No one looms higher in the pantheon of American heroes than George Washington, whose military service in the Revolutionary War coupled with his achievements as the first president of the United States earned him adoration bordering on worship his from his contemporaries and future generations alike. Abigail Adams said that Washington was made of “majestic fabric,” and upon his death in 1799, Henry Lee professed him as the “First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.” Americans have named our national capital, an commanding monument, and even a state in his honor.
Washington was born on February 22, 1732, at Wakefield, in a cozy home in the country Westmoreland County, Virginia. His father was a land speculator and a successful planation owner– he trained Washington in the ways of a planter up until his death in 1743. Washington learned to shoot and ride horses, traveled with his father on business trips, and developed an overwhelming ambition to become both a wealthy and a successful landowner is his own right. Washington became a land surveyor in 1749, under the tutelage of William Fairfax, after his mother denied his plans to join the British navy, and so he surveyed much of Virginia’s vast western land claims up until he inherited the family estate at Mount Vernon, after the death of his brother Lawrence in 1752.
George soon realized that he wasn’t content with that kind of a life style, so he joined the local militia. It didn’t take him very long to reach the rank of lieutenant colonel. Shortly thereafter he was involved with the start of the French and Indian War. After a victory over a smaller French force he had his men create Fort Necessity in the same place despite the fact it was terribly indefensible, causing him to have to surrender the Fort to the French on July 4th, 1754. Throughout the war his valor earned him the respect of many of his peers, eventually making George a full bird colonel and placing him in charge of the Virginia regiment. Despite his wealth, he insisted on being remembered as a soldier, instead of just another wealthy man.
The Essay on George Washington War First Train
George Washington was a war hero from 1776. All war heroes are always known for their accomplishments. Even though he lost the first battle he commanded in the French and Indian War, he never made that mistake again. George Washington had a very important military career. He was a General at first, then he got ranked to commander-chief, then he went all the way up to president after the ...
Overtime, Washington became increasingly more and more perturbed over Britians policies. He had gained a lot of land past the Appellations that he wanted to sell to people but was unable to due to the Proclamation of 1763, which forbade any English colonists from passing the mountain. As the tensions grew he ended up attending both the 1st and the 2nd Continental Congress. Although he never directly said he wanted to be in charge of the colonial military, he wore his militia uniform to both Congresses and to other meetings wit colonial leaders. Eventually John Adams nominated Washington as the commander of the colonial military.
Even though during the course of the revolution Washington had lost many battles and didn’t win much, he still exercised an immense leadership capability in the face of all odds. Through out the war he was faced with supply shortages, lack of men, mutinies, low morale among a myriad of other things but he was still able keep hope with in his grasp. He also refused to receive a salary for his troubles as commander and he supported civilian control over his army, despite when the Continental Congress seemingly to had forgotten all about his starving and ill-equipped troops. All of his hard work paid off when he made his most ingenious decision of the war when he took his army south from New York to join forces with colonial and french troops beseigeing Gen. Cornwallis at Yorktown. The victory became clear when French naval ships blocked off any hope of a British seaward escape.
After the British had left New York City in 1783, Washington stunned and astonished the world by resigning his commission as commander of the Colonial Army and returning tohis home, Mount Vernon. His military resignation became one of the most admired acts of his life, as it demonstrated civic virtue as well as an unselfish sense of duty to the nation, which awed his generation. If he so desired, he could have been a dictator or a king in the new country and used the colonial army for his own desires, or even demanded vast rewards and gold for his service to his country. Instead, he elected to go home and hoped to live the remainder of his days out at quiet Mount Vernon as a common citizen. His time at Mount Vernon was limited though, for he emerged from his retirement in 1787 to preside over the constitutional convention. His distinction gave credibility to the Constitutional Convention, for it is difficult for one to imagine the colonial delegates reaching any sort of consensus without his impeccable leadership. Furthermore, the Constitution gained much of its support from the public simply due to the fact that they presumed that Washington would be president; people felt that he could be trusted to not abuse any of the powers that were given to him in that office.
The Essay on Americans Revolution And The British Colonial War
At the beginning of the war, there was not a regular American army like we have today, just a militia made up of civilians, most of which were farmers. So naturally, they were not used to the long battles with the British Regulars. As a result thousands quit. What signaled the beginning of the American Revolution was the first battle on April 19, 1775 at Lexington. General Gage was in charge of ...
He was unanimously elected as the First president of the United States of America in 1789. As president he oversaw the creation of the federal government, had he not been more inclined to a stronger central government there is a large chance that the constitution would have fluked out muck like the articles of confederation did. The fact that the whole country respected Washington also helped maintain a sense of unity in the young country. He created the first presidential cabinet consisting of all the major department heads. He ensured that the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution, thus protecting American rights for centuries to come. He implemented a protective tariff to pay off debts that the new federal government had taken on from the states. During his 2nd term as president, he made a lasting foreign policy of not taking sides in foreign wars and be declaring neutrality, such as he did concerning the French Revolution. This wisdom prevented our country from becoming entangled in European affairs and from having to go to war with other countries in our early years.
Washington left behind a compelling list of military and political achievements. Nearly single-handedly, he held the ragged Continental army together for eight years,despite a myriad of complecations like battling the British, mutinies, conspiracies, and supply shortages that would have broken lesser leaders. He was not a great commander in the feild, but he learned from his many mistakes and bided the time until the conditions were ripe for the triumph at Yorktown. Politically, he proved remarkably sharp at discerning the desire of Congress and at creating an image that appealed strongly to his generation. Having less political experience and being less intellectually gifted than some of the other Founding Fathers, such as Ben Franklin, John Adams or Thomas Jefferson, he retained a sense of pragmatism and virtue as the president that encouraged popular trust in the government and withheld the United States out of war in the infant years of the new republic. Most importantly, he oversaw the creation of the Constitution, which provided a foundation on which to build a new of government. In the everlasting words of Henry Lee, Washington shall always be the ,”First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”
The Essay on Local Government President Election State
Vocabulary: 1. Amendment: Written change in the Constitution. 2. Balanced Budget: Budget in which income equals expenses. 3. Birthrate: Number of births per 1, 000 persons during one year. 4. Block Grant: Federal funds given to state and local governments for broad purposes. 5. Brown v. Board of Education: Concerned eight-year-old Linda Brown, a black girl living in Topeka, Kansas. The school only ...