George Washington: Brief Biography
1. George Washington: Brief Biography
George Washington was the leading military chief of the USA. He led the country from the year 1775 to 1797 and commandeered the army to seek independence from the colonists. He was also the first American president, which he served from 1789 to 1797 in Philadelphia. The American Constitution was ratified in 1787, while he was in office.
2. Early life
George Washington was born on February 22, 1732 in Westmoreland County, Virginia. He was the eldest of six children of Augustine Washington and his second wife Mary Ball Washington. His father was a tobacco planter who had served as a justice of the peace and as a colonel in the militia. His mother was a devout Anglican who ran the plantation household.
Washington spent his early years on his father’s plantations, including one across the Potomac River in Maryland. When he was eleven years old, his father died and he inherited a portion of Mount Vernon estate. In 1743, he accompanies Lawrence to Barbados in an attempt to improve the latter’s health, which exposed him to new people and ideas. It also helped shape his views on slavery; while he initially held negative views of the practice, he eventually came to see it as an economic necessity.
3. American Revolution
When the American Revolution broke out in 1775, Washington was unanimously elected commander-in-chief of the Continental Army by the Second Continental Congress. He oversaw the army’s strategy and led it to victory in several key battles, including those at Boston, Trenton, and Princeton. He then forced the British troops to evacuate Philadelphia in 1777; however, his subsequent attempt to invade British-held New York City ended in defeat at the Battle of Camden in South Carolina.
In 1781, troops under his command defeated British forces at Yorktown, effectively ending the war. In early 1783, with the signing of the Treaty of Paris recognizing American independence, he resigned as commander-in-chief and returned to Mount Vernon.
4. Later life
In 1787, Washington was elected president of the Constitutional Convention held in Philadelphia; he presided over deliberations that resulted in formation of a new federal government. He then retired from public life but was again called upon to serve when Tennessee became embroiled in dispute with neighboring North Carolina over territory west of both states.
5. Legacy
Washington died at Mount Vernon on December 14, 1799 after a brief illness; he was 67 years old. His legacy as “Father of His Country” is celebrated in many ways; his image appears on U.S. currency, and his likeness has been depicted in statues, paintings, and monuments around the world.