George Washington 1732 - 1799

Born in 1732 into a Virginia planter family, he was highly educated in the philosophical morals, polite manners, and scientific knowledge required for an 18th century Virginian gentleman.

He pursued two intertwined interests: military arts and western expansion through mapping. At 16 he helped survey Shenandoah lands for Thomas, Lord Fairfax. Commissioned a lieutenant colonel in 1754, he fought the first skirmishes of what grew into the French and Indian War (1754–63).

From 1759 to the outbreak of the American Revolution (1775–83), Washington managed his lands around Mount Vernon and served in the Virginia House of Burgesses. He was married to a widow, Martha Dandridge Custis.

But like many other planters, Washington felt himself exploited by British merchants and hampered by British regulations and firmly voiced his resistance to the restrictions like the Stamp Act and Sugar Act, which were aimed at raising revenue from the colonies by broadly taxing all printed materials and refined sugar (among other products).

When the Second Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in May 1775, Washington, one of the Virginia delegates, was elected Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. On July 3, 1775, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, he took command of his ill-trained troops and embarked upon a war that was to last six years.

He realized early that the best strategy was to use guerilla-style warfare. Ensuing battles saw him fall back slowly, then he struck unexpectedly. Finally in 1781 with the aid of French allies–he forced the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.

Washington wanted to retire to his fields at Mount Vernon. But he soon realized that the Nation under its Articles of Confederation (the first attempt to organise the USA after the war) was not functioning well, so he became a prime mover in the steps leading to the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia in 1787. When the new Constitution was ratified in 1788, the Electoral College unanimously elected Washington as the first USA President.

He did not infringe upon the policy making powers that he felt the Constitution gave Congress. He insisted upon a neutral course in international politics until the United States could grow stronger. He also recommended against forming a party system in the government. In his Farewell Address at the end of his second term, he urged his countrymen to forswear excessive party spirit and geographical distinctions. In foreign affairs, he warned against long-term alliances.

Washington enjoyed less than three years of retirement at his home in Mount Vernon before he died on December 14, 1799.

Primary Source: https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/george-washington/