George Washington

President George Washington was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on February 22, 1732. After his father's death in 1743, he lived chiefly at Mount Vernon and worked as a surveyor. Sent by Governor Dinwiddie in 1753 to warn the French against encroaching on land in the Ohio Valley, he served in the French and Indian War as a lieutenant colonel.

• He inherited Mount Vernon from his half-brother Lawrence in 1752.
• He married Martha Custis on January 6, 1759, and entered the Virginia House of Burgesses that same year.
• A leader in the movement for independence, he was a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses.
• On June 15, 1775, he was chosen to command the Continental Army, and he assumed his duties on July 3, 1775.
• He took leave of his officers at Fraunces' Tavern, New York, on December 4, 1783, and retired to Mount Vernon.
• Returning to public life, he attended the Annapolis Convention in 1786 and presided over the Constitutional Convention in 1787.
• Unanimously elected the first president of the United States, he was inaugurated in New York on April 30, 1789, served for two terms, and declined a third.
• He died on December 14, 1799, and is buried at Mount Vernon.