George Washington, an American military commander, politician, and founding father, died on December 14, 1799. He served as the country’s first president from 1789 to 1797.

The Second Continental Congress called Washington the commander of the Continental Army in June 1775.

He then presided over the 1787 Constitutional Convention, which drafted and ratified the United States Constitution and established the federal government in the United States.

Due to his extensive contributions to the country’s formation, Washington has earned the moniker “Father of his Country.”

From Surveyor to Revolutionary General

Washington’s first elected position was Surveyor of Culpeper County, Virginia, which he held from 1749 to 1750. He commanded the Virginia Regiment during the French and Indian War after completing his initial military training.

Later, he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses and designated a delegate to the Continental Congress. At the latter, they named him Commanding General of the Continental Army, overseeing American forces and their allies, the French, during the Revolutionary War.

Together, they defeated the British at the siege of Yorktown in 1781, paving the way for American independence. After the signing of the Treaty of Paris, he resigned from his commission.

From 1759 until the start of the American Revolution, Washington ran his estates near Mount Vernon, while also serving in the Virginia House of Burgesses.

Married to Martha Dandridge Custis, a widow, he committed himself to a full and fulfilling life. However, like his fellow landowners, he believed British merchants took advantage of him and British rules were burdensome.

He stated his opposition to the limits gently but strongly when the dispute with the mother nation worsened.

George Washington on Social Norms

Washington attended the Lower Church School in Hartfield, although he did not receive the same formal education as his older brothers at the Appleby Grammar School in England.

In addition to being a skilled draftsman and mapmaker, he also studied arithmetic, trigonometry, and land surveying. 

The “Rules of Civility and Decent Behavioral in Company and Conversation” list over a hundred social norms that Washington graded and compiled as a teenager. Moreover, he had a French book about manners translated into English.

Civil War Military Service

George Washington, Lawrence’s half-brother, applied for a commission due to Lawrence’s work as the Virginia militia’s adjutant general. Robert Dinwiddie, the lieutenant governor of Virginia, assigned George Washington to the position of major and leader of one of the militia’s four districts.

The Ohio Valley was a battleground for dominance between the British and the French. The French built forts between the Ohio River and Lake Erie, while the British built forts along the Ohio River.

Washington obtained information from Half-King Tanacharison and other Iroquois leaders at Logs town, including the number and locations of French forts and Intel on those the French had taken prisoner.

Washington came to Barbados in 1751 with his elder half-brother Lawrence Washington (1718–52), battling TB and believing the island’s tropical atmosphere would aid in his recovery. This was Washington’s sole voyage outside of the United States.

George got smallpox soon after they arrived. He recovered, but the sickness left him with scars on his face that would never go away.

Lawrence, Washington’s mentor, and an English-educated man, passed away in 1752. The Mount Vernon estate, located close to Alexandria, Virginia, on the Potomac River, finally passed to Washington.

A Gentleman Farmer and an Officer

Washington increased Mount Vernon’s original 2,000 acres into an 8,000-acre estate with five farms throughout the subsequent years. He raised several crops, including wheat and corn, bred mules, cared for fruit orchards, and operated a prosperous fishery. He was keenly interested in farming and always experimented with new crops and ways to preserve the land.

In December 1752, they appointed Washington, who had no military training, as the head of the Virginia militia. He participated in the French and Indian War before being given command over all of Virginia’s militia units. The Virginia House of Burgesses elected Washington in 1759 after he had resigned his office, retired to Mount Vernon, and remained there until 1774. He wed Martha Dandridge Custis (1731–1802), a wealthy widow with two kids, in January 1759. Washington and Martha Washington never had children of their own, so he became a loving stepfather to her children.

George Washington and his Journey to Independence

Washington concluded that declaring independence from England was in the best interests of the colonies towards the end of the 1760s after personally witnessing the consequences of the British government’s increasing taxation of American colonists. Washington participated in the Philadelphia First Continental Congress in 1774 as a delegate. The American Revolution had officially started when the Second Continental Congress met a year later, and Washington had been appointed commander in chief of the Continental Army.

Washington turned out to be a more effective general than a military planner. His ability to maintain the unity of the beleaguered colonial army was his greatest strength, not his brilliance on the battlefield. His men lacked food, ammo, and other supplies and occasionally went without shoes in the cold. They were also inadequately trained. However, Washington was able to inspire and provide them with direction. His leadership during the Valley Forge winter of 1777–1778 was evidence of his ability to motivate his soldiers to press on.