George Washington: The Founding Father

The United States of America was formed by many president's of our time. One of these very influential presidents was George Washington. Courageous, smart and firm. The "founding father" has influenced many people today. He was a commander in chief of the forces during the Revolutionary War, chairman of the convention that wrote the Constitution, and the very first president. He has made very important decisions that still influence our country today.

George Washington was born on February 22th, 1732 in Virginia. He grew up as a country boy and loved his family. At the age of 17 he became a surveyor and had made a good reputation for himself as a responsible man. At the age of 20 he was assigned by the governor to send be a messenger

for the militia. He was soon made the lieutenant colon of the Virginia militia.

He led this army into the French-Indian War. His first major action towards being the greatest president of our country. He marched 200 men towards the French Fort Duquesne and captured all of the French scouting party. This was the official start of the French-Indian War. He was captured and forced to surrender but his people still thanked and appreciated him. After the British General Edward Braddock was murdered, the governor then appointed Washington to be the commander of all Virginia forces. He was just 23 at the time. He expanded the forced to 1,000 men and defeated the whole frontier. In 1758, Washington and his forced recaptured Fort Duquesne. This was the end of his service in the French and Indian War

One of the Acts leading up to the war was that of the Stamp Act, the British were taxing landowners for anything that was made of paper.

Washington presented a plan to the House of Burgesses to boycott the British in 1769. Though this was somewhat ignored, his persistence showed whenever he attended the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia and again the next year. During this time battles at Concord and Lexington occurred at this showed the Congress that action was to be made and George Washington was assigned command of the new army. He requested no pay.

The following six years Washington led the 13 colonies together. It was hard as he had to build up an army from untrained and unpaid men and was also appointed unskilled officers. He never had a big enough army to directly attack in battle and sometimes he was close to being defeated. He used skills that would drain the British and then attack and then force them out of the area. Washington had help from the French also that made winning the Revolutionary War possible. In 1781 the fighting was over.

Not only was he able to lead an army, but he was the leader of the movement that led the Constitutional Convention of 1787. He gave support to new Constitutions and leaders of many meetings. Once the constitution was finally revised, he was the presidential candidate that won 69 electoral

votes.

On April 30th, 1789, George Washington took the oath of office and led the new nation. He created his Cabinet into the same form that is used today. The first problems he had encountered as president was to be prepared for war and the national debt. He led the nation into financial prosperity when he laid tariffs on imports and taxes on special property. Money came in and bills were able to be settled. George Washington faced a major dispute when he placed a task on whiskey. The people rebelled but Washington led a small army to break up the protestors. This was unpopular but it set an example for later presidents to control the population. This showed the power of the government.

As the least years of presidency dwindled out they became very hard for him. He was personally targeted for judgment and harsh things were said about him when he created a peace treaty with England. But despite all the opposition he was still able to govern the country. He refused his third term and later settled in Mount Vernon. His personal home and farm.