George Washington

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.

“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.”