main article: Washington Administration



===Cabinet===
{| cellpadding="1" cellspacing="4"
style="margin:3px; border:3px solid #000000;"
align="left"
!bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"|
|-
|align="left"|OFFICE||align="left"|NAME||align="le
ft"|TERM
|-
!bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"|
|-
|align="left"|President of the United
States|President||align="left" |George
Washington||align="left"|1789–1797
|-
|align="left"|Vice President of the United
States|Vice President||align="left"|John
Adams||align="left"|1789–1797
|-
!bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"|
|-
|align="left"|United States Secretary of
State|Secretary of State||align="left"|Thomas
Jefferson||align="left"|1789–1793
|-
|align="left"| ||align="left"|Edmund
Randolph||align="left"|1794–1795
|-
|align="left"| ||align="left"|Timothy
Pickering||align="left"|1795–1797
|-
|align="left"|United States Secretary of the
Treasury|Secretary of the
Treasury||align="left"|Alexander
Hamilton||align="left"|1789–1795 
|-
|align="left"| ||align="left"|Oliver Wolcott,
Jr.||align="left"|1795–1797
|-
|align="left"|United States Secretary of
War|Secretary of War||align="left"|Henry
Knox||align="left"|1789–1794
|-
|align="left"| ||align="left"|Timothy
Pickering||align="left"|1795–1796
|-
|align="left"| ||align="left"|James
McHenry||align="left"|1796–1797
|-
|align="left"|Attorney General of the United
States|Attorney General||align="left"|Edmund
Randolph||align="left"|1789–1793
|-
|align="left"| ||align="left"|William
Bradford (1755-1795)|William
Bradford||align="left"|1794–1795
|-
|align="left"| ||align="left"|Charles_Lee_(At
torney_General)|Charles
Lee||align="left"|1795–1797
|-
|align="left"|Postmaster General of the United
States|Postmaster General||align="left"|Samuel
Osgood||align="left"|1789–1791
|-
|align="left"| ||align="left"|Timothy
Pickering||align="left"|1791–1795
|-
|align="left"| ||align="left"|Joseph
Habersham||align="left"|1795–1797
|}



=== Supreme Court appointments ===
As the first President, Washington appointed the
entire Supreme Court, a feat almost repeated by
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during his
four terms in office (1933-1945).  Washington
appointed the following Justices to the Supreme
Court of the United States:

* John Jay - Chief Justice of the United
States|Chief Justice - 1789
* James Wilson - 1789
* John Rutledge - 1790
* William Cushing - 1790
* John Blair - 1790
* James Iredell - 1790
* Thomas Johnson (governor)|Thomas Johnson - 1792
* William Paterson (jurist)|William Paterson -
1793
* John Rutledge - Chief Justice, 1795 (an
associate justice since 1790) 
* Samuel Chase - 1796
* Oliver Ellsworth - Chief Justice - 1796

=== Major Presidential Acts ===
* Signed Judiciary Act (United States)#Judiciary
Act of 1789|Judiciary Act of 1789
* Signed Indian Intercourse Acts, starting in 1790
* Signed Residence Act|Residence Act of 1790
* Signed Bank of North America|Bank Act of 1791
* Signed Coinage Act (1792)|Coinage Act of 1792
* Signed Fugitive Slave Act (1793)|Fugitive Slave
Act of 1793
* Signed Naval Act of 1794

=== States admitted to the Union ===
* North Carolina (1789)
* Rhode Island (1790)
* Vermont (1791)
* Kentucky (1792)
* Tennessee (1796)

==Retirement, death, and honors==


After retiring from the presidency in March of
1797, Washington returned to Mount Vernon with a
profound sense of relief.

In 1798, Washington was appointed Lieutenant
General in the United States Army (then the
highest possible rank) by President John Adams.
Washington's appointment was to serve as a warning
to France, with which war seemed imminent. 
Washington never saw active service, however, and
upon his death one year later the U.S. Army rolls
listed him as a retired Lieutenant General, which
was then considered the equivalent to his rank as
General and Commander-in-Chief during the
Revolutionary War.

Within a year of this 1798 appointment, Washington
fell ill from a bad cold with a fever and a sore
throat that turned into acute laryngitis and
pneumonia and died on December 14, 1799 at his
home. Modern doctors believe that Washington died
from either a strep throat|streptococcal infection
of the throat or, since he was bled as part of the
treatment, a combination of shock from the loss of
blood, asphyxia, and dehydration. One of the
physicians who administered bloodletting to him
was Dr. James Craik, one of Washington's closest
friends, who had been with Washington at Fort
Necessity, the Braddock expedition, and throughout
the Revolutionary War. Washington's remains were
buried in a family graveyard at Mount Vernon
(plantation)|Mount Vernon.

Congressman Henry Light Horse Harry Lee, a
Revolutionary War comrade, famously eulogized
Washington as "a citizen, first in war, first in
peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."

With the exception of Dwight Eisenhower, who held
a life-time commission as General of the Army
(five star), George Washington is the only
President with military service to reenter the
military after leaving the office of President.
Even though he had been the highest-ranking
officer of the Revolutionary War, having in 1798
been appointed a Lieutenant General (now three
stars), it seemed, somewhat incongruously, that
all later full (that is, four-star) generals in
U.S. history (starting with General Ulysses S.
Grant), and also all five-star generals of the
Army, were considered to outrank Washington.
General John J. Pershing had attained an even
higher rank of General of the Armies (above five
star—though the most stars Pershing actually
ever wore were four). This issue was resolved in
1976, when Washington was, by Act of Congress,
posthumously promoted to the rank of General of
the Armies, outranking any past, present, and
future general, and declared to permanently be the
top-ranked military officer of the United States.
https://www.perscom.army.mil/tagd/tioh/rank/goa.ht
m

===Summary of Military Career===
* 1753: Commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of the
Virginia Militia
* 1754: Led abortive expedition to Fort Duquesne,
later served as aide to General Edward Braddock
* 1755: Promoted to Colonel and named Commander of
all Virginia Forces.  Commissioned a Brigadier
General later that year
* 1758 - 1775: Retired from active military
service
* June 1775: Commissioned General and
Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army
* 1775 - 1781: Commands the Continental Army in
over seven major battles with the British
* December 1783: Resigns commission as
Commander-in-Chief of the Army
* July 1798: Appointed Lieutenant General and
Commander of the Provisional Army to be raised in
the event of a war with France
* 1799: Dies and is listed as a Retired Lieutenant
General on the U.S. Army rolls
* 19 January 1976:  Approved by the United States
Congress for promotion to General of the Armies
* 11 October 1976: Declared the senior most U.S.
military officer for all time by Presidential
Order of Gerald Ford
* 13 March 1978: Promoted by Army Order 31-3 to
General of the Armies with effective date of rank
July 4, 1776.

==Personal information==

Admirers of Washington circulated an apocryphal
story about his honesty as a child. In the story,
he wanted to try out a new axe, so he chopped down
his father's cherry tree; when questioned by his
father, he gave the famous non-quotation: "I
cannot tell a lie. It was I who chopped down the
cherry tree." The story first appeared after
Washington's death in a naïve "inspirational"
children's book by Parson Mason Weems, who had
been rector of the Mount Vernon parish. See also
George Washington's axe for an elaboration of this
story. Parson Weems also fabricated a famous story
about Washington praying for help in a lonely spot
in the woods near Valley Forge.  

Nevertheless, Washington was a man of great
personal integrity, with a deeply-held sense of
duty, honor and patriotism. He was courageous and
far-sighted, holding the Continental Army together
through eight hard years of war and numerous
privations, sometimes by sheer force of will.

Because of Washington's involvement in
Freemasonry, some publicly visible collections of
Washington memorabilia are maintained by Masonic
lodges, most notably the George Washington Masonic
Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia. The museum at
Fraunces Tavern Museum in New York City includes
specimens of Washington's false teeth.

Washington was plagued throughout his adult life
with bad teeth, losing about one tooth a year from
the age of 24. In his later years he consulted a
number of dentists and used a number of sets of
false teeth (but none of wood). Washington
routinely smoked marijuana to alleviate the pain
from his ailing teeth. Washington's own diary
recounts, on several occasions, his efforts to
better cultivate and enhance his crops of
marijuana, which he used both for hemp (fiber)
production and for medicine: May 12-13, 1765:
"Sowed Hemp at Muddy hole by Swamp." August 7,
1765: "--began to seperate (sic) the Male from the
Female Hemp at Do--rather too late."

Washington was notable for his modesty and
carefully-controlled ambition. He never accepted
pay during his military service, and was genuinely
reluctant to assume any of the offices thrust upon
him.  When John Adams recommended him to the
Continental Congress for the position of general
and commander-in-chief of the Continental Army,
Washington left the room to allow any dissenters
to freely voice their objections. In later
accepting the post, Washington told the Congress
that he was unworthy of the honor.

It is often said that one of Washington's greatest
achievements was refraining from taking more power
than was due. He was conscientious of maintaining
a good reputation by avoiding political intrigue.
He had no interest in nepotism or cronyism,
rejecting, for example, a military promotion
during the war for his deserving cousin William
Washington lest it be regarded as favoritism.
Thomas Jefferson wrote, "The moderation and virtue
of a single character probably prevented this
Revolution from being closed, as most others have
been, by a subversion of that liberty it was
intended to establish."

Washington had to be talked into a second term of
office as President, and very reluctantly agreed
to it.  However, he refused to serve a third term,
setting a precedent that held until the Presidency
of Franklin D. Roosevelt. At John Adams's
inauguration, Washington is said to have
approached Adams afterwards and stated "Well, I am
fairly out and you are fairly in. Now we shall see
who enjoys it the most!" Washington also declined
to leave the room before Adams and the new Vice
President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson,
establishing the principle that even a former
president is only, after all, a private citizen.

Washington was a cricket enthusiast and was known
to have played the sport, which was popular at
that time in the British colonies.

===Washington and slavery===
Washington owned slaves throughout his adult life,
as did most of his peers in the Virginia
plantation aristocracy.  He was noteworthy,
however, for the humane treatment of his slaves
and for his growing unease with the "peculiar
institution."  Historian Roger Bruns has written,
"As he grew older, he became increasingly aware
that it was immoral and unjust. Long before the
Revolution, Washington had taken the unusual
position of refusing to sell any of his slaves or
to allow slave families to be separated." After
the Revolution, Washington told an English friend,
"I clearly foresee that nothing but the rooting
out of slavery can perpetuate the existence of our
Federal union by consolidating it on a common bond
of principle." He wrote to his friend John Francis
Mercer in 1786, "I never mean... to possess
another slave by purchase; it being among my first
wishes to see some plan adopted, by which slavery
in this country may be abolished by slow, sure,
and imperceptible degrees." Ten years later, he
wrote to Robert Morris, "There is not a man living
who wishes more sincerely than I do to see some
plan adopted for the gradual abolition" of
slavery.  

As President, Washington was mindful of the risk
of splitting apart the young republic over the
question of slavery (as in fact happened in 1861).
He did not advocate the abolition of slavery while
in office, but did sign legislation enforcing the
prohibition of slavery in the Northwest Territory,
writing to his good friend the Marquis de la
Fayette that he considered it a wise measure.

Unlike all the other slaveholding Founding
Fathers, Washington included provisions in his
will which freed his slaves upon his death. His
widow Martha freed those she owned shortly before
she died.

As cited in Henry Weincek's Imperfect God: George
Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of
America, one of his slaves, Ona Judge Staines
escaped the Executive Mansion in Philadelphia in
1796 and lived the rest of her life free in New
Hampshire.

===Religious beliefs===
Washington's religious views are a matter of some
controversy. There is considerable evidence that
he (like many of the Founding Fathers) was a
Deism|Deist - believing in God, but not believing
in Miracle|divine intervention in the world after
the initial design. Before the Revolution, when
the Episcopal Church in the United States of
America|Episcopal Church was still the state
religion in Virginia, he served as a vestryman
(lay officer) for his local church. He spoke often
of the value of religion in general, and he often
accompanied his wife to Christian church services.
However, there is no record of his ever becoming a
communicant in any Christianity|Christian church
and he would regularly leave services before
communion - with the other non-communicants. When
Rev. Dr. James Abercrombie (Episcopal
Priest)|James Abercrombie, rector of St. Peter's
Episcopal Church in Philadelphia mentioned in a
weekly sermon that those in elevated stations set
an unhappy example by leaving at communion,
Washington ceased attending at all on communion
Sundays. Long after Washington died, asked about
Washington's beliefs, Abercrombie replied: "Sir,
Washington was a Deist." Various prayers said to
have been composed by him in his later life are
highly edited. He did not ask for any clergy on
his deathbed, though one was available. His
funeral services were those of the
Freemasonry|Freemasons.

Washington was an early supporter of religious
pluralism. In 1775 he ordered that his troops not
burn the Pope in effigy on Guy Fawkes night. In
1790 he wrote to Jewish leaders that he envisioned
a country "which gives to bigotry no sanction, to
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 highly significant; for the
first time in millennia, Jews would enjoy full
human and political rights.

==Legacy==

Washington peacefully relinquished the presidency
to John Adams after serving two terms in office. 
Only one president since Washington has exceeded
this tenure (Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected
four times), and the Constitution was subsequently
amended by the Twenty-second Amendment to the
United States Constitution|Twenty-second Amendment
to set an express two-term limit upon future
presidents.  Washington set many other precedents
that established tranquility in the presidential
office in the years to come and is historical
rankings of U.S. Presidents|generally regarded by
historians as one of the greatest presidents. He
was also lauded posthumously as the "Father of His
Country" and is often considered to be the most
important of the United States' "Founding
Fathers". Therefore, he has been commemorated
frequently.

Perhaps the most pervasive commemmoration of his
legacy is the use of his image is on the U.S. one
dollar bill|one dollar bill and the Quarter (U.S.
coin)|quarter-dollar coin.  The image used on the
dollar bill is derived from a famous portrait of
him painted by Gilbert Stuart, itself one of the
most notable works of early American art.

The capital city of the United States, Washington,
DC|Washington, D.C., is named for him. The
District of Columbia was created by an Act of
Congress in 1790, and Washington was deeply
involved in its creation, including the siting of
the White House.  The Washington Monument, one of
the most well known landmarks in the city, was
built in his honor.  George Washington
University|The George Washington University, also
in D.C., was named after him, and it was in part
founded with shares Washington bequeathed to an
endowment to create a national university in
Washington.

The only state named for a president is the state
of Washington in the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

Washington selected West Point, New York, as the
site for the United States Military Academy.  The
United States Navy has USS George Washington|named
three ships after Washington.

Other examples include the George Washington
Bridge, which extends between New York City and
New Jersey, and the Arecaceae|palm tree genus
Washingtonia is also named after him.

See also: List of places named for George
Washington

==Further reading==
The literature on George Washington is immense.
The Library of Congress has a comprehensive
bibliography
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gwhtml/gwbib.html
online. Notable recent works include:

*Comora, Madeleine & Deborah Chandra. George
Washington's Teeth. Illustrated by Brock Cole.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003; ISBN 0374325340.
A lighthearted chronicle of his dental struggles,
aimed at children and adults.
*Joseph J. Ellis|Ellis, Joseph J. His Excellency:
George Washington. New York: Knopf, 2004. ISBN
1400040310.
*Flexner, James Thomas. Washington: The
Indispensable Man. Boston: Little, Brown, 1974.
ISBN 0316286168 (1994 reissue). Single-volume
condensation of Flexner's four-volume biography.
*Lengel, Edward G. General George Washington: A
Military Life. New York: Random House, 2005. ISBN
1400060818.
*Wiencek, Henry. An Imperfect God: George
Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of
America. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux,
2003. ISBN 0374175268.

==Related articles==
* George Washington's presidency
* U.S. presidential election, 1789
* U.S. presidential election, 1792
* Famous military commanders
* George Washington's farewell address
* List of U.S. Presidential religious affiliations
* Newburgh conspiracy

In recent years, a number of anti-Semitic groups
have attributed false quotations to George
Washington and other Founding Fathers, with the
intention of inciting anti-Semitism. This subject
is discussed in Neo-Nazi Theory (American founding
fathers).
==Notes==
#anb|fatherThe earliest known image in which
Washington is identified as such is on the cover
of the circa 1778 Pennsylvania German almanac
(Lancaster: Gedruckt bey Francis Bailey). This
identifies Washington as "Landes Vater" or Father
of the Land.
==External links==
commons|George Washington

Wikisource author
*http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/ Full version of the
on-line Papers of George Washington and other
information from the University of Virginia
*http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/presiden/washpa
p.htm The Papers of George Washington from the
Avalon Project (includes Inaugural Addresses,
State of the Union Messages, and other materials)
*http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/commiss
ion.html Library of Congress: Washington's
Commission as Commander in Chief
*http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democra
c/49.htm Farewell Address
*http://www.libraryreference.org/washington.html
Biography of George Washington
*http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~jamesdow
/s004/f647706.htm A pedigree of George Washington
*http://www.ericdigests.org/1999-2/washington.htm
Teaching about George Washington
*http://www.thirty-thousand.org/pages/section_IB5.
htm The First Presidential Veto Analysis of the
first veto by a U.S. President
*https://www.perscom.army.mil/tagd/tioh/rank/goa.h
tm General Washington's military rank
*http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/gw1.
html White House Biography

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succession box|title=President of the United
States|before=(none)|after=John Adams|years=April
30, 1789(a) – March 4, 1797
succession footnote| marker=(a)|
footnote=Washington's term as President is
sometimes listed as starting on either March 4 or
April 6.  March 4 is the official start of the
first presidential term.  April 6 is the date on
which Congress counted the electoral votes and
certified a winner.  April 30 is the date on which
Washington took the oath of office.
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USpresidents | before=(none) | after=John Adams|
years=1789–1797
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