George Washington
was the commander in chief of the Continental army during the American Revolution, and later the first president of the United States. He symbolized qualities of discipline, nobleness, military orthodoxy, and persistence in hard times that his contemporaries particularly valued as marks of complete political leadership.
Washington was born on February 22, 1732, in Westmoreland County, Virginia, the eldest son of Augustine Washington, a Virginia planter, and Mary Ball Washington. Although Washington had little or no formal schooling, his early notebooks indicate that he read in geography, military history, agriculture, deportment, and composition and that he showed some aptitude in ...
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interest in the development of western lands. In the summer of 1749 he was given the job of official surveyor for Culpeper County, and during the next two years he made many surveys for landowners on the Virginia frontier. In 1753 he was given the job of adjutant of one of the districts into which Virginia was divided, with the rank of major.
Washington played an important role in the struggles preceding the outbreak of the French and Indian War. He was chosen by Governor Robert Dinwiddie of Virginia to deliver a strong calling on the French’s forces to stop their gradual entrance in the Ohio River Valley. The young messenger was also instructed to observe the strength of French forces, the location of their forts, and the routes by which they might be reinforced from Canada. After successfully completing this mission, Washington, then a representative of the general, was ordered to lead a militia force for the protection of workers who were building a fort at the Forks ...
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a young widow with a large estate, made him one of the wealthiest men in Virginia. Elected to the House of Burgesses in 1758, he served conscientiously but without special distinction for 17 years. He also gained political and administrative experience as justice of the peace for Fairfax County.
Like other Virginia planters, Washington became alarmed by the exclusion of the British crown and Parliament in the 1760s and early '70s. In July 1774 he presided over a meeting in Alexandria that adopted the Fairfax Resolves, calling for the establishment and enforcement of a stringent boycott on British imports prior to similar action by the First Continental Congress. Together with his ...
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George Washington. (2006, September 21). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/George-Washington/52740
"George Washington." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 21 Sep. 2006. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/George-Washington/52740>
"George Washington." Essayworld.com. September 21, 2006. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/George-Washington/52740.
"George Washington." Essayworld.com. September 21, 2006. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/George-Washington/52740.
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