 1732 - 1799 (67 years) Submit Photo / Document
Has 49 ancestors but no descendants in this family tree.
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| Name |
George Washington |
| Prefix |
President |
| Birth |
22 Feb 1732 |
Popes Creek, Westmoreland, Virginia, United States  |
| Christening |
5 Apr 1732 |
Virginia, United States |
| Gender |
Male |
| Death |
14 Dec 1799 |
Mount Vernon, Fairfax, Virginia, United States |
| Burial |
18 Dec 1799 |
Mount Vernon, Fairfax, Virginia, United States |
| Initiatory (LDS) |
22 Aug 1877 |
SGEOR |
| FamilySearch ID |
KNDX-MKG |
| Person ID |
I168783 |
mytree |
| Last Modified |
25 Feb 2024 |
| Father |
Augustine Washington, b. 12 Nov 1694, Bridges Creek, Westmoreland, Virginia, United States d. 12 Apr 1743, Ferry Farm, Stafford, Virginia, United States (Age 48 years) |
| Mother |
Mary Ball, b. 30 Nov 1708, Epping Forest, Lively, Lancaster, Virginia, United States d. 25 Aug 1789, Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Virginia, United States (Age 80 years) |
| Marriage |
6 Mar 1730 |
Lancaster, Virginia, United States |
| Family ID |
F42424 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family |
Martha Dandridge, b. 2 Jun 1731, Chestnut Grove Plantation House, New Kent, Virginia, United States d. 22 May 1802, Mount Vernon, Fairfax, Virginia, United States (Age 70 years) |
| Marriage |
6 Jan 1759 |
New Kent, Virginia, United States |
| Family ID |
F42425 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
21 Nov 2024 |
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| Event Map |
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 | Birth - 22 Feb 1732 - Popes Creek, Westmoreland, Virginia, United States |
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 | Christening - 5 Apr 1732 - Virginia, United States |
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 | Marriage - 6 Jan 1759 - New Kent, Virginia, United States |
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 | Death - 14 Dec 1799 - Mount Vernon, Fairfax, Virginia, United States |
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| Burial - 18 Dec 1799 - Mount Vernon, Fairfax, Virginia, United States |
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 | Initiatory (LDS) - 22 Aug 1877 - SGEOR |
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| Notes |
- On April 30, 1789, George Washington, standing on the balcony of Feder a l Hall on Wall Street in New York, took his oath of office as the firs t P resident of the United States. “As the first of every thing, in our s itua tion will serve to establish a Precedent,” he wrote James Madison, “ it i s devoutly wished on my part, that these precedents may be fixed o n tru e principles.”
Born in 1732 into a Virginia planter family, he learned the morals, mann e rs, and body of knowledge requisite for an 18th century Virginia gentle ma n.
He pursued two intertwined interests: military arts and western expansio n . At 16 he helped survey Shenandoah lands for Thomas, Lord Fairfax. Com mi ssioned a lieutenant colonel in 1754, he fought the first skirmishes o f w hat grew into the French and Indian War. The next year, as an aide t o Gen . Edward Braddock, he escaped injury although four bullets ripped h is coa t and two horses were shot from under him.
From 1759 to the outbreak of the American Revolution, Washington manag e d his lands around Mount Vernon and served in the Virginia House of Bur ge sses. Married to a widow, Martha Dandridge Custis, he devoted himsel f t o a busy and happy life. But like his fellow planters, Washington fel t hi mself exploited by British merchants and hampered by British regulat ions . As the quarrel with the mother country grew acute, he moderately b ut fi rmly voiced his resistance to the restrictions.
When the Second Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia in May 17 7 5, Washington, one of the Virginia delegates, was elected Commander i n Ch ief of the Continental Army. On July 3, 1775, at Cambridge, Massachu setts , he took command of his ill-trained troops and embarked upon a wa r tha t was to last six grueling years.
He realized early that the best strategy was to harass the British. He r e ported to Congress, “we should on all Occasions avoid a general Action , o r put anything to the Risque, unless compelled by a necessity, into w hic h we ought never to be drawn.” Ensuing battles saw him fall back slow ly , then strike unexpectedly. Finally in 1781 with the aid of French all ies –he forced the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.
Washington longed to retire to his fields at Mount Vernon. But he soon r e alized that the Nation under its Articles of Confederation was not func ti oning well, so he became a prime mover in the steps leading to the Con sti tutional Convention at Philadelphia in 1787. When the new Constitutio n wa s ratified, the Electoral College unanimously elected Washington Pre siden t.
He did not infringe upon the policy making powers that he felt the Const i tution gave Congress. But the determination of foreign policy became pr ep onderantly a Presidential concern. When the French Revolution led t o a ma jor war between France and England, Washington refused to accept e ntirel y the recommendations of either his Secretary of State Thomas Jeff erson , who was pro-French, or his Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Ha milton , who was pro-British. Rather, he insisted upon a neutral course u ntil th e United States could grow stronger.
To his disappointment, two parties were developing by the end of his fir s t term. Wearied of politics, feeling old, he retired at the end of hi s se cond. In his Farewell Address, he urged his countrymen to forswear e xcess ive party spirit and geographical distinctions. In foreign affairs , he wa rned against long-term alliances.
Washington enjoyed less than three years of retirement at Mount Vernon , f or he died of a throat infection December 14, 1799. For months the Na tio n mourned him.
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Has 49 ancestors but no descendants in this family tree.
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