George Washington{| border="0" align="right" style="margin-left:1em" width="300px"\n|-\n|\n{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"\n|+George Washington\n|-\n| colspan="2" align="center" bgcolor="lightgrey" |\n \n(Larger image)\n|-\n| Order:\n| 1st President\n|-\n| Term of Office:\n| April 30, 1789 - March 4, 1797\n|-\n| Succeeded by:\n| John Adams\n|-\n| Date of Birth\n| February 11, 1731 (Old Style) \nFebruary 22, 1732 (New Style)\n|-\n| Place of Birth:\n| Washington's Birthplace, Virginia\n|-\n| Date of Death:\n| December 14, 1799\n|-\n| Place of Death:\n| Mount Vernon, Virginia\n|-\n| First Lady:\n| Martha Washington\n|-\n| Occupation:\n| Farmer, Soldier, Surveyor\n|-\n| Political Party:\n| no affiliation\n|-\n| Vice President:\n| John Adams\n|}\n|} George Washington, by-name Father of His Country1 (February 22 1732 - December 14 1799) was an American general and Commander-in-Chief of the colonial armies in the American Revolution (1775–83) and subsequently first president of the United States (1789–97).
Is he really the first President?Some people wonder why the leaders in the intervening time period between the American Revolution and the signing of the United States Constitution are not recognized as the President of the United States. Some people argue that the Presidents of the Continental Congress under the Articles of Confederation should be retroactively recognized as the true first Presidents of the United States. Politically, the positions are different in that one was the leader of a Congress that controlled a loose confederation and the other leads a true federal government. Given this, virtually all historians believe that the positions are not the same and therefore the first President is George Washington.Personal informationAdmirers of Washington circulated an apocryphal story about his honesty as a child. In the story, he wanted to try out a new axe and chopped down his father's cherry tree; when questioned by his father, he gave the famous non-quotation: "I cannot tell a lie. It was I who chopped down the cherry tree." The story first appeared after Washington's death in a naive "inspirational" children's book by Parson Mason Weems, who had been rector of the Mount Vernon parish. See also George Washington's axe for an elaboration of this story. Because of Washington's involvement in Freemasonry, some publicly visible collections of Washington memorabilia are maintained by Masonic lodges. The museum at Fraunces Tavern Museum in New York City includes specimens of Washington's false teeth. George Washington was plagued throughout his adult life with bad teeth, losing about 1 tooth a year from the age of 24. In his later years he consulted a number of dentists and had a number of sets of false teeth (but none of wood). For a more or less definitive chronicle of his struggles see George Washington's Teeth, Madeleine Comora and Deborah Chandra, illustrated by: Brock Cole, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003, hardcover, ISBN 0374325340. At his time of death, Washington last held the rank of major general, appointed by John Adams in anticipation of a possible war with France. Over the years, many military officers outranked him. In 1976, President Gerald Ford posthumously appointed George Washington as General of the Armies of the United States, and specified that he would always outrank all officers of the Army, past and present. Modern day doctors now believe that Washington died from either a streptococcal infection of the throat, or, since he was bled as part of his treatment, a combination of shock from the loss of blood, asphyxia, and dehydration. He was buried in a family graveyard in Mount Vernon.Religious beliefsGeorge Washington was one of the few early American Presidents who was not a total follower of any one specific Christian denomination. He professed a strong belief in God, but did not necessarily believe that God intervened in the world through supernatural miracles. His informal religious beliefs were sometimes described as Deism; although he attended, and served as a lay officer of, an Episcopal Church – of which his wife was a devout member. Washington was an early supporter of religious pluralism. In 1790 he wrote that he envisioned a country "which gives bigotry no sanction...persecution no assistance.... May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid." This letter was seen by the Jewish community as a significant event; they felt that for the first time in millennia Jews would enjoy full human and political rights. A drawing of George Washington\n LegacyThe capital city of the United States, Washington, D.C, is named for him. The District of Columbia was created by an Act of Congress in 1790, and Washington was deeply involved in its creation, including the siting of the White House. At this time, the future site of the capital was a swamp, and Washington remained largely marshland well into the 19th century. The capital was placed in the South, rather than in the major towns of the North, as a compromise during the writing of the United States Constitution in order to get Southern votes for important compromises. Washington also selected West Point, New York, as the site for the United States Military Academy. Washington State in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. is also named for him, the only state named for a president. Numerous ships of United States Navy have been named USS George Washington in honor of the man, or USS Washington in honor of the state named in honor of the man. His image is on the one dollar bill and the quarter-dollar coin. George Washington University in Washington, D.C., was named after him, and it was in part founded with shares Washington bequeathed to an endowment to create a university in Washington. See also: List of places named for George WashingtonFurther Readings\n* Alden, John R. George Washington: A Biography. Baton Rouge, La.: Louisiana State University Press, 1984; reprinted, New York: Wings Books, 1995.
Related articlesIn recent years, a number of anti-Semitic groups have promulgated forged quotes from George Washington and other founding fathers of the USA, with the intention of inciting anti-Semitism. This subject is discussed in Neo-Nazi Theory (American founding fathers).Notes[1] The earliest known image in which Washington is identified as such is on the cover of the circa 1778 Pennsylvania German almanac, Lancaster: Gedruckt bey Francis Bailey. This identifies Washington as "Landes Vater" or Father of the Land.)\nSee Also\n*List of Presidential PlacesExternal links
the previous government under the Articles of Confederation\n| width="40%" align="center" | President of the United States 1789-1797\n| width="30%" align="center" | Succeeded by: John Adams\n|} Washington, George\nWashington, George \n\n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n |
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"One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important." - Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) |
, 1851, 
, painted in London, 1780, from memory]] \nGeneral George Washington resigned his commission as Commander-in-Chief of the Army to the Congress, which was then meeting at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, on 
