287 lines
17 KiB
Plaintext
287 lines
17 KiB
Plaintext
Newsgroups: freenet.shrine.songs
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From: aa300 (Jerry Murphy)
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Subject: George Washington, biography
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Date: Wed, 24 Jan 90 15:52:48 EST
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WASHINGTON, GEORGE
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EARLY LIFE AND CAREER
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Born in Westmoreland County, Va., on Feb. 22, 1732, George Washington was the
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eldest son of Augustine Washington and his second wife, Mary Ball Washington,
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who were prosperous Virginia gentry of English descent. George spent his early
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years on the family estate on Pope's Creek along the Potomac River. His early
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education included the study of such subjects as mathematics, surveying, the
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classics, and "rules of civility." His father died in 1743, and soon thereafter
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George went to live with his half brother Lawrence at Mount Vernon, Lawrence's
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plantation on the Potomac. Lawrence, who became something of a substitute
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father for his brother, had married into the Fairfax family, prominent and
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influential Virginians who helped launch George's career. An early ambition to
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go to sea had been effectively discouraged by George's mother; instead, he
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turned to surveying, securing (1748) an appointment to survey Lord Fairfax's
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lands in the Shenandoah Valley. He helped lay out the Virginia town of Belhaven
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(now Alexandria) in 1749 and was appointed surveyor for Culpeper County. George
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accompanied his brother to Barbados in an effort to cure Lawrence of tuber-
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culosis, but Lawrence died in 1752, soon after the brothers returned. George
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ultimately inherited the Mount Vernon estate.
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By 1753 the growing rivalry between the British and French over control of the
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Ohio Valley, soon to erupt into the French and Indian War (1754-63), created new
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opportunities for the ambitious young Washington. He first gained public notice
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when, as adjutant of one of Virginia's four military districts, he was dis-
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patched (October 1753) by Gov. Robert Dinwiddie on a fruitless mission to warn
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the French commander at Fort Le Boeuf against further encroachment on territory
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claimed by Britain. Washington's diary account of the dangers and difficulties
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of his journey, published at Williamsburg on his return, may have helped win him
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his ensuing promotion to lieutenant colonel.
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Although only 22 years of age and lacking experience, he learned quickly,
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meeting the problems of recruitment, supply, and desertions with a combination
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of brashness and native ability that earned him the respect of his superiors.
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FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR
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In April 1754, on his way to establish a post at the Forks of the Ohio (the
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current site of Pittsburgh), Washington learned that the French had already
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erected a fort there. Warned that the French were advancing, he quickly threw up
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fortifications at Great Meadows, Pa., aptly naming the entrenchment Fort Neces-
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sity, and marched to intercept advancing French troops. In the resulting
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skirmish the French commander the sieur de Jumonville was killed and most of his
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men were captured. Washington pulled his small force back into Fort Necessity
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where he was overwhelmed (July 3) by the French in an all-day battle fought in a
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drenching rain. Surrounded by enemy troops, with his food supply almost ex-
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hausted and his dampened ammunition useless, Washington capitulated. Under the
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terms of the surrender signed that day, he was permitted to march his troops
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back to Williamsburg.
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Discouraged by his defeat and angered by discrimination between British and
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colonial officers in rank and pay, he resigned his commission near the end of
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1754. The next year, however, he volunteered to join British general Edward
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Braddock's expedition against the French. When Braddock was ambushed by the
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French and their Indian allies on the Monongahela River, Washington, although
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seriously ill, tried to rally the Virginia troops. Whatever public criticism
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attended the debacle, Washington's own military reputation was enhanced, and in
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1755, at the age of 23, he was promoted to colonel and appointed commander in
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chief of the Virginia militia, with responsibility for defending the frontier.
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In 1758 he took an active part in Gen. John Forbes's successful campaign against
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Fort Duquesne.
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>From his correspondence during these years, Washington can be seen
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evolving from a brash, vain, and opinionated young officer, impatient
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with restraints and given to writing admonitory letters to his
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superiors, to a mature soldier with a grasp of administration and a
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firm understanding of how to deal effectively with civil authority.
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VIRGINIA POLITICIAN
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Assured that the Virginia frontier was safe from French attack, Washington left
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the army in 1758 and returned to Mount Vernon, directing his attention toward
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restoring his neglected estate. He erected new buildings, refurnished the house,
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and experimented with new crops. With the support of an ever-growing circle of
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influential friends, he entered politics, serving (1759-74) in Virginia's House
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of Burgesses. In January 1759 he married Martha Dandridge Custis, a wealthy and
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attractive young widow with two small children. It was to be a happy and satis-
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fying marriage.
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After 1769, Washington became a leader in Virginia's opposition to Great Bri-
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tain's colonial policies. At first he hoped for reconciliation with Britain,
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although some British policies had touched him personally. Discrimination
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against colonial military officers had rankled deeply, and British land policies
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and restrictions on western expansion after 1763 had seriously hindered his
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plans for western land speculation. In addition, he shared the usual planter's
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dilemma in being continually in debt to his London agents. As a delegate
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(1774-75) to the First and Second Continental Congress, Washington did not
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participate actively in the deliberations, but his presence was undoubtedly a
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stabilizing influence. In June 1775 he was Congress's unanimous choice as com-
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mander-in-chief of the Continental forces.
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AMERICAN REVOLUTION
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Washington took command of the troops surrounding British-occupied Boston on
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July 3, devoting the next few months to training the undisciplined 14,000-man
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army and trying to secure urgently needed powder and other supplies. Early in
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March 1776, using cannon brought down from Ticonderoga by Henry Knox, Washington
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occupied Dorchester Heights, effectively commanding the city and forcing the
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British to evacuate on March 17. He then moved to defend New York City against
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the combined land and sea forces of Sir William Howe. In New York he committed a
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military blunder by occupying an untenable position in Brooklyn, although he
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saved his army by skillfully retreating from Manhattan into Westchester County
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and through New Jersey into Pennsylvania. In the last months of 1776, desperate-
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ly short of men and supplies, Washington almost despaired. He had lost New York
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City to the British; enlistment was almost up for a number of the troops, and
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others were deserting in droves; civilian morale was falling rapidly; and Cong-
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ress, faced with the possibility of a British attack on Philadelphia, had with-
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drawn from the city.
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Colonial morale was briefly revived by the capture of Trenton, N.J., a bril-
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liantly conceived attack in which Washington crossed the Delaware River on
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Christmas night 1776 and surprised the predominantly Hessian garrison. Advancing
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to Princeton, N.J., he routed the British there on Jan. 3, 1777, but in Septem-
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ber and October 1777 he suffered serious reverses in Pennsylvania--at Brandywine
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and Germantown. The major success of that year--the defeat (October 1777) of the
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British at Saratoga, N.Y.--had belonged not to Washington but to Benedict Arnold
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and Horatio Gates. The contrast between Washington's record and Gates's bril-
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liant victory was one factor that led to the so-called Conway Cabal--an intrigue
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by some members of Congress and army officers to replace Washington with a more
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successful commander, probably Gates. Washington acted quickly, and the plan
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eventually collapsed due to lack of public support as well as to Washington's
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overall superiority to his rivals.
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After holding his bedraggled and dispirited army together during the difficult
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winter at Valley Forge, Washington learned that France had recognized American
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independence. With the aid of the Prussian Baron von Steuben and the French
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marquis de Lafayette, he concentrated on turning the army into a viable fighting
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force, and by spring he was ready to take the field again. In June 1778 he
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attacked the British near Monmouth Courthouse, N.J., on their withdrawal from
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Philadelphia to New York. Although American general Charles Lee's lack of enter-
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prise ruined Washington's plan to strike a major blow at Sir Henry Clinton's
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army at Monmouth, the commander in chief's quick action on the field prevented
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an American defeat.
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In 1780 the main theater of the war shifted to the south. Although the campaigns
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in Virginia and the Carolinas were conducted by other generals, including
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Nathanael Greene and Daniel Morgan, Washington was still responsible for the
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overall direction of the war. After the arrival of the French army in 1780 he
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concentrated on coordinating allied efforts and in 1781 launched, in cooperation
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with the comte de Rochambeau and the comte d'Estaing, the brilliantly planned
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and executed Yorktown Campaign against Charles Cornwallis, securing (Oct. 19,
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1781) the American victory.
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Washington had grown enormously in stature during the war. A man of unquestioned
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integrity, he began by accepting the advice of more experienced officers such as
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Gates and Charles Lee, but he quickly learned to trust his own judgment. He
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sometimes railed at Congress for its failure to supply troops and for the bung-
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ling fiscal measures that frustrated his efforts to secure adequate materiel.
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Gradually, however, he developed what was perhaps his greatest strength in a
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society suspicious of the military--his ability to deal effectively with civil
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authority. Whatever his private opinions, his relations with Congress and with
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the state governments were exemplary--despite the fact that his wartime powers
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sometimes amounted to dictatorial authority. On the battlefield Washington
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relied on a policy of trial and error, eventually becoming a master ofimprov-
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isation. Often accused of being overly cautious, he could be bold when success
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seemed possible. He learned to use the short-term militia skillfully and to
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combine green troops with veterans to produce an efficient fighting force.
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After the war Washington returned to Mount Vernon, which had declined in his
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absence. Although he became president of the Society of the Cincinnati, an
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organization of former Revolutionary War officers, he avoided involvement in
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Virginia politics. Preferring to concentrate on restoring Mount Vernon, he added
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a greenhouse, a mill, an icehouse, and new land to the estate. He experimented
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with crop rotation, bred hunting dogs and horses, investigated the development
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of Potomac River navigation, undertook various commercial ventures, and traveled
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(1784) west to examine his land holdings near the Ohio River. His diary notes a
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steady stream of visitors, native and foreign; Mount Vernon, like its owner,
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had already become a national institution.
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In May 1787, Washington headed the Virginia delegation to the Constitutional
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Convention in Philadelphia and was unanimously elected presiding officer. His
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presence lent prestige to the proceedings, and although he made few direct
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contributions, he generally supported the advocates of a strong central govern-
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ment. After the new Constitution was submitted to the states for ratification
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and became legally operative, he was unanimously elected president (1789).
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THE PRESIDENCY
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Taking office (Apr. 30, 1789) in New York City, Washington acted carefully and
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deliberately, aware of the need to build an executive structure that could
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accommodate future presidents. Hoping to prevent sectionalism from dividing the
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new nation, he toured the New England states (1789) and the South (1791). An
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able administrator, he nevertheless failed to heal the widening breach between
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factions led by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and Secretary of the
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Treasury Alexander Hamilton. Because he supported many of Hamilton's controver-
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sial fiscal policies--the assumption of state debts, the Bank of the United
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States, and the excise tax--Washington became the target of attacks by Jeffer-
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sonian Democratic-Republicans.
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Washington was reelected president in 1792, and the following year the most
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divisive crisis arising out of the personal and political conflicts within his
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cabinet occurred--over the issue of American neutrality during the war between
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England and France. Washington, whose policy of neutrality angered the pro-
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French Jeffersonians, was horrified by the excesses of the French Revolution and
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enraged by the tactics of Edmond Genet, the French minister in the United
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States, which amounted to foreign interference in American politics. Further,
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with an eye toward developing closer commercial ties with the British, the
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president agreed with the Hamiltonians on the need for peace with Great Britain.
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His acceptance of the 1794 Jay's Treaty, which settled outstanding differences
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between the United States and Britain but which Democratic-Republicans viewed
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as an abject surrender to British demands, revived vituperation against the
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president, as did his vigorous upholding of the excise law during the Whiskey
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Rebellion in western Pennsylvania.
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RETIREMENT AND ASSESSMENT
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By March 1797, when Washington left office, the country's financial system was
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well established; the Indian threat east of the Mississippi had been largely
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eliminated; and Jay's Treaty and Pinckney's Treaty (1795) with Spain had
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enlarged U.S. territory and removed serious diplomatic difficulties. In spite of
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the animosities and conflicting opinions between Democratic-Republicans and
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members of the Hamiltonian Federalist party, the two groups were at least united
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in acceptance of the new federal government. Washington refused to run for a
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third term and, after a masterly Farewell Address in which he warned the United
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States against permanent alliances abroad, he went home to Mount Vernon. He was
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succeeded by his vice-president, Federalist John Adams.
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Although Washington reluctantly accepted command of the army in 1798 when war
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with France seemed imminent, he did not assume an active role. He preferred to
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spend his last years in happy retirement at Mount Vernon. In mid-December,
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Washington contracted what was probably quinsy or acute laryngitis; he declined
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rapidly and died at his estate on Dec. 14, 1799.
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Even during his lifetime, Washington loomed large in the national imagination.
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His role as a symbol of American virtue was enhanced after his death by Mason L.
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Weems, in an edition of whose Life and Memorable Actions of George Washington
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(c.1800) first appeared such legends as the story about the cherry tree. Later
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biographers of note included Washington Irving (5 vols., 1855-59) and Woodrow
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Wilson (1896). Washington's own works have been published in various editions,
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including THE DIARIES OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, edited by Donald Jackson and Dorothy
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Twohig (6 vols., 1976-79), and THE WRITINGS OF GEORGE WASHINGTON . . .,
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1745-1799, edited by John C. Fitzpatrick (39 vols., 1931-44).
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DOROTHY TWOHIG
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Cunliffe, Marcus - GEORGE WASHINGTON: MAN AND MONUMENT (1958)
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Davis, Burke - GEORGE WASHINGTON AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (1975)
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Dupuy, Trevor N. - THE MILITARY LIFE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON (1969)
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Flexner, James T. - GEORGE WASHINGTON, 4 vols. (1965-72)
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Freeman, Douglas S. - GEORGE WASHINGTON, 7 vols. (1949-57)
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Knollenberg, Bernhard - GEORGE WASHINGTON: THE VIRGINIA PERIOD, 1732-1775 (1964)
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- WASHINGTON AND THE REVOLUTION (1940; repr. 1968)
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McDonald, Forrest - THE PRESIDENCY OF GEORGE WASHINGTON (1974)
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Nettels, Curtis P. - GEORGE WASHINGTON AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE
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(1951; repr. 1977)
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GEORGE WASHINGTON
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1st President of the United States (1789-97)
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Nickname: "Father of His Country"
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Born: Feb. 22, 1732, Pope's Creek, Va.
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Profession: Soldier, Planter
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Religious Affiliation: Episcopalian
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Marriage: Jan. 6, 1759, to Martha Dandridge Custis (1731-1802)
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Children: None
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Political Affiliation: Federalist
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Writings: WRITINGS (39 vols., 1931-44), ed. by John C. Fitzpatrick
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Died: Dec. 14, 1799, Mount Vernon, Va
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Buried: Mount Vernon, Va. (family vault)
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Vice-President: John Adams
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Secretary of State: Thomas Jefferson (1790-93)
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Edmund Randolph (1794-95)
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Timothy Pickering (1795-97)
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Secretary of the Treasury: Alexander Hamilton (1789-95)
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Oliver Wolcott, Jr. (1795-97)
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Secretary of War: Henry Knox (1789-94)
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Timothy Pickering (1795-96)
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James McHenry (1796-97)
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Attorney General: Edmund Randolph (1790-94)
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William Bradford (1794-95)
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Charles Lee (1795-97)
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'Copyright 1987, Grolier Inc, Academic American Encyclopedia,
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Electronic Version'
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USED BY PERMISSION, granted January 9, 1988
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