George Washington (1732)close
George Washington was born into the family of a Virginia planter. His widowed mother could not afford to send him to college, so at the age of 15, young Washington became a surveyor.
Washington spent months surveying the vast estate of Lord Fairfax, which ran from the Atlantic coast to the Allegheny Mountains. At the age of 20, he joined the militia to guard Virginia against French and Indian raiders.
When he was 27 years old, he married Martha Dandridge Custis and committed himself to a busy and happy life managing his farms and serving in the Virginia legislature. Washington soon joined with other prominent gentleman of Virginia to protest to the unjust restriction of the Stamp Act and other British regulations. At the spring 1775 meeting of the Second Continental Congress, Washington was unanimously elected Commander in Chief of the Continental Army.
After the Revolutionary War, Washington was asked to lead a Constitutional Convention in 1787. Under his guidance, the Constitution of the United States with its Bill of Rights was created. He was persuaded to serve as the country's first president and took the first presidential oath of office on April 30, 1789.
Washington retired at the end of two successful terms as President, and died at Mount Vernon on December 14, 1799.
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