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GEORGE WASHINGTON (1732-1799)

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 349 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GEORGE See also:WASHINGTON (1732-1799)  , the first See also:president of the See also:United States, was See also:born at See also:Bridges See also:Creek, Westmoreland See also:county, See also:Virginia, on the 22nd (Old See also:Style 11th) of See also:February 1732 . The genealogical researches of Mr See also:Henry E . See also:Waters seem to have established the connexion of the See also:family with the Washingtons of Sulgrave, See also:Northamptonshire, See also:England . The See also:brothers See also:John and See also:Lawrence See also:Washington appear in Virginia in 1658 . John took up See also:land at Bridges Creek, became a member of the See also:House of Burgesses in 1666, and died in 1676 . His eldest son, Lawrence, married Mildred See also:Warner, by whom he had three See also:children—John, See also:Augustine (1694–1743) and Mildred . Augustine Washington married twice . By the first See also:marriage, with Jane See also:Butler, there were four children, two of whom, Lawrence and Augustine, See also:grew to manhood . By the second marriage, in 1730, with See also:Mary See also:Ball, descendant of a family which migrated to Virginia in 1657, there were six children—See also:George, See also:Betty, See also:Samuel, John, See also:Charles and Mildred . Upon the See also:death of the See also:father, Lawrence inherited the See also:estate at See also:Hunting Creek, on the See also:Potomac, later known as See also:Mount See also:Vernon, and George the estate on the Rappahannock, nearly opposite Fredericksburg, where his father usually lived . Of Washington's See also:early See also:life little is known, probably because there was little unusual to tell . The See also:story of the See also:hatchet and the See also:cherry-See also:tree, and similar tales, are undoubtedly apocryphal, having been coined by Washington's most popular biographer, See also:Mason Weems (d .

1825).1 There is nothing to show that the boy's life was markedly different from that See also:

common to Virginia families in easy circumstances; See also:plantation affairs, hunting, fishing, and a little See also:reading making up its substance . From 1735 to 1739 he lived at what is now called Mount Vernon, and after-wards at the estate on the Rappahannock . His See also:education was only elementary and very defective, except in See also:mathematics, in which he was largely self-taught; and although at his death he See also:left a considerable library, he was never an assiduous reader . Although he had throughout his life a See also:good See also:deal of See also:official contact with the See also:French, he never mastered their See also:language . Some careful reading of good books there must have been, however, for in spite of pervading illiteracy, common in that See also:age, in matters of See also:grammar and spelling, he acquired a dignified and effective See also:English style . The texts of his writings, as published by Jared See also:Sparks, have been so " edited " in these respects as to destroy their value as See also:evidence; but the edition of Mr Worthington C . See also:Ford restores the See also:original texts . Washington left school in the autumn of 1747, and from this See also:time we begin to know something of his life . He was then at Mount Vernon with his See also:half-See also:brother Lawrence, who was also his See also:guardian . Lawrence was a son-in-See also:law of See also:William See also:Fairfax, proprietor of the neighbouring plantation of Belvoir, and See also:agent for the extensive Fairfax lands in the See also:colony . Lawrence had served with Fairfax at See also:Cartagena, and had made the acquaintance of See also:Admiral See also:Edward Vernon, from whom Mount Vernon was named . The story that a See also:commission as See also:midshipman was obtained for George through the good offices of the admiral, but that the opposition of the boy's See also:mother put an end to the See also:scheme, seems to lack See also:proof .

In 1948, however, through the See also:

influence of See also:Thomas, See also:Lord Fairfax, the See also:head of the family, who had come to See also:America to live, Washington, then only sixteen years of age, was appointed surveyor of the Fairfax See also:property; and an See also:appointment as public surveyor soon followed . The next three years were spent in this service, most of the time on the frontier . He always retained a disposition to speculate in western lands, the ultimate value of which he early appreciated; many of his later investments of this See also:character are treated in C . W . See also:Butter-See also:field's lVashingtott-See also:Crawford Letters (1897) . He seems, too, to have impressed others already with his force of mind and character . In 1751 he accompanied his half-brother Lawrence, who was stricken with See also:consumption. to the See also:West Indies, where he had an attack of small-pox which left him marked for life . Lawrence died in the following See also:year, making George executor under the will and residuary See also:heir of Mount Vernon; and the latter estate became his in 1761 . In See also:October 1953, on the See also:eve of the last French and See also:Indian See also:war, Washington was chosen by See also:Governor See also:Robert See also:Dinwiddie as the agent to warn the French away from their new posts on the See also:Ohio, in western See also:Pennsylvania . He accomplished the See also:winter See also:journey safely, though with considerable danger and hardship; and shortly after his return was appointed See also:lieutenant-See also:colonel of a Virginia See also:regiment, under Colonel See also:Joshua See also:Fry . In See also:April 1754 he set out with two companies for the Ohio, defeated (28th May) a force of French and See also:Indians at See also:Great Meadows (in the See also:present Fayette county, Pennsylvania), but at Fort See also:Necessity in this vicinity was forced to capitulate (3rd See also:July), though only after a vigorous See also:defence . For his services he received the thanks of the House of Burgesses .

When See also:

General Edward See also:Braddock arrived in Virginia in February 1755, Washington wrote him a diplomatically worded See also:letter, and was presently made a member 1 Weems was a See also:Protestant Episcopal clergyman, who first published a brief See also:biography of Washington in 'Soo, and later (1806) consider-ably See also:expanded it and introduced various apocryphal anecdotes . The biography, though worthless, had an immense circulation, and is to a considerable degree responsible for the traditional conception of Washington.of the See also:staff, with the See also:rank of colonel . His See also:personal relations with Braddock were friendly throughout, and in the calamitous defeat he showed for the first time that fiery See also:energy which always See also:lay hidden beneath his See also:calm and unruffled exterior . He ranged the whole field on horseback, making himself the most conspicuous See also:target for Indian bullets, and, in spite of what he called the " dastardly behaviour " of the See also:regular troops, saved the expedition from annihilation, and brought the remnant of his Virginians out of See also:action in See also:fair See also:order . In spite of his reckless exposure, he was one of the few unwounded See also:officers . In See also:August, after his return, he was commissioned See also:commander of the Virginia forces, being then twenty-three years old . For about two years his task was that of " defending a frontier of more than 350 M. with 700 men," a task rendered the more difficult by the insubordination and irregular service of his soldiers, and by irritating controversies over official See also:precedence . To See also:settle the latter question he made a journey to See also:Boston, in 1756, to confer with Governor William See also:Shirley . In the winter of 1757 his See also:health See also:broke down, but in the next year he had the See also:pleasure of commanding the advance guard of the expedition under General John See also:Forbes which occupied Fort See also:Duquesne and renamed it Fort See also:Pitt . (See See also:PITTSBURG: See also:History.) At the end of the year he resigned his commission, the war in Virginia being at an end, and in See also:January 1759 married Martha Dandridge (1732-1802), widow of See also:Daniel Parke Custis . For the-next fifteen years Washington's life at Mount Vernon, where he made his See also:home after his marriage, was that of a typical Virginia planter of the more prosperous sort, a consistent member and vestryman of the Established (Episcopal) See also:Church, a large slave-holder, a strict but considerate See also:master, and a widely trusted See also:man of affairs . His extraordinary See also:escape in Braddock's defeat had led a colonial preacher to declare in a See also:sermon his belief that the See also:young man had been preserved to he " the saviour of his See also:country "; but if there was any such impression it soon died away, and Washington gave his associates no See also:reason to consider him a man of uncommon endowments .

His marriage brought him an increase of about $1oo,000 in his property, making him one of the richest men in the colonies; and he was able to develop his plantation and enlarge its extent . His attitude towards See also:

slavery has been much discussed, but it does not seem to have been different from that of many other planters of that See also:day: he did not think highly of the See also:system, but had no invincible repugnance to it, and saw no way of getting rid of it . In his treatment of slaves he was exacting, but not harsh, and was averse to selling them See also:save in See also:case of necessity . His diaries show a minutely methodical conduct of business, generous See also:indulgence in hunting, comparatively little reading and a wide acquaintance with the leading men of the colonies, but no marked indications of what is usually considered to be " greatness." As in the ease of See also:Lincoln, he was educated into greatness by the increasing See also:weight of his responsibilities and the manner in which he met them . Like others of the dominant planter class in Virginia, he was repeatedly elected to the House of Burgesses, but the business which came before the colonial See also:assembly was for some years of only See also:local importance, and he is not known to have made any set speeches in the House, or to have said anything beyond a statement of his See also:opinion and the reasons for it . He was present on the 29th of May 1765, when See also:Patrick Henry introduced his famous resolutions against the See also:Stamp See also:Act . That he thought a great deal on public questions, and took full See also:advantage of his legislative experience as a means of See also:political education, is shown by his letter of the 5th of April 1769 to his See also:neighbour, George Mason, communicating the See also:Philadelphia non-importation resolutions, which had just reached him . In this he considers briefly the best means of peaceable resistance to the policy of the See also:ministry, but even at that early date faces frankly and fully the probable final necessity of resisting by force, and endorses it, though only as a last resort . In May following, when the House of Burgesses was dissolved, he was among the members who met at the See also:Raleigh See also:tavern and adopted a non-importation agreement; and he himself kept the agreement when others did not . Though on friendly terms with Governor Norborne See also:Berkeley, See also:Baron Botetourt and his successor, John See also:Murray, See also:earl of See also:Dunmore, he nevertheless took a prominent See also:part, though without speech-making, in the struggles of the Assembly against Dunmore, and his position was always a See also:radical one . As the See also:breach widened, he even opposed petitions to the See also:king and See also:parliament, on the ground that the claims to See also:taxation and See also:control had been put forward by the ministry on the basis of right, not of expediency, that the ministry could not abandon the claim of right and the colonies could not admit it, and that petitions must be, as they already had been, rejected . " Shall we," he writes in a letter, " after this whine and cry for See also:relief ?

" On the 5th of August 1774 the Virginia See also:

convention appointed Washington as one of seven delegates to the first See also:Continental See also:Congress, which met at Philadelphia on the 5th of See also:September, and with this appointment his See also:national career, which was to continue with but two brief intervals until his death, begins . His letters during his service in Congress show that he had fully grasped the questions at issue, that he was under no delusions as to the outcome of the struggle over taxation, and that he expected war . " More See also:blood will be spilled on this occasion," he wrote, " if the ministry are determined to push matters to extremity, than history has ever yet furnished instances of in the See also:annals of See also:North America." His associates in Congress at once recognized his military ability, and although he was not a member of any of the committees of the Congress, he seems to have aided materially in securing the endorsement by Congress of the See also:Suffolk county, See also:Massachusetts, resolves (see See also:MILTON, See also:Mass.) looking towards organized resistance . On the See also:adjournment of the Congress he returned to Virginia, where he continued to be active, as a member of the House of Burgesses, in urging on the organization, equipment and training of troops, and even undertook in See also:person to See also:drill See also:volunteers . His attitude towards the mother country at this time, however, must not be misunderstood . Much as he expected war, he was not yet ready to declare in favour of See also:independence, and he did not ally himself with the party of independence until the course of events made the See also:adoption of any other course impossible . In See also:March 1775 he was appointed a delegate from Virginia to the second Continental Congress, where he served on committees for fortifying New See also:York, See also:collecting See also:ammunition, raising See also:money and formulating See also:army rules . It seems to have been generally understood that, in case of war, Virginia would expect him to act as her commander-in-See also:chief, and it was noticed that, in the second Congress, he was the only member who habitually appeared in See also:uniform . History, however, was to settle the See also:matter on broader lines . The two most powerful colonies were Virginia and Massachusetts . The war began in Massachusetts, troops from New England flocking to the neighbourhood of Boston almost spontaneously; but the resistance, if it was to be effective, must have the support of the colonies to the southward, and the Virginia colonel who was serving on all the military committees of Congress, and whose experience in the Braddock See also:campaign had made his name favourably known in England, was the obvious as well as the politic choice . When Congress, after the fights at See also:Lexington and See also:Concord, resolved that the colonies ought to be put in a position of defence, the first See also:practical step was the unanimous selection (See also:June 15), on See also:motion of John See also:Adams of Massachusetts, of Washington as commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the United Colonies .

Refusing any See also:

salary and asking only the reimbursement of his expenses, he accepted the position, asking " every See also:gentleman in the See also:room," however, to remember his See also:declaration that he did not believe himself to be equal to the command, and that he accepted it only as a See also:duty made imperative by the unanimity of the See also:call . He reiterated this belief in private letters even to his wife; and there seems to be no doubt that, to the day of his death, he was the most determined sceptic as to his fitness for the positions to which he was successively called . He was commissioned on the 17th of June 1775, set out at once for See also:Cambridge, Mass., and on the 3rd of July took command of the levies there assembled for action against the See also:British See also:garrison in Boston . The See also:battle of Bunker See also:Hill had already taken See also:place, See also:news of it reaching him on the waynorth . Until the following March, Washington's See also:work was to bring about some semblance of military organization and discipline, to collect ammunition and military stores, to correspond with Congress and the colonial authorities, to See also:guide military operations in widely See also:separate parts of the country, to create a military system for a See also:people entirely unaccustomed to such a thing and impatient and suspicious under it, and to See also:bend the course of events steadily towards See also:driving the British out of Boston . He planned the expeditions against See also:Canada under See also:Richard See also:Montgomery and See also:Benedict See also:Arnold, and sent out privateers to harass British See also:commerce . It is not easy to see how Washington survived the year 1775; the colonial poverty, the exasperating annoyances, the outspoken See also:criticism of those who demanded active operations, the personal and party dissensions in Congress, the selfishness or stupidity which cropped out again and again among some of the most patriotic of his coadjutors were enough to have broken down most men . They completed his training . The See also:change in this one winter is very evident . If he was not a great man when he went to Cambridge, he was both a general and a statesman in the fullest sense when he drove the British out of Boston in March 1776 . From that time until his death he was admittedly the foremost man of the See also:continent . The military operations of the See also:remainder of the War of Independence are described elsewhere (see See also:AMERICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE) .

Phoenix-squares

Washington's See also:

retreat through New See also:Jersey; the manner in which he turned and struck his pursuers at Trenton and See also:Princeton, and then established himself at See also:Morristown, so as to make the way to Philadelphia impassable; the vigour with which he handled his army at the See also:Brandywine and See also:Germantown; the persistence with which he held the strategic position of Valley Forge through the dreadful winter of 1777-1778, in spite of the misery of his men, the clamours of the people and the See also:impotence and meddling of the fugitive Congress—all went to show that the fibre of his public character had been hardened to its permanent quality . " These are the times that try men's souls," wrote Thomas See also:Paine at the beginning of 1776, and the words had added meaning in each year that followed; but Washington had no need to fear the test . The spirit which culminated in the See also:treason of Benedict Arnold was a serious addition to his burdens; for what Arnold did others were almost ready to do . Many of the American officers, too, had taken offence at the See also:close personal friendship which had sprung up between the See also:marquis de La Fayette and Washington, and at the See also:diplomatic deference which the commander-in-chief See also:felt compelled to show to other See also:foreign officers . Some of the foreign volunteers were eventually dismissed politely by Congress, on the ground that suitable employment could not be found for them . The name of one of them, Thomas See also:Conway, an Irish soldier of See also:fortune from the French service, is attached to what is called " Conway's See also:Cabal," a scheme for superseding Washington by General Horatio See also:Gates, who in October 1777 succeeded in forcing See also:Burgoyne to capitulate at See also:Saratoga, and who had been persistent in his depreciation of the commander-in-chief and in intrigues with members of Congress . A number of officers, as well as of men in See also:civil life, were mixed up in the See also:plot, while the methods employed were the lowest forms of See also:anonymous See also:slander; but at the first breath of exposure every one concerned hurried to See also:cover up his part in it, leaving Conway to See also:shoulder both the responsibility and the disgrace . The treaty of See also:alliance of 1778 with See also:France, following the surrender of Burgoyne, put an end to all such plans . It was absurd to expect foreign nations to deal with a second-See also:rate man as commander-in-chief while Washington was in the field, and he seems to have had no further trouble of this See also:kind . The prompt and -vigorous pursuit of See also:Sir Henry See also:Clinton across New Jersey towards New York, and the battle of See also: