In December 1752, George Washington became the commander of the Virginia Militia. He saw action in the French and Indian War and was put in charge of all Virginia Militia forces. In 1759, Washington resigned his commission, returned to Mount Vernon, and was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses, where he served until the year of 1774.
In January 6, 1759, George married Martha Dandridge Custis, a rich widow with 2 children. Washington became the stepfather of the children and was loving to the children. He didn’t have any children with Martha. He expanded Mount Vernon from 2,000 acres to 8,000 acres of land with 5 farms. He grew a variety of crops, corn, wheat, fruit orchards and a successful fishery. George was deeply interested in farming and continually experimented with new crops and methods of land conversation.
In the 1960’s, Washington had experienced the effects of rising taxes imposed on American colonists by the British, and believe that it was in the best interests of the colonists to declare independence from the Church of England. In 1774, Washington served as a delegate to the first Continental Congress in Philadelphia. On March 17, 1776, Washington’s troops forced British troops out and away from Boston. That winter, Washington’s troops won two battles in New Jersey. The fall of 1777, they lost two battles. Once the second Continental Congress convened a year later, the American Revolution had begun in earnest, and Washington was named commander in chief of the continental army. Colonial forces won few battles but, consistently held their own against the British. In October 1781, with the assistance from the French, the continental forces were able to capture British troops under General Charles Cornwallis in Yorktown Virginia.
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In 1783, Great Britain and the U.S. made peace with each other. Washington believed his duty was done, so he gave up his command of the army and returned to Mont Vernon. In 1787, he was asked to attend the constitutional convention in Philadelphia and head of the committee to draft the new constitution. At first, Washington refused. Then, the public opinion persuaded him so he gave in. The first presidential election was held on January 7, 1789, and Washington won big time. John Adams, who got the second highest number of votes, was the vice president.
Washington began being president on April 30, 1789, in New York City. He worked in New York City because Washington D.C. America’s future capital wasn’t built yet. When he was president, the nation was small. It only had 11 states and about 4 million people. George hired the first chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, John Jay, signed a bill establishing the first national bank. His two most famous cabinet appointees were Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton two men who disagreed strongly on the role of federal government. In 1796, he had done two terms of his job and declined the 3rd term. He decided to retire. He returned to Mount Vernon and devoted his attentions to making a plantation as productive as it had been before he was president.
