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Posted on 02/22/2026 4:45:49 AM PST by equaviator
On February 22, 1732, George was born to Augustine and Mary Ball Washington. He spent most of his childhood at Ferry Farm on the Rappahannock River. All of the homes and plantations where Washington lived were maintained by enslaved labor. When George was eleven, his father died and he became a slave owner. As a result, George did not receive a formal education like his older half-brothers. Instead, he helped his mother on the farm and attended a local school in Fredericksburg. For the rest of his life, Washington supplemented his education with reading and self-guided study.
At seventeen-years old, George used his family connections to secure appointment as the surveyor for Culpeper County. This position offered adventure, a steady income, and the opportunity to view and purchase unclaimed land. His surveying experience also instilled in George a firm conviction in the importance of westward expansion to the future of the colonies, and later the United States.
In 1753, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia Robert Dinwiddie sent twenty-one-year-old Washington, now a Major in the Virginia Regiment, to deliver a message to the French, demanding they abandon the Ohio Valley. Washington later published his account of the trip, giving him an international reputation. A few months later, Washington again marched out west with 150 men to enforce Virginia’s claim. The mission ended in a humiliating surrender at Fort Necessity, followed by Washington’s resignation of his commission. Two years later, Washington again witnessed fighting in the Ohio Country, this time as an aide-de-camp in British General Edward Braddock’s official family. Braddock’s army suffered an overwhelming defeat near the Monongahela River, but Washington was commended for rallying the survivors in the face of chaos.
On January 6, 1758, George married Martha Dandridge Custis, a beautiful and charming widow from Virginia. George acquired significant wealth and a partner for the next four decades through the marriage. Between 1759 and 1775, George served many terms in the Virginia House of Burgesses and devoted himself to improving farming practices at his plantation through the labor of the growing enslaved community.
After supporting the colonies’ protests against British tax measures in the 1770s, Washington was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army by Congress in June 1775. For the next eight years, Washington remained with the army, only leaving camp to attend summons by Congress. Under Washington’s command, the Continental Army lost more battles than it won, constantly struggling to obtain the necessary food, supplies, and ammunition. But the army persisted—and the colonies’ fight for independence could not be extinguished. Washington also served a critical role ensuring that military power remained subordinate to civilian government. He never used his authority to challenge Congress and ended potential military coups within the army’s ranks.
When the Treaty of Paris ended the Revolutionary War, Washington resigned his commission to Congress. Washington’s relinquishing of power was nearly unprecedented and made him an international hero.
In 1787, Washington was again called to serve when Virginia appointed him as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. The delegates crafted a Constitution that created a government with significantly more authority and centralized power. They hoped the new government would address the economic, diplomatic, and domestic calamities that had besieged the nation for over a decade under the Articles of Confederation. Unsurprisingly, the delegates trusted Washington with the presidency. To this day, he is the only president to be unanimously elected.
On April 16, 1789, George Washington left his home at Mount Vernon to travel to New York City to be inaugurated as the first President of the United States. During Washington’s presidency, at least ten enslaved people worked at the president’s houses in New York City and Philadelphia: Ona, Hercules, Moll, Giles, Austin, Richmond, Paris, Joe, Christopher Sheels, and William Lee. They tended the horses and carriages in the stables, escorted Washington and his family when they left the house, cooked in the kitchen, did laundry, cleaned the home, cared for the Washingtons’ grandchildren, helped the Washingtons dress in the morning, greeted guests, and more. Click here to learn more about the enslaved household of President George Washington.
During Washington’s presidency, he established countless precedents that guided his successors, including creating the president’s cabinet, asserting executive privilege, and using the veto for the first time. He also expanded executive authority over diplomatic and domestic issues, crafting foreign policy during the Neutrality Crisis in 1793 and subduing the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794. Perhaps most importantly, Washington again relinquished his power when he retired after two terms in office. This precedent was reinforced by Thomas Jefferson and followed by every successive president until Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1951, the states ratified the 22nd Amendment, which limits presidents to two terms in office.
After retiring from public office, Washington returned to Mount Vernon for a few short years. On December 14, 1799, Washington died of a throat infection. His will included a provision to immediately free William Lee, his enslaved valet who served with him during the American Revolution. He also stipulated that the other 122 enslaved people owned by him receive their freedom upon Martha’s passing. While Washington was a slave owner for 56 years, he was the only Founding Father president to free all of the enslaved people he held in bondage.
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From my time spent living in Northern Virginia, I remember the wild GW-Day sales that used to be advertised everywhere.
I think Chuck was big into lotteries and racing horses thru the streets. There is a casino and horse race track in Charles Town.
Charles Washington (May 2, 1738 – September 16, 1799) was an American planter and politician who founded a town in the Shenandoah Valley that was named Charles Town in his honor shortly after his death and that of his eldest brother, George Washington.[1]
Charles died sometime between July and September 1799, a span of between 3-5 months before the death of his brother George, who died on December 14th of that same year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Washington
Greece was built with slave labor. Egypt was built with slave labor. People need to understand, that was the way it was. Eventually, Wilberforce in England got others to have a conscience and slavery finally ended in the Western world. It continues in Indonesia, China, Saudi Arabia, and lots of other places.
Self study is the thing. And now with the World Wide Web at your fingertips, there is no lack of access. Of course that might create a new problem: too much information, easy to get lost in the weeds. I hear that Lincoln had just Shakespeare and the Bible. Anyhow, we have easy access to all the extant words of Washington, and Jefferson. And if anyone wants is interested in public policy, they should read through the works of Samuel Adams.
https://henrylivingston.com/history/inauguration/index.htm
George Washington’s Inauguration
The Republican Court Or American Society in the Days of Washington, Rufus Wilmot Griswold, 1856, p138
The Inauguration, The Ball, The Speech, Costumes, Fireworks, Procession
“Self study”
A slip. Did I mean the study of the self? For that you need to catch the ancient spirit of Socrates. Who was it again that spattered their letters with Greek? Jefferson.
Anyhow, you need a leader for whatever you do. Plumb the depths of your soul with the right guide. Find the one that tethers you to the beginning of time.
Very characteristic penmanship form the man himself. Was that self-guided?
Citations please
But did he really chop down that cherry tree?
Ironically, he passed away five years ago on February 21, the day before Washington's birthday (and four days after Rush Limbaugh's passing).
Yet as a consequence of ending indenture (including with minimum wage laws, FICA, etc.) we have created a socialized underclass for whom there is no accountability. The middle class can no longer afford hired in-house labor. The cultural transfer of middle class values no longer occurs to nearly the same degree, for the lack of which there is a loss to the poor. "Social welfare" per se used to be organized largely by churches and civic organizations, but bureaucrats have acquired that monopoly. How did that work?
IOW, "free the slaves" may have felt good, and certainly there were problems with persistent structural indenture, but there were adverse consequences to forced "liberation" as well we as a culture have yet to resolve justly. I started my adult life homeless, and know whereof I speak.
Accordingly, consider the Biblical system of indenture, as organized around the Sabbath for the Land. That was indenture with real accountability for the owner.
He was a well crafted person. Never was a person so self promoting yet remains a darling in the eyes of all.
C’mon man, where’s your white guilt? You should be deeply ashamed of yourself for your comments. It’s because of people like you that we badly need reparations! /s/
Seriously, I tend to agree that “People need to understand,”. Folks back then were raised from birth on up with slavery as the norm.
In the end it turned our to be a Democrat vs Republican thing where the Republicans freed the slaves. MLK was a Republican. However most Blacks do not see this and are still figuratively clinging to the cotton fields.
Today many are being raised in the homo/tranny culture of the deep blue states. To these kids this is the norm. I suspect the backlash from these mutilated people will be far worse and more violent than the civil rights riots of the 60’s.
Democrats are pure evil.
Jumonville, 1753.
This is a pretty horrible summary of the great man’s life. It seems to prioritize every aspect of the country’s slave history in order to minimize the role of the indispensable man.
Want to know Washington? Read this outstanding book:
https://www.amazon.com/Washington-Indispensable-James-Thomas-Flexner/dp/0316286168
And he would only look 225!
I grew up in Norfolk. My Dad was an avid deer hunter. One year he joined a club with a lease near Suffolk. He tells a story of finding an old, fallen down home way back in the woods. He rescued a leather bound parchment book with handwritten entries. It was a general store credit book. The book covered 1770-71. They only sold a few items. Nails, cloth, grain, rum, and other drink. All prices were pound, shilling. There was one entry in 1770 for a cash transaction to George Washington. I still have that page.
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