George Washington: The 1st President of U.S.
T. P. KARAMANIS
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter One: Childhood and the Cherry Tree
Chapter Two: George Washington the Gentleman
Chapter Three: French and Indian War
Chapter Four: Martha Washington
Chapter Five: George Washington and the Revolutionary War
Chapter Six: Washington and the Constitution
Chapter Seven: George Washington and the Presidency
Chapter Eight: Retirement to Mount Vernon
Chapter Nine: George Washington’s Death
Chapter Ten: Awards and Legacy
Chapter Eleven: Books
Chapter Twelve: Movies and Television Shows
References
Introduction
George Washington assumed many roles over the course of his lifetime, including that of the first American President, a commander for the Continental Army before that, the president of the Constitutional Convention, as well as a modern gentleman. These roles all showcased the president’s exemplary character and leadership.
Chapter One: Childhood and the Cherry Tree
Born in February of 1732, this soon-to-be-great-leader started his time on a plantation in Pope’s Creek located in Virginia, in Westmoreland County to be exact.
His father was one of the lead planters from that area by the name of Augustine Washington. More than that, his father was a justice of the county court. His first wife, a woman by the name of Janet Butler, passed away in 1729 leaving behind two sons and a daughter by the names of Lawrence, Augustine, Jr., and Jane. The father soon remarried in 1731 to a woman named Mary Ball who would give birth to George Washington, the eldest of her total six children.
Augustine moved the family to a new home in 1735, at the time this new home assumes the name little Hunting Creek plantation but later it became known as the famous Mount Vernon. Three years later the family moved once again to a new plantation near Fredericksburg in Virginia. It was here that the majority of his youthful years were spent. Very little is known about George Washington's childhood which makes it one of the least understood aspects of his life. There are popular fables which, after his death, were written to illustrate his physical strength as well as his honesty and piety but not all of them have been documented. One such story is that George Washington was able to throw a Silver dollar all the way across the Potomac River, something which is impossible. The likely origins of this story traced back to a recollection from one of George Washington's cousins that George Washington was able to throw a stone across a river near their home.
When George Washington was 11 years old, his father passed away which meant that the majority of the property was given to George's older half-brothers. The income from the property was barely sufficient to maintain his mother and siblings. As the oldest child in the house, it became George Washington's responsibility to help his mother manage the plantation at which time he learned the importance of efficiency and hard work.
Much the same as his childhood very little is known about the formal education George Washington received. It was common in Virginia for young children to be taught at home by a private tutor or to be taught in a local private school. Boys would assume formal education around the age of seven where they would learn lessons and basic arithmetic, reading, and writing. Later on, boys would be taught Latin and Greek, and they would learn practical skills such as surveying, geometry, and bookkeeping. Any wealthy planters would send their sons to England once they were done with schooling which is exactly what happened with George Washington's two older brothers.
But when his father passed away it made schooling overseas in England impossible for George Washington. It is likely that he attended a school near his home for the first few years of his education after which he probably went to another school in nearby Fredericksburg. What is known is that he excelled in mathematics, and he was able to learn rudimentary surveying. Like many gentlemen sons he did go to school, but he was unable to learn Latin or Greek, or any other foreign language. His formal education stopped around the age of 15 which meant he did not attend college.
Cherry Tree
One of the best stories surrounding the first president is that of the cherry tree.
This story says that George Washington, as a young boy, chipped down the favorite cherry tree of his father. When his father asked if he was the culprit, he admitted what he did with the famous quote of “I can’t tell a lie, Pa.”
This story has been attributed to a biographer by the name of Parson Weems. This biography, following the death of the president, interviewed those who had known him during his childhood. It was during these interviews that he was able to learn a lot about the president. The text printed by Weems was reprinted by many people, especially parents who used it to teach a moral lesson to their children. Historians in 1890 insisted on a research of the scientific nature to validate these statements and apart from the report published by Weems from a single interview; there is no evidence to support this story.
Chapter Two: George Washington the Gentleman
George Washington the Surveyor
Washington wanted to join the British Navy when he was young, but his mother refused. The Cause of his mother's refusal he accompanied another man along the Virginia frontier as a surveyor to explore the wilderness not yet understood. As part of his education, George Washington read mathematical text so that he could acquire the geometric principles necessary to complete surveying. At 17 years of age and thanks to the influence of the man he accompanied along the Virginia frontier, George Washington had secured an appointment with the County Surveyor in a newly created Frontier County referred to as Culpepper. As a result of this, he was able to work as a surveyor himself something which helped him pave the way for a successful and profitable career. But for him to establish himself as a member of the gentry’s class, he had to work quite hard to save all his money and purchase unclaimed land in the territories.
Marriage and Family
It was in January 1759 the George Washington married a woman by the name of Martha Dandridge Custis. This woman was vivacious and charming, and she came from the Tidewater region of Virginia. She had two small children with her and an enormous amount of wealth which she brought into this, her second marriage.
Two weeks after the battle of Yorktown one of these new stepsons died and can't fever at the young age of only 27.This young man may have been spoiled due to the fact that he had not yet fought in the war, but he was traveling to Yorktown to serve alongside his stepfather when he passed. His sister had passed away years earlier from an epileptic seizure which meant that the two children Martha brought into this new marriage with George Washington both passed away leaving her devastated.
For every year of the French and Indian war, Martha Washington joined her husband at his winter quarters. They would entertain his officers as well as any guests. Mrs. Washington made this her war as well and worked very hard to help wounded soldiers and to nurse the sick while simultaneously raising money for troops. She passed the time during the cold winter months with needlework and spent roughly half of the war in the military camps. Two of her grandchildren came to live with Martha and George Washington when their father died, and George Washington is said to have loved his step grandchildren as though they were his children.
George Washington the Entrepreneur
Between the y
ears of 1759 and 1775, George Washington was a gentleman farmer who spent his time at Mount Vernon. He was constantly working not only to improve the mansion house where he lives and the surrounding plantation but to expand it. He was an innovative farmer one who changed his crops from tobacco to wheat. By the time the 1760s arrived his main cash crop was entirely week. He worked tirelessly to improve his farming operation which she was able to do by diligently experimenting with new crops, with crop rotation, with livestock breeding, with new fertilizers, and with new farming tools. As he continued to work, he was able to expand his plantation to not only pretty sweet but to produce flour milling and commercial fishing. All of this was done in an effort to make sure that Mount Vernon was a very profitable estate, one which did more than simply get the family by during tough times.
As time passed, George Washington was able to enlarge the size of his house. He began by raising the roof on the structure to create a third floor. With time he added a wing to both ends of the house. After this, he built a plaza which looks out over the Potomac River. To finish off his grand vision he built a pediment and a cupola. By the time he passed away he had expanded his plantation at Mount Vernon from 2000 acres to 8000 acres which consisted of five farms. Across the property over 3000 acres in total were under cultivation.
Almost immediately after he created wheat as his main cash crop rather than tobacco, George Washington built the Gristmill, which consisted of two pairs of millstones. One pair of the millstones was used to ground corn into meal which was used for food at Mount Vernon. The other pair of stones ground wheat into a very fine flour which he used to export to foreign ports. He also began to create whiskey, something he did on the advice of his farm manager a man by the name of James Anderson, who was a trained distiller from Scotland. By the time this endeavor was complete, George Washington had built one of the largest distilleries in America. When it was functioning at its peak, this distillery produced over 11,000 gallons of rye whiskey and it soon became one of the most successful enterprises of the first President of the United States.
Even after he was appointed to the position of President George Washington was always focused on Mount Vernon. While he was in office he designed a 16 sided barn to thresh wheat in a sanitary and efficient manner back at Mount Vernon. As his horses would circle the second floor, they traded on the wheat which had been spread their which broke apart the green from the chaff. The wheat would then fall through the gaps in this floorboard where it would land on the first floor. Upon reaching the first floor the week was winnowed. Once the wheat was winnowed the grain would be taken to the Gristmill and converted into flour. Even from his presidential home in Philadelphia George Washington was able to follow the construction of this new 16 sided barn from start to finish. He was so efficient in his calculations that he was able to correctly calculate how many bricks would be needed to construct the first floor, a figure which turned out to be precisely 30,820.
George Washington and Slavery
When George Washington's father passed away at the age of 11 George received not only his father's estate but ten slaves who came with it. At the time, the institution of slavery was considered commonplace, and when land was inherited, bought, sold, passed down through inheritance, or rented out, the slaves came with it. He saw nothing morally wrong with slavery, and when he married Martha, the number of slaves living under his control doubled because of the dowers slaves which she brought into the marriage. By the end of 1759, there were 40 slaves living at Mount Vernon. In spite of the fact that George Washington maintained control over the new dower slaves because of his advantageous marriage, they belong to the estate of Martha and her first husband which meant that they were technically her property.
When George Washington entered the war, his enslaved manservant by the name of Billy Lee came with him and remained by his side throughout the entire revolution. Much the same as George Washington, Billy Lee was popular for his expert horseman skills and his courage.
When George Washington was preparing his will he drew up a list of the slaves living at Mount Vernon and in total, there were 316. Some of these were the house slaves while others were the craftsman who handled cooking, weaving, bricklaying, and blacksmithing, spinning, or working in the fields. By the time the census from 1799 Took place. Nearly half of the slaves at Mount Vernon were too old or too young to work. As part of his will, George Washington made provisions for his slaves to be free, but he could not legally free the slaves who were brought to the marriage by Martha or their descendants. At the time, Virginia law stipulated that Martha's grandchildren would inherit the dower slaves. But due to the fact that the two groups of slaves that intermarried, George Washington's emancipation of his slaves proved bittersweet leaving behind half of the family members in slavery. Nonetheless, by giving his slaves freedom George Washington was able to set an example for other people to follow. In fact, he was the only slaveholder who freed his slaves out of the founding fathers.
Chapter Three: French and Indian War
In the year 1753 the governor of Virginia was made pretty to the fact that French troops had moved south from their original post in Canada, and they had begun to construct forts in areas south of Lake Erie, an area which today is known as western Pennsylvania but at the time was recognized and claimed by the state of Virginia. Both France and England recognized that this particular region was rich with commercial potential. French trappers working in the region were taking advantage of the lush forest and wildlife where they could enjoy the most success. The governor of Virginia at the time was concerned that as French troops begin to move, they would fortify different areas of Ohio, specifically along the Ohio River, which was a strategic point four local business. This point is today known as modern Pittsburgh but at the time, it was the eastern gateway meeting new settlers and old into the Ohio Valley.
In the fall of 1753 the then 21-year-old then major Washington was sent by the governor of Virginia to deliver a message to the French. This message demanded that they depart the area immediately. Thanks to a frontier guide as well as local Native American tribes, George Washington was able to reach the French for with this message safely. It was not the delivery of the message which proved most difficult but rather the return to George Washington. He had to hike for days through snowy woods. It was during this time that he fell off a raft into the Allegheny River which at the time was choked with ice. This fall almost resulted in him drowning and because of the fall he was forced to spend a night on an island without any shelter in the freezing cold. His guide at the time was an experienced backwoodsman and unfortunately suffered from frostbite. However, George Washington came out of the experience with no ill effects to his health. His account of this 900-mile journey has since been published by the governor of Virginia who sent him at the time. It was the publication of this demanding journey arduous and lengthy which earned George Washington and international reputation for the better by the time he was 22 years of age.
Just a few months later George Washington had been promoted to lieutenant colonel and was dispatched by the governor Virginia with 150 men to assert Virginia's claim over the area where the French had built forts. As they were advancing the men had skirmishes with the French soldiers during which time they killed 10 other men including a French commander. George Washington had to retreat to a makeshift for twitchy referred to as Fort necessity. The French surrounded this for ten he had to surrender which ended the campaign for Virginia's claimed territory in humiliation but also service the ignition for the French and Indian war.
After the surrender at Fort Necessity, George Washington resigned his commission and returned to the frontier as a volunteer aid. He was sent to aid General Edward Braddock, who was sent by the king of England to make sure the French troops left the Ohio country. In confusion during the battles, Braddock’s army was routed along the Ohio countryside and fled. George Washington, during this battle, tried to rally the British troops during which time he mounted himse
lf on horseback only to have the horse shot out from under him after which he mounted a second horse which was also shot out from under him. During this time, he took for the bullet which was shot through his coat. In spite of the fact that he did behave with exceptional bravery, there is very little he could do to help in this battle other than to leave the broken survivors away from the firefight and back to safety.
Because of his efforts during this time, he was given command of the entire military force of Virginia. He now had a few hundred men whom he was ordered to protect all of whom were ordered to protect 350 miles of Virginia frontier. In spite of the frustration of this task, it did offer George Washington experience in commanding troops throughout even the most arduous of campaigns. The British finally took control over the forks of the Ohio River in 1758 after which timepiece was returned to Virginia and George Washington was able to resign from his commission and return to Mount Vernon where he continued to survey and help his family.
Chapter Four: Martha Washington
Martha Washington was born in Virginia in New Kent County. Her birthdate was a June summer day in 1731. She was married off to a plantation owner of some wealth. This man died after their marriage, and she became a widow who inherited the estate. It was in 1759 that she married then-Colonel George Washington. When he ascended the title of President, she became the first Lady of the United States. She was well known for the large social gatherings she would put on and in spite of her social nature, she was quite a private person. She passed away at Mount Vernon in May of 1802.
Martha Washington grew up on a plantation herself and was educated with an emphasis on skills necessary to run a household. But she was also taught reading, writing, and mathematics. During her first marriage which began at the age of 18, she had four children only two of them survived past childhood. They were married for less than a decade before her husband passed away and she inherited his 15,000-acre estate. It was roughly two years later that she met George Washington at a Virginia Cotillion. Upon marrying, she moved herself and her two children to his estate at Mount Vernon where they became popular for holding social events but suffering from some financial setbacks. As mentioned earlier, Martha took up residence with George when he was fighting in the Revolutionary war, and she spent roughly half of the war with him at his military camp. She suffered the death of her remaining two children during this time but war her pain-and-suffering quite well once she assumes the position of the First Lady.
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