George Washington
George Washington is unanimously referred
to as the "father of
America". The first president of the United States
of America, Washington
set the manner for what was to become the most
powerful seat of government in
the country. The purpose of this paper is to
provide biographical information on
Washington and to explain why he is
known as the "father of America".
Born in Westmoreland County, Virginia,
on February 22, 1732, George Washington
was the eldest son of Augustine
Washington and his second wife, Mary Ball
Washington. His five younger
brothers and sisters were Elizabeth, Samuel, John,
Augustine, Charles,
and Mildred (who died in infancy). Washington's two half
brothers, Lawrence
and Augustine, were fourteen and twelve years older than he,
but the three
boys liked and respected one another.1 When Washington was three
the family
moved to a larger plantation further up the Potomac River. It was
called
Epsewasson, or Little Hunting Creek, from the name of the stream it
faced.
Young Washington grew to love the estate with a passion that lasted all
his
life. Some years later Augustine bought a farm on the Rappahannock,
opposite
Fredericksburg, and moved the family there. The plantation,
Ferry Farm, was the
place where Washington chopped the cherry tree down.2
When Washington was
eleven, his father died. The plantation at Epsewasson was
granted to Lawrence.
Lawrence added to the estate and renamed it Mount
Vernon, in honor of Admiral
Vernon, under whom he had served in the West
Indies. George went to live with
Augustine at Wakefield because Henry
William's school, one of the best in the
colony, was located nearby.3 Little
is know of George Washington's schooling. He
was probably tutored at home for
a while, and may have attended school in
Fredericksburg before going to
Henry William's school. At fifteen he was ready
to do practical surveying. He
was good in mathematics; he was a neat penman and
an accurate mapmaker. In
1748, Washington went to live with his half brother,
Lawrence, at Mount
Vernon. Lawrence, who became something of a substitute father
for Washington,
had married into the Fairfax family, prominent and powerful
Virginians
who helped launch Washington's career. An early ambition to become a
naval
officer had been discouraged by Washington's mother; instead he turned
to
surveying.4 Lord Fairfax, a cousin of Lawrence's wife and master of more
than
five million Virginia acres, was fond of Washington and hired him to
help survey
his holdings beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains. The work was
difficult, but
Washington did well. In about a year, the surveying was
completed, and, partly
through Fairfax's influence, Washington was appointed
surveyor of Culpeper
County, his first public office. He took the oath of
office on July 20, 1749.5
By 1753, the growing rivalry between the
British and the French over the control
of the Ohio Valley, soon to erupt
into the French and Indian War, created new
opportunities for Washington. He
was a grown man at twenty, who already owned
his first plot of Virginia land,
bought with money borrowed from Lawrence. In
1753, Governor Dinwiddie
made him a major of militia and sent him, with a
message, to the French
commander of Fort Le Boeuf. The note protested the
building of a chain of
French forts between Lake Ontario and the Ohio River.
Near Great Meadows,
Washington surrounded and attacked a party of thirty-three
Frenchmen. Ten
Frenchmen were killed, and twenty-two were captured. This action
has been
credited with starting the Seven Year's War. The French sent out nine
hundred
men to retaliate this slaughter. Washington, upon hearing of the
arriving
French threat, built a crude fort, aptly named Fort Necessity. The
French
badly beat Washington and he signed a document that he thought stated
he
attacked the party at Great Meadows. However, the document was written
in
French, which Washington could neither read nor speak, and the
document that
Washington signed stated he assassinated the party. The
confession of the attack
set off the world war.6 In 1755, Washington
volunteered to join General Braddock
and a large army to attack Fort
Duquesne. Despite Washington's warnings,
Braddock's troops marched in
typical European fashion-long rows of men, drums
beating and banners flying.
For the French and Indians hiding in the woods and
behind rocks, it was
little more than target practice. Out of 1,400 officers and
men, three
fourths were killed or wounded; even Braddock himself was killed.7
That
same year, Governor Dinwiddie made Washington colonel and commander of
all
Virginia militia forces. This was a high and well-deserved honor for
the
23-year-old officer. The colony expanded its forces to 1,000 men, who
were able
to patrol and defend the whole 350-mile frontier. In 1758,
Washington and his
men took possession of the ruins of Fort Duquesne, burned
to the ground by the
French. Washington's service in the French and
Indian War was finally over.
Assured that the Virginia frontier was safe
from French attack, Washington left
the army in 1758 and returned to Mount
Vernon. In January 1759, he married
Martha Dandridge Custis, a wealthy
and attractive young widow with two small
children. It was to be a happy and
satisfying marriage. After 1769, Washington
became a leader in Virginia's
discord with England's colonial policies. As a
delegate to the First and
Second Continental Congress, Washington did not
actively participate in the
deliberations, but his presence was undoubtedly a
positive influence. In June
1775, he was Congress's undisputed choice as
commander in chief of the
Continental forces.8 In May 1787, Washington headed
the Virginia delegation
to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and was
elected presiding
officer. His presence added importance to the proceedings, and
although he
made few direct contributions, he generally supported the advocates
for a
strong central government. After the new Constitution was submitted to
the
states for ratification and became legally effective, he was unanimously
elected
president in 1789.9 Washington was reelected president in 1792, and
might have
been president a third term, but he refused to run again. In March
1797, when
Washington left office, the country's financial system was
well established and
the Indian threat east of the Mississippi River had been
largely eliminated. His
vice-president, John Adams, succeeded him.10 On
December 12, 1799, Washington
rode over his farms for about five hours. It
was snowing when he started, and
later changed to hail and rain. Without
changing his wet clothes on his return,
he sat down for dinner. The next day
he complained of a sore throat. During the
night of the 13th he became
seriously ill, but he would not disturb the
household or allow Mrs.
Washington to get up for fear she would catch cold. He
grew weaker the next
day, and died late that night, on Saturday, December 14,
1799. Washington
was America's "father" in many ways. He was commander
in chief of the
American forces in the American Revolution, chairman of the
convention that
wrote the United States constitution, and the first president.
He led the
men who turned America from an English colony into a self-governing
nation.
His ideals of liberty and democracy set a standard for future presidents
and
for the whole country.