George Washington was the first President of the United States. He was born February 22 1732 near Fredericksburg, Virginia.
He died December 14 1799 at Mount Vernon Virginia.
Has the First President, he determined in large measure what the job of President should be. He held the country together during its early days and gave it a chance to grow.
Now for the first time a number of people began to complain about Washington. Even so, most people wanted him to be President for a third term. But he was sixty-five years old. He was tired. He refused a third term and went back to the life he loved at Mount Vernon.
Which he did not enjoy for long. On December 12 1799 he was caught in a snowstorm while riding around his farm and became sick. Two days later he died.
The news of his death came as a great shock to the whole world. Even the British, whom he fought, had learned to admire and respect him. Thomas Jefferson, who often disagreed with Washington, said, "He was a wise, a good and a great man." But it was one of Washington's own soldiers who put the nations feelings into words. Washington, said General Lighthouse Harry Lee was "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen."
Washington's likeness is on the $1 bill and the quarter.
Unanimously elected the first president, Washington was inaugurated in New York City on April 30, 1789. Acting with a cooperative Congress, he and his aides constructed the foundations on which the political institutions of the country have rested since that time.
His qualifications for his task could hardly have been better. For 15 years he had contended with most of the problems that faced the infant government. By direct contact he had come to know the leaders who were to play important parts during his presidency. Having traveled widely over the country, he had become well acquainted with its economic conditions and practices. Experience had schooled him in the arts of diplomacy. He had listened closely to the debates on the Constitution and had gained a full knowledge both of its provisions and of the ideas and interests of representative leaders. He had worked out a successful method for dealing with other men and with Congress and the states. Thanks to his innumerable contacts with the soldiers of the Revolutionary army, he understood the character of the American people and knew their ways. For eight years after 1775 he had been a de facto president. The success of his work in founding a new government was a by-product of the qualifications he had acquired in the hard school of public service.