George Washington, the first President of the United States of America, was born into a Virginia planter family in 1732. His family raised him with the all the proper morals, manners, and knowledge a respected, eighteenth century gentleman was expected to portray. By the time he was 16 years old, he had found two areas of interest to pursue: western expansion and military arts. Alongside Lord Fairfax Thomas, he helped to survey Shenandoah lands. About seven years later, in 1754, he was commissioned a lieutenant colonel and fought in the first battles that would grow into the French and Indian War. Washington escaped death the next year as an aide to General Edward Braddock when two horses were shot from under him and four bullets ripped into his coat.

Years later, Washington fell into a more peaceful way of life as he managed his lands around Mount Vernon, served in the Virginia House of Burgesses, and became happily married to the widow Martha Dandridge Custis. Even marital bliss, however, could not distract his attentions from his and his neighboring planters’ concern over being exploited by the British merchants and government.

Washington attended the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia in May 1775 as a Virginia delegate and was elected Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. He first took command of his troops, who were very untrained, on July 3 of that year and would continue to fight for six long years. His fighting technique is probably best summarized by his own words to Congress, “we should on all Occasions avoid a general Action, or put anything to the Risque, unless compelled by a necessity, into which we ought never to be drawn.”http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/georgewashington/ In 1781, Washington successfully forced the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown with the help of the French army.

Although personal accounts would show Washington more than ready to retire after the war, he could not find it in himself to go back to a simple life as he watched the nation struggle to govern itself beneath the Articles of Confederation. He became a principle figure in organizing the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia in 1781, and when the new Constitution was ratified, he was unanimously elected the first President by the Electoral College.

Washington took his oath of office on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York April 30, 1789. As President, Washington respected the powers given to him and the Congress by the Constitution and did not infringe on those that were not specified to his position. He focused much concern on the continuing issues of foreign policy instead.

He withheld American support to either France or England during the major war that broke between the countries following the French Revolution. He decided for his country to stay neutral so it could strengthen, much to the dismay of his advisors. Thomas Jefferson was his Secretary of State and thought it best to support France as it had supported the U.S., whereas Alexander Hamilton, his Secretary of the Treasury, thought it made more financial sense to support the British.

To the displeasure of Washington, he was witnessing two political parties emerging by the end of his first term. Tired of politics and from old-age, he retired at the end of his second. In his Farewell Address, he warned against long-term foreign alliances and sincerely urged his fellow countrymen to dismiss jealous party affiliations and geographical distinctions.

Less than three short years later, George Washington died at Mount Vernon of an infection of the throat December 14. His death was mourned throughout the nation for months afterward.http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/georgewashington/