The 1st U.S President " George Washington", President of The United States

George Washington: On April 30, 1789, George Washington, I standing on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street, New York, took his oath of office as the first President of the United States. "As first of all, our situation will serve to set a precedent, "he wrote to James Madison," is devoutly wished on my part, that these precedents may be fixed on true principles. " Born in 1732 into a family of planters of Virginia, he learned the morals, customs, and knowledge REQUIREMENTS a gentleman from Virginia to the 18th century He pursued two intertwined interests: military arts and western expansion . At 16, he helped in the measurement of Shenandoah lands for Thomas Lord Fair fax. He was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel of the Army in 1754 and fought in the first rellertas of what later became known as the archdiocesan war. The next year, as an aide to Gen. Edward Braddock, he escaped unhurt, not emphases to four bullets ripped his coat and two horses were killed under him. From 1759 until the outbreak of the American Revolution, Washington watched over their lands around Mount Vernon and served in the Virginia House of Burgess's. Married a widow, Martha Drawbridge Custis, he devoutly devoted to a busy and happy life.

But like his fellow planters, Washington felt himself exploited by British merchants and hampered by British regulations. While differences with the mother country grew sharply, he moderately but firmly expressed his resistance to the restrictions. When the Second Continental Congress held its meeting in Philadelphia in May 1775, Washington, one of the Virginia delegates, was elected Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. On July 3, 1775, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he took command of his very poorly trained troops and sailed to a war that lasted six long and bloody years .. He understood that the best strategy was to harass the British . He told the conference, "We must at all times avoid a general Action, or put anything at risk, unless compelled by a necessity, into which we can never be drowned." The ensuing battles saw him fall back slowly then attacked him unexpectedly. Finally in 1781 with the aid of French allies - he forced the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. Washington lived to retire to his fields at Mount Vernon. But he soon understood that the nation did not work well under the Articles of Confederation, so he soon became a primary activist of the steps that lead to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. When the new constitution was ratified, the College electoral unanimously elected Washington as president.

He did not infer the powers for making policy that he felt the Constitution gave Congress. But indeterminacy of foreign policy became preponderantly a Presidential issue. When the French Revolution led to a major war between France and England, Washington refused to flatly accept recommendations from the Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, who was pro-French, or his Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, who was pro-British. Instead, he insisted on remaining neutral until the United States could grow stronger. To his disappointment, two political parties were developing by the end of his first term. Tired of politics and feeling old, Washington retired at the end of his second term. In his farewell address, he urged his countrymen to cope with excessive spirit of partisanship and geographical distinctions. In matters of foreign policy, he warned against long-term alliances. Washington enjoyed less than three years of retirement at Mount Vernon, for he died of an infection in the throat on 14 December 1799. For months the nation mourned.