WASHINGTON, GEORGE. — First President of the United States, b. at Bridges Creek (Virginia) 22 Feb. 1732, d. at Mount Vernon (Virginia) 14 Dec. 1799.
Son of a wealthy planter, he received an irregular education and, having been orphaned at an early age, had to take charge of the administration of the family’s considerable estates, which he increased by shrewd land purchases, especially in the western territories, a region whose colonization he actively promoted and whose importance for the future development of the country he was among the first to recognize. Having entered the Virginia militia (1753), he took part in several actions against the French and distinguished himself so greatly that at the age of only 23 he was appointed commander of the colony’s troops. The many difficulties he encountered due to the lack of cooperation from the civil authorities and an illness contracted in service, however, led him to resign in 1758. In the years that followed, and up until the eve of the War of Independence, he resumed the management of his estates, greatly enlarged by a profitable marriage, while at the same time participating in public life as a member of the Virginia assembly (House of Burgesses). When the agitation of the colonies against the mother country began, W. supported the various economic reprisals they adopted and participated as a delegate from Virginia in the first Continental Congress held in Philadelphia (1774). At the outbreak of hostilities, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of all the colonial troops (1775), and he played a pivotal role not only in organizing the new confederate army but also in leading and sustaining its troops, who were poorly equipped and gathered together in a grueling and protracted war against far superior forces. Endowed with admirable fortitude and inspirational prestige rather than exceptional military skill, he endured even serious defeats inflicted by the British armies, which even went so far as to occupy the seat of Congress, without ever losing heart and taking advantage of every favorable circumstance to launch a counterattack. At the same time, he had to contend with constant conflicts with a Congress too weak to meet his demands for additional troops; with his own men, who in the most difficult periods became despondent and mutinied; and with some of his generals, who schemed to remove him from command. As the situation improved with the intervention of France on the side of the insurgents, W. was able to abandon his delaying tactics and secure the surrender of the British troops at Yorktown (1781), which virtually marked the end of the war. After the peace was signed (1783), his popularity was such that some thought of him as a possible monarch of the new state: to these solicitations he responded with a blunt refusal and preferred to return to the peaceful activities on his lands. Concerned, however, about the weakness of the state structure, he worked in favor of a radical constitutional reform; and when an assembly was convened to draft it (1787), he was elected its president. Averse to oratorical battles, he contributed, through the authority of his name, to reconciling the various tendencies and interests at play and to securing the ratification of the new constitution by the country. Elected unanimously to the presidency of the Republic (1789), he directed his administration toward a methodical effort to consolidate the state, considering himself above the parties that were forming and an arbiter of their disputes. Reelected in 1792, he pursued a policy of neutrality between France and England and negotiated a treaty with the latter, thereby alienating the pro-French Republican party. Having become the target of all manner of accusations, upon the expiration of his second term (1797) he refused to stand for reelection and spent his final years on his estates. Of an apparently cold and aloof temperament, he was judged an aristocrat by his contemporaries. Nevertheless, both they and posterity have been unanimous in conferring upon him the title of Father of His Country of democracy, and to emphasize the significance of his work they gave his name to the capital of the nation.
WASHINGTON, GEORGE — Portrait, painting by Edward Savage (1790) — Boston, Harvard College.