Key Facts
- Term
- 1789--1797
- Party
- None (Federalist-leaning)
- Vice President
- John Adams
- First Lady
- Martha Washington
- Home State
- Virginia
- Born
- 1732
- Died
- 1799
Biography
George Washington was born in 1732 in Westmoreland County, Virginia, to a prosperous planter family. He worked as a surveyor before inheriting the Mount Vernon estate and becoming one of Virginia's wealthiest landowners.
Washington gained military experience during the French and Indian War and was unanimously chosen as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolution. His leadership through brutal winters, devastating losses, and near-mutinies held the fledgling army together for eight years until victory at Yorktown in 1781.
After presiding over the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Washington was unanimously elected the first president — the only president to receive 100% of electoral votes. He established critical precedents: the Cabinet system, the two-term tradition, the title "Mr. President," and the peaceful transfer of power.
Washington deliberately stepped down after two terms, establishing the precedent that no one should hold the presidency indefinitely — a tradition unbroken until FDR and later codified in the 22nd Amendment. He died at Mount Vernon in 1799 at age 67.
Key Events & Accomplishments
- Established the Cabinet system with the first four departments (State, Treasury, War, Attorney General)
- Signed the Judiciary Act of 1789, creating the federal court system
- Issued the Proclamation of Neutrality (1793), keeping the U.S. out of European wars
- Suppressed the Whiskey Rebellion (1794), establishing federal authority to enforce tax laws
- Signed Jay's Treaty with Britain and Pinckney's Treaty with Spain
- Delivered the Farewell Address warning against political parties and foreign entanglements
Notable Quotes
“The Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon.”
“If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”
“It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.”
Did You Know?
- Washington never lived in the White House — the capital was in New York and then Philadelphia during his presidency.
- His famous wooden teeth were actually made of hippopotamus ivory, gold, and human teeth — not wood.
- He is the only president to have a state named after him.