by Glenn Beck
June 8—Martha Washington departs Valley Forge.
June 18—British evacuate Philadelphia; Washington appoints Arnold its military governor.
June 19—Washington leaves Valley Forge.
June 28—Battle of Monmouth.
June—Fortifications at West Point, New York, are named “Fort Arnold.”
July 4—Generals Cadwalader and Conway fight a duel in the aftermath of the Conway Cabal.
1779
March 5—Congressional committee clears Arnold of corruption charges.
March 19—Arnold resigns his commission.
April 3—Congress forwards charges against Arnold to Washington.
April 8—Arnold marries Loyalist Margaret “Peggy” Shippen.
May 5—Arnold writes Washington; demands a quick trial.
May 10—Messenger reaches Major John André in New York City with offer from Arnold to defect.
May 21—Arnold sends first encrypted message to the British.
May 31—British land troops on both sides of the Hudson to seize West Point.
June 1—Arnold court-martial commences; interrupted by attack on West Point.
July 2—Congress returns to Philadelphia.
August 6—Major André writes to Peggy Arnold.
August 19—“Light Horse Harry” Lee’s victory at Paulus Hook, New Jersey.
September 12—Birth of a son to the Marquis de Lafayette—named “George Washington Lafayette.”
1780
January 1—Pennsylvania troops mutiny.
January 26—Court-martial convicts Arnold of two minor counts of corruption.
April 6—Washington officially rebukes Arnold.
May 12—General Cornwallis assumes command of the British southern command.
May 25—Two Connecticut regiments are narrowly dissuaded from deserting.
July 7—Arnold writes to Clinton that he is certain he will receive command of West Point.
July 14—Arnold offers to Clinton to betray West Point for a price.
July 31—Near Stony Point, Washington informs Arnold that he is being restored to active command (left wing of Washington’s main army); Arnold declines.
August 3—Washington appoints Arnold as commandant of West Point, replacing General Robert Howe.
September 11—Planned meeting of Benedict Arnold and Major André fails to occur.
September 17—Washington meets with Arnold at Joshua Smith’s house.
September 18—Crosses the Hudson on Arnold’s barge on way to Hartford.
September 21—Arnold dispatches Joshua Smith to Vulture to fetch André to him.
September 25—Arnold learns of Andre’s capture and flees to the Vulture; Washington inspects West Point, later learns of Andre’s capture; orders Arnold’s arrest; Arnold writes to Washington.
September 27—Peggy Arnold leaves for Philadelphia.
September 29—Board of Inquiry convicts André of espionage.
October 2—André executed at Tappan, New York.
1781
January 5—British forces under Arnold burn Richmond.
January 20—New Jersey troops mutiny at Pompton, New Jersey.
January 21—Washington orders General Robert Howe to crush the New Jersey mutineers.
January 27—Two New Jersey mutineers executed.
March 1—Articles of Confederation ratified.
August 1—Cornwallis occupies Yorktown.
September 5—French naval forces defeat the British in the Battle of the Virginia Capes; trap Cornwallis.
September 6—Arnold leads attack on New London, Connecticut.
September 9—Washington arrives at Mount Vernon; first visit home in the course of the war.
September 11—Admiral Graves orders HMS Terrible scuttled.
September 28—Siege of Yorktown commences.
October 19—Cornwallis surrenders.
1782
February 27—The British House of Commons votes against continuing the war.
March 22—The Washingtons depart Philadelphia for army headquarters at Newburgh, New York.
March 31—The Washingtons arrive at Newburgh.
May 22—Washington responds to Colonel Lewis Nicola.
August 7—Establishes the Order of the Purple Heart.
1783
March 15—Washington speech to officers at Newburgh.
September 3—Treaty of Paris grants American independence.
December 23—Resigns his commission.
1786–87
Shays’s Rebellion disrupts Massachusetts.
1787
February 21—Continental Congress authorizes Constitutional Convention.
May 13—Arrives in Philadelphia for Constitutional Convention.
May 14—Delegates arrive for the scheduled start of Constitutional Convention but lack a quorum.
May 25—A quorum is reached; Washington is unanimously selected as Constitutional Convention’s president.
May 29—Edmund Randolph submits Virginia Plan to Constitutional Convention.
June 15—New Jersey plan presented to Constitutional Convention.
July 2—States deadlock on Connecticut motion for senatorial representation; committee appointed to draft a compromise.
July 16—Constitutional Convention passes Benjamin’s Franklin’s compromise proposal on legislative representation 5–4.
July 24—Five-man committee appointed to draft a constitution.
July 26–August 6—Constitutional Convention adjourns.
September 12—“Committee of Style” begins work on final draft of U.S. Constitution.
September 12—Constitutional Convention receives final draft of Constitution.
October 27—Publication of the first of the Federalist papers.
December 7—Delaware becomes first state to ratify Constitution.
1788
June 21—New Hampshire becomes the ninth state to ratify Constitution; it takes effect.
June 25—Virginia ratifies Constitution.
July 26—New York ratifies Constitution, but with a recommendation that a bill of rights be enacted.
August—Publication of the last of the Federalist papers.
September 13—Continental Congress declares Constitution to be in effect; declares New York City to be the nation’s capital.
1789
January 7—First presidential electors selected.
February 4—Electors unanimously elect Washington president.
April 16—Washington leaves Mount Vernon to assume the presidency.
April 30—Inaugurated president at New York City’s Federal Hall.
July 14—Fall of the Bastille in France.
August 26—Death of Washington’s mother, Mary Ball Washington.
1790
May 29—Rhode Island is the last of the original thirteen states to ratify the Constitution.
May—Washington writes to the Jewish congregation of Savannah.
August—Letter to Hebrew Congregation at Newport.
December—Writes to the Hebrew Congregations of Philadelphia, New York, Charleston, and Richmond.
Capital is relocated from New York to Philadelphia.
1791
March—Passage of the Whiskey Excise Tax.
September—Convention to oppose Whiskey Excise Tax held in Pittsburgh.
September 11—Tax collectors tarred and feathered in Washington County, Pennsylvania. Washington tours the South.
December 15—Bill of Rights is ratified on Virginia’s action.
1792
July—The first United States coinage is minted—the “half-disme.”
September 15—Washington issues proclamation denouncing illegal resistance to Whiskey Excise Tax.
October 13—Lays cornerstone of the White House.
December 5—Reelected president.
1793
January 21—King Louis XVI of France guillotined.
April 8—Citizen Ed
mond Genêt arrives in the United States, at Charleston.
November 10—French Constituent Assembly authorizes a “Goddess of Reason.”
November 22—Protestors against Whiskey Excise Tax break into the home of tax collector Benjamin Wells in Fayette County, Pennsylvania.
December 29—Thomas Paine arrested by the French revolutionaries.
1793–1794
British seize hundreds of American ships on the high seas.
1794
August 1—Seven thousand anti-Whiskey Excise Tax protestors gather at Braddock’s Field, talk of burning Pittsburgh and seceding from the Union.
August 4—U.S. Supreme Court justice James Wilson certifies that western Pennsylvania is in a state of rebellion.
August 7—Washington summons the militia to quash the Whiskey Rebellion.
1796
March 15—Washington submits Madison’s four-year-old draft of Washington’s Farewell Address to Hamilton for review.
December 7—Washington gives last message to Congress; proposes establishment of a navy and a military academy.
December 7—Electors cast votes for the presidency—Adams defeats Jefferson.
1797
March 4—Leaves the presidency; John Adams inaugurated.
1798
July 7—Washington appointed by John Adams to command the American army in anticipation of war with France (effective July 4).
July 9—Prepares will, frees Billy Lee on his death and grants Lee a life pension; frees remainder of his slaves upon Martha’s death.
1799
December 13—Composes his last letter (to his farm manager).
December 14—Dies at Mount Vernon.
December 18—Body interred at Mount Vernon.
December 26—Huge memorial services held for Washington in Philadelphia; “Light Horse Harry” Lee eulogizes Washington as “First in War, first in Peace, and first in the hearts of his Countrymen.”
1801
January 1—Will takes effect.
1806
May 22—Death of Martha Washington.
George Washington, in His Own Words
Perhaps no person in history has had more written about him than George Washington. But despite all of the analysis and commentary published over the centuries, the best way to really get to know the man is to read his own words. Below is a selection of quotes, sorted alphabetically by topic, from Washington’s own speeches, letters, and orders. Many of these quotes are not famous, but I think they give great insight into the person George Washington really was—and what it will take to become him today.
ADVANCEMENT, Should Stem from Own Efforts.—Let your promotion result from your own application and from intrinsic merit, not from the labors of others. The last would prove fallacious and expose you to the reproach of the daw in borrowed feathers.—To George Washington Parke Custis. (1796)
AMERICA, To Be Preserved by God.—It is indeed a pleasure, from the walks of private life, to view in retrospect all the meanderings of our past labors, the difficulties through which we have waded, and the fortunate haven to which the ship has been brought! Is it possible after this that it should founder? Will not the all-wise and all-powerful Director of human events preserve it? I think he will. He may, however (for wise purposes not discoverable by finite minds), suffer our indiscretions and folly to place our national character low in the political scale; and this, unless more wisdom and less prejudice take the lead in our governments, will most assuredly be the case.—To Jonathan Trumbull. (1784)
AMERICA, To Be an Example to All the World.—It should be the highest ambition of every American to extend his views beyond himself, and to bear in mind that his conduct will not only affect himself, his country, and his immediate posterity, but that its influence may be co-extensive with the world and stamp political happiness or misery on ages yet unborn. To establish this desirable end, and to establish [a] government of laws, the union of these states is absolutely necessary; therefore in every proceeding, this great, this important object should ever be kept in view; and so long as our measures tend to this, and are marked with the wisdom of a well-informed and enlightened people, we may reasonably hope, under the smiles of Heaven, to convince the world that the happiness of nations can be accomplished by pacific revolutions in their political systems, without the destructive intervention of the sword.—To the legislature of Pennsylvania. (1789)
ARMY, An Appeal for Christian Soldiers.—The General hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor so to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country.—General Orders. (1776)
ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION, Too Weak to Build Unity.—I see one head gradually changing into thirteen. I see one army branching into thirteen; and instead of looking up to Congress as the supreme controlling power of the United States, [these armies] are considering themselves as dependent on their respective states. In a word, I see the powers of Congress declining too fast for the consequence and respect which is due to them as the grand representative body of America, and am fearful of the consequences of it.—To Joseph Jones. (1780)
ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION, Must Be Revised.—That it is necessary to revise and amend the Articles of Confederation, I entertain no doubt; but what may be the consequences of such an attempt is doubtful. Yet something must be done, or the fabric must fall, for it certainly is tottering.—To John Jay. (1786)
BORROWING, A Dangerous Practice.—There is no practice more dangerous than that of borrowing money; … for when money can be had in this way, repayment is seldom thought of in time, the interest becomes a moth, exertions to raise it by dint of industry cease, it comes easy and is spent freely, and many things indulged in that would never be thought of if [they were] to be purchased by the sweat of the brow. In the meantime, the debt is accumulating like a snowball in rolling.—To Samuel Washington. (1797)
CHARITY, Advice on Giving.—Let your heart feel for the affliction and distresses of everyone; let your hand give in proportion to your purse, remembering always the estimation of the widow’s mite. But … it is not everyone who asketh that deserveth charity; all, however, are worthy of the inquiry, or the deserving may suffer.—To Bushrod Washington. (1783)
CONGRESS, The People’s Representatives.—Congress are in fact but the people; they return to them at certain short periods [and] are amenable at all times for their conduct…. What interest, therefore, can a man have, under these circumstances, distinct from his constituents?—To Governor Benjamin Harrison. (1783)
CONSCIENCE, Often Comes Too Late.—Conscience … seldom comes to a man’s aid while he is in the zenith of health and revelling in pomp and luxury upon ill-gotten spoils; it is generally the last act of his life, and comes too late to be of much service to others here, or to himself hereafter.—To John Price Posey. (1782)
CONSTITUTION (U.S.), Future Generations Qualified to Amend—Is there not a constitutional door open for alterations or amendments? And is it not likely that real defects will be as readily discovered after as before trial? And will not our successors be as ready to apply the remedy as ourselves, if occasion should require it? To think otherwise will, in my judgment, be ascribing more of the amor patria, more wisdom, and more virtue to ourselves than I think we deserve.—To Henry Knox. (1787)
CONSTITUTION (U.S.), God’s Hand in Framing and Adoption of.—A few short weeks will determine the political fate of America for the present generation and [will] probably produce no small influence on the happiness of society through a long succession of ages to come. Should everything proceed with harmony and consent according to our actual wishes and expectations, I will confess to you sincerely, my dear Marquis, it will be so much beyond anything we had a right to imagine or expect eighteen months ago that it will demonstrate as visibly the finger of Providence as any possible event in the course of human affairs can ever designate it. It is impracticable for you or anyone who has not been on the spot to realize the cha
nge in men’s minds and the progress towards rectitude in thinking and acting which will then have been made.—To the Marquis de Lafayette. (1788)