Getting To Know Washington
If you do not recognize the name of George Washington
, then you do not have a good foundation of knowledge for American history. He was the first president of the United States and served from the years of 1789 to 1797 which was two terms.He was born February 22, 1732 and died December 14, 1799. Not only was he the president of our country but he was a commander in the Continental Army and the American Revolutionary War from 1775-1783.
He is known among other important leaders of that time period as the Father of Our Country. He became the commander in chief because of his leadership skills and successful war tactics.
One of his most well known battles took place at the crossing of the Delaware River. His forces surprised the British and because of the surprise attack, they were able to defeat them.
He presided over the Philadelphia Convention where the United States Constitution was drafted in 1787. Since the Articles of Confederation were not working very well, they had to come up with something that talked about the laws and the organization on how the government worked as well as relationships between federal and local government, relationships between states and to all the people who lived in the United States.
Since George Washington was the first American president, he helped to establish many of the customs for the government's executive branch. He had a few objectives that he wanted to accomplish in his term in office.
He wanted to create a nation that was capable of keeping the peace with neighboring countries, avoid involvement in foreign conflicts, create a national bank, pay off national debt, build a strong central government, and implement an effective tax system. He was able to avoid war and keep a decade of peace with Britain after they signed the Jay Treaty in 1795.
Supporting the Federalist Party, he became their leader and helped their programs succeed. He was awarded the first Congressional Gold Medal in 1776 which is the highest civilian award in the United States.
It is given to people who perform outstanding deeds or acts of service to the security, prosperity, and national interest of America. Interestingly enough, you do not have to be an American citizen to receive one of these awards.
In his early life, George Washington was a planter and at one time, he owned more than twenty slaves. Because of his remarkable skills, he was appointed to public office and was a surveyor of land in Culpeper County.
Later, he signed up to command a region in the militia and was appointed to an adjutant general in the Virginia militia. He soon became a lieutenant colonel and an aide to the general.
After his active militia service, he retired and lived in Virginia as a planter and a politician. He also joined the free-masons and became a master mason that influenced him for the rest of his life.
He married a widow named Martha Dandridge Custis who had two children from a previous marriage. Their names were John Parke Custis and Martha Parke Custis.
The Washington's never had any children together but they both continued to raise Martha's children. Some people suspect that George Washington became sterile as a result of getting smallpox when he was younger.
They moved to Mount Vernon together shortly after they were married. Because of this union, George Washington's social standing and property holdings increased significantly.
He enjoyed fox hunting and was a good business man. He imported goods from England and paid for them from his tobacco crop.
Because the tobacco crop was so unstable, he changed the crop to wheat which could be sold in America and was not as expensive to export. This started things such as flour milling, horse breeding, spinning and weaving.
When he ran for president in the 1789 and 1792 elections, he was unanimously elected and became the only president to have received one hundred percent of the votes. He selected John Adams as his vice president who later succeeded him as president.
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