George Washington
Report
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GEORGE WASHINGTON
Executed: Gadjimagomedova H.
Examined: Akhmedova Z.G.
Makhachkala 2001
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Early Career
3. French and Indian War
4. Life at Mount Vernon
5. Early Political Activity
6. The American Revolution
7. Washington Takes Command
8. Washington Takes Command
9. The Military Campaigns
10. Political Leadership During the War
11. The Confederation Years
12. The Presidency
13. The Executive Departments
14. The Federalist Program
15. The Judiciary System
16. The Western Frontier
17. The British and French
18. Washington Steps Down
19. Last Years
George Washington (1732-1799), first PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
When Washington retired from public life in 1797, his homeland was vastly
different from what it had been when he entered public service in 1749. To
each of the principal changes he had made an outstanding contribution.
Largely because of his leadership the Thirteen Colonies had become the
United States, a sovereign, independent nation.
As commander in chief during the American Revolution, he built a large
army, held it together, kept it in a maneuverable condition, and prevented
it from being destroyed by a crushing defeat. By keeping the army close to
the main force of the British, he prevented them from sending raiding
parties into the interior. The British did not risk such forays because of
their belief that their remaining forces might be overwhelmed. The British
evacuation of Boston in 1776, under Washington's siege, gave security to
nearly all New England.
Drawing from his knowledge of the American people and of the way they lived
and fought, Washington took advantage of British methods of fighting that
were not suited to a semiprimitive environment. He alternated between
daring surprise attacks and the patient performance of routine duties.
Washington's operations on land alone could not have overcome the British,
for their superior navy enabled them to move troops almost at will. A
timely use of the French fleet contributed to his crowning victory at
Yorktown in 1781.
After the war Washington took a leading part in the making of the
CONSTITUTION and the campaign for its ratification. Its success was assured
by 1797, at the end of the second term of his presidency. In 1799 the
country included nearly all its present-day territory between the Atlantic
coast and the Mississippi River.
President Washington acted with CONGRESS to establish the first great
executive departments and to lay the foundations of the modern federal
judiciary. He directed the creation of a diplomatic service. Three
presidential and five congressional elections carried the new government,
under the Constitution, through its initial trials.
A national army and navy came into being, and Washington acted with vigor
to provide land titles, security, and trade outlets for pioneers of the
trans-Allegheny West. His policy procured adequate revenue for the national
government and supplied the country with a sound currency, a well-supported
public credit, and an efficient network of national banks. Manufacturing
and shipping received aid for continuing growth.
In the conduct of public affairs, Washington originated many practices that
have survived. He withheld confidential diplomatic documents from the House
of Representatives, and made treaties without discussing them in the Senate
chamber. Above all, he conferred on the presidency a prestige so great that
political leaders afterward esteemed it the highest distinction to occupy
the chair he had honored.
Most of the work that engaged Washington had to be achieved through people.
He found that success depended on their cooperation and that they would do
best if they had faith in causes and leaders. To gain and hold their
approval were among his foremost objectives. He thought of people, in the
main, as right-minded and dependable, and he believed that a leader should
make the best of their good qualities.
As a Virginian, Washington belonged to, attended, and served as warden of
the established (Anglican) church. But he did not participate in communion,
nor did he adhere to a sectarian creed. He frequently expressed a faith in
Divine Providence and a belief that religion is needed to sustain morality
in society. As a national leader he upheld the right of every sect to
freedom of worship and equality before the law, condemning all forms of
bigotry, intolerance, discrimination, and persecution.
Throughout his public life, Washington contended with obstacles and
difficulties. His courage and resolution steadied him in danger, and defeat
steeled his will. His devotion to his country and his faith in its cause
sustained him. Averse to harsh measures, he was generous in victory. "His
integrity," wrote Thomas JEFFERSON, "was the most pure, his justice the
most inflexible I have ever known. He was, indeed, in every sense of the
word, a wise, a good, and a great man."
Early Career
George Washington was born in Westmoreland county, Va., on a farm, later
known as Wakefield, on Feb. 11, 1731, Old Style (Feb. 22, 1732, New Style).
His first American ancestor, John Washington, came to Virginia from England
in 1657. This immigrant's descendants remained in the colony and gained a
respected place in society. Farming, land buying, trading, milling, and the
iron industry were means by which the family rose in the world. George's
father, Augustine, had four children by his first wife and six by his
second wife, Mary Ball, George's mother. From 1727 to 1735, Augustine lived
at Wakefield, on the Potomac River between Popes Creek and Bridges Creek,
about 50 miles (80 km) inland and close to the frontier.
Of George's early life little is known. His formal education was slight. He
soon revealed a skill in mathematics and surveying so marked as to suggest
a gift for practical affairs akin to youthful genius in the arts. Men,
plantation life, and the haunts of river, field, and forest were his
principal teachers. From 1735 to 1738, Augustine lived at "Little Hunting
Creek" (later Mount Vernon). In 1738 he moved to Ferry Farm opposite
Fredericksburg on the Rappahannock River. Augustine died when George was
11, leaving several farms. Lawrence, George's half brother, inherited Mount
Vernon, where he built the central part of the now famous mansion. Another
half brother, Augustine, received Wakefield. Ferry Farm went to George's
mother, and it would pass to George after her death.
These farms bounded the world George knew as a boy. He lived and visited at
each. Ambitious to gain wealth and eminence, mainly by acquiring land, he
was obliged to depend chiefly on his own efforts. His mother once thought
of a career for him in the British Navy but was evidently deterred by a
report from her brother in England that an obscure colonial youth could not
expect more at Britain's hands than a job as a common sailor. George's
youthful model was Lawrence, a cultivated gentleman, whom he accompanied on
a trip to Barbados, West Indies, in 1751. Here George was stricken with
smallpox, which left lasting marks on his face.
When but 15, George was competent as a field surveyor. In 1748 he went as
an assistant on a surveying party sent to the Shenandoah Valley by Thomas,
6th Baron Fairfax, a neighbor of Lawrence and owner of vast tracts of land
in northern Virginia. A year later George secured a commission as surveyor
of Culpeper county. In 1752 he became the manager of a sizable estate when
he inherited Mount Vernon on the death of Lawrence.
George's early experiences had taught him the ways of living in the
wilderness, had deepened his appreciation of the natural beauty of
Virginia, had fostered his interest in the Great West, and had afforded
opportunities for acquiring land. The days of his youth had revealed a
striving nature. Strength and vigor heightened his enjoyment of activities
out of doors. Quick to profit by mistakes, he was otherwise deliberate in
thought. Not a fluent talker, he aspired to gain practical knowledge, to
acquire agreeable manners, and to excel in his undertakings.
French and Indian War
In the early 1750's, Britain and France both strove to occupy the upper
Ohio Valley. The French erected Fort Le Boeuf, at Waterford, Pa., and
seized a British post, Venango, on the Allegheny River. Alarmed by these
acts, Virginia's governor, Robert Dinwiddie, sent Washington late in 1753
on a mission to assert Britain's claim. He led a small party to Fort Le
Boeuf, where its commander stated France's determination to possess the
disputed area. Returning to Williamsburg, Washington delivered the defiant
reply. He also wrote a report which told a vivid winter's tale of
wilderness adventure that enhanced his reputation for resourcefulness and
daring.
Dinwiddie then put Washington in command of an expedition to guard an
intended British fort at the forks of the Ohio, at the present site of
Pittsburgh. En route, he learned that the French had expelled the Virginia
fort builders and were completing the works, which they named Fort
Duquesne. He advanced to Great Meadows, Pa., about 50 miles (80 km)
southeast of the fort, where he erected Fort Necessity. On May 28, 1754,
occurred one of the most disputed incidents of his career. He ambushed a
small French detachment, the commander of which, Joseph Coulon de Villiers,
sieur de Jumonville, was killed along with nine of his men. The others were
captured. This incident started the French and Indian War. The French
claimed that their detachment was on a peaceful mission; Washington thought
