George Washington

George Washington
[[file:|225px|alt=|George Washington]]
First President of the United States
In office 1789 - 1797
Spouse(s)	Martha Dandridge (m. 1759)
Religion	Christianity
colspan="2" style="background-color: #4F3B21; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle;"	Military service
Allegiance	Kingdom of Great Britain (originally) United States of America
Service/branch	Colonial Militia Continental Army United States Army
Rank	Commander-in-Chief

George Washington was the first United States President and a soldier during the American Revolutionary War. He is also considered a Founding Father of the United States. He was a Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and was the person who presided the over the 1787 convention which drafted the United States Constitution. He was thought of during his time and still to this day, as the "father of the country". Washington's first public office, from 1749 to 1750, was as surveyor of Culpeper County, Virginia. He subsequently received his first military training and was assigned command of the Virginia Regiment during the French and Indian War. He was later elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses and was named a delegate to the Continental Congress, where he was appointed Commanding General of the Continental Army and led American forces allied with France to a decisive victory over the British at the siege of Yorktown in 1781 during the Revolutionary War, paving the way for American independence. He resigned his commission in 1783 after the Treaty of Paris was signed.

Washington played an indispensable role in adopting and ratifying the Constitution of the United States, which replaced the Articles of Confederation in 1789 and remains the world's longest-standing written and codified national constitution to this day. He was then twice elected president by the Electoral College unanimously. As the first U.S. president, Washington implemented a strong, well-financed national government while remaining impartial in a fierce rivalry that emerged between cabinet members Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. During the French Revolution, he proclaimed a policy of neutrality while sanctioning the Jay Treaty. He set enduring precedents for the office of president, including use of the title "Mr. President" and taking an Oath of Office with his hand on a Bible. His Farewell Address on September 19, 1796, is a preeminent statement on republicanism in which he writes about the importance of national unity and the dangers regionalism, partisanship and foreign influence pose to it..

Washington was a slave owner who had a complicated relationship with slavery. During his lifetime, he owned a cumulative total of over 577 slaves, who were forced to work on his farms and wherever he lived, including the President's House in Philadelphia. Yet, as president, he also signed laws passed by Congress that both protected and curtailed slavery. His will stated that one of his slaves, William Lee, should be freed upon his death and that the other 123 slaves should be freed on his wife's death, though she freed them earlier during her lifetime.

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