Easton Press George Washington books
George Washington a Biography by John Alden - 1993
Washington by Douglas Southall Freeman - 1995
George Washington 4 volume set by James Thomas Flexner including:
The Forge Experience 1732-1775
In the American Revolution 1775-1783
And the New Nation 1783-1793
Anguish and Farewell 1793-1799
President George Washington biography
George Washington was a Virginia gentleman and a great soldier who became the father of his country. George Washington, the first president of the United States, was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on February 22, 1732. He came from a prominent family and had a very regal bearing. Washington’s property holdings were extensive. He was homeschooled until the age of 16, when he left home to help map the boundaries of the English colony of Virginia.
In 1752, his brother and niece both died, and the 20-year-old Washington inherited his family’s fortune, including their home at Mount Vernon, Virginia. George Washington was also a slave owner who held hundreds of enslaved people.
In 1753, when the French began seizing British territory in the American colonies, Washington, a major in the Virginia militia, was sent to defend the Crown’s claims. Washington fought against the French and Native Americans in the 1750s while serving as a British officer. He led several military campaigns, and after the British won the war, he sought an officer’s commission in the British Army. He was turned down for a leadership position in the British military and became embittered by the rejection.
In 1758, Washington left the militia and returned to Mount Vernon. Within one month, he married the wealthy widow Martha Custis. Martha, along with her property, made him one of the wealthiest leaders in Virginia and in the country. Washington was elected to Virginia’s House of Burgesses, where he began to oppose the growing tax burden Britain was imposing on the colonies. Americans felt that Britain, their mother country, was exploiting them through taxation without granting them the freedom they believed they deserved to chart their own course.
George Washington was not a fiery revolutionary like Patrick Henry, Sam Adams, or Thomas Paine. Instead, he was a more reluctant supporter of independence. In March 1775, Washington was elected to the First Continental Congress. One month later, the Revolutionary War began. Washington became the man on horseback who returned to the Second Continental Congress ready to take charge of the Patriot Army.
In March 1776, Washington’s army won its first major victory by forcing the British to evacuate Boston. He then moved his army to New York City, but within months he was forced to retreat. George Washington lost many battles, but he never lost the war because he always lived to fight another day.
On Christmas night in 1776, Washington launched a surprise attack against the British. When he crossed the Delaware River, he used stealth and guerrilla tactics that caught the enemy off guard. Washington defeated the British in Trenton and Princeton, but the victories were followed by the long, harsh winter at Valley Forge. That cold and bleak winter marked the low point for the Continental Army, with soldiers walking barefoot through the snow. Washington’s strategy focused on survival and endurance.
Washington won the final major conflict of the Revolutionary War in October 1781 with the surrender of British forces at Yorktown. In 1783, with the war over, Washington resigned his command and returned home to Mount Vernon.
Washington was later drawn back into politics in Philadelphia during the Constitutional Convention of 1787, where leaders created the new Constitution. He agreed to become president to help unify the new nation. On April 30, 1789, George Washington was sworn in as the first president of the United States. He remains the only president unanimously elected by the Electoral College.
Washington led the young nation from the capital in New York City and served two terms as president. He understood that for democracy to survive, power had to be transferred peacefully rather than held permanently by one ruler. By voluntarily stepping down after two terms, he set the example of a chief executive who gives up power and returns home.
On December 14, 1799, George Washington died. In his will, he ordered the emancipation of the enslaved people he owned upon Martha Washington’s death. Even in death, Washington was remembered as a unifying figure in American history.
George Washington quotes
"It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one."
"Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company."
"Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth."
"Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all."
"To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace."
"It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible."
"Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected."
"The harder the conflict, the greater the triumph."
"Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all."
"Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder."