George Washington was born in 1732 on a plantation along the Potomac in colonial Virginia, inheriting modest land and status that careful marriage and surveying work expanded. He gained military experience in the French and Indian War, then retired to Mount Vernon until imperial taxes and Boston's resistance drew him back into public life. The Second Continental Congress chose him to command the Continental Army in 1775, betting that a Virginian aristocrat could unify fractious colonies.

Washington lost more battles than he won, yet kept the army intact through Valley Forge, strategic retreats, and the crucial Franco-American victory at Yorktown in 1781. His restraint— refusing kingship, resigning his commission, accepting limited presidential power— became foundational American mythology. As president from 1789 to 1797 he established cabinet precedent, navigated neutrality between Britain and France, and suppressed the Whiskey Rebellion while warning in his Farewell Address against permanent foreign alliances and party factionalism.

Washington owned hundreds of enslaved people throughout most of his life, freeing them only in his will upon his wife Martha's death—a contradiction modern Americans grapple with alongside his republican example. He died at Mount Vernon in 1799 of a throat infection, mourned as the indispensable man whose character, as much as his generalship, held the fragile union together.

1. 1775

   Commander Appointed

   Congress selected Washington to lead Continental forces against Britain.

2. 1781

   Victory at Yorktown

   Accepted Cornwallis's surrender, effectively ending major combat in the war.

3. 1787

   Constitutional Convention

   Chaired debates in Philadelphia that produced the federal Constitution.

4. 1789

   Inaugurated President

   Took office in New York as the first president under the new government.

5. 1799

   Death at Mount Vernon

   Died after a brief illness; the nation observed mourning for months.