WASHINGTON, GEORGE

born Feb. 22 [Feb. 11, Old Style], 1732, Westmoreland County, Va. died Dec. 14, 1799, Mt. Vernon, Va., U.S. byname Father Of His Country 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). A brief account of the life and works of George Washington follows; for a full biography, see Washington, George. Born into a wealthy family of Virginia planters, Washington had an irregular formal education. At the age of 14 he began work as a surveyor, making many trips into the wilderness areas of Virginia and Pennsylvania. In 1752 he inherited his brother's estate, one of the best in Virginia. His first military experience came in the French and Indian War (1754-63), when he was sent on two missions deep into the Ohio country. After an interval of 15 years spent in managing his family estate at Mount Vernon, Va., he returned to arms as the commander for the American army that had gathered around Boston in 1775. By a vigorous siege he forced the British to give up the city and in the ensuing five years of war proved himself a capable commander and a stalwart leader of the War of Independence, which ended after his capture of Yorktown and the surrender of the British general Charles Cornwallis' army (1781). He was unanimously chosen president of the Constitutional Convention (1787) and overwhelmingly elected first president of the republic (1789), followed by reelection (1792). In his two terms he established innumerable precedents and left a permanent stamp on the office of the presidency. born Feb. 22 [Feb. 11, Old Style], 1732, Westmoreland county, Va. died Dec. 14, 1799, Mt. Vernon byname Father of His Country 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). George Washington, oil painting by Gilbert Stuart, c. 1796; in the White House. Washington's father, Augustine Washington, had gone to school in England, had tasted seafaring life, and then settled down to manage his growing Virginia estates. His mother was Mary Ball, whom Augustine, a widower, had married early the previous year. Washington's paternal lineage had some distinction; an early forebear was described as "gentleman," Henry VIII later gave the family lands, and its members held various offices. But family fortunes fell with the Puritan revolution in England, and John Washington, grandfather of Augustine, migrated in 1657 to Virginia. The ancestral home at Sulgrave, Northamptonshire, is maintained as a Washington memorial. Little definite information exists on any of the line until Augustine. He was an energetic, ambitious man who acquired much land, built mills, took an interest in opening iron mines, and sent his two oldest sons to England for schooling. By his first wife, Jane Butler, he had four children; by his second wife, Mary Ball, he had six. Augustine died April 12, 1743. Additional reading Appearance The earliest known portrait of Washington was painted in 1772 by Charles Willson Peale. A long line of painters and sculptors followed, and their work is reproduced in Gustavus A. Eisen et al., Portraits of Washington, 3 vol. (1932); and criticized in Justin Winsor (ed.), Narrative and Critical History of America, vol. 7 (1888, reprinted 1967). Washington himself thought highly of the likeness by Joseph Wright, painted in 1782. According to Winsor, the favourite profile is Jean-Antoine Houdon's, while Gilbert Stuart has been popularly preferred for the full-face portrait and John Trumbull's florid paintings for the whole figure. Stuart's pictures are somewhat idealized, while all the later portraits suffer from the fact that the artificial teeth worn by Washington in later years altered the expression of his face. Houdon's statue hardly does justice to Washington's imposing stature, dignified carriage, and great poise. But the Houdon bust, modeled from life, is excellent. Washington's writings John C. Fitzpatrick (ed.), The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745-1799, 39 vol. (1931-44, reprinted 1972), is a full compilation, excluding only the diaries; these were published separately as Diaries of George Washington, 1748-1799, 4 vol. (1925, reissued 1971); and Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig (eds.), The Diaries of George Washington, 6 vol. (1976-79). Dorothy Twohig (ed.), The Journal of the Proceedings of the President, 1793-1797 (1981), is an annotated executive daybook covering years for most of which the diaries have not been found. A more recent edition of Washington's correspondence and documents is The Papers of George Washington, in four separate series: W.W. Abbot et al. (eds.), Colonial Series (1983- ); Philander D. Chase (ed.), Revolutionary War Series (1985- ); W.W. Abbot et al. (eds.), Confederation Series (1992- ); and Dorothy Twohig (ed.), Presidential Series (1987- ). Biographies Much the fullest and best biography and a corrective to earlier works is that by Douglas Southall Freeman, George Washington, A Biography, 7 vol. (1948-57)-vol. 7 was written by J.A. Carroll and M.W. Ashworth. M.L. Weems, A History of the Life and Death, Virtues and Exploits, of General George Washington (1800), was the first edition of the utterly unreliable but most widely distributed early biography, which has been reissued in numerous later editions, often titled The Life of Washington; the 5th ed., retitled The Life of George Washington the Great (1806), introduced the fictitious anecdote about the hatchet and the cherry tree. Among the best modern works are Shelby Little, George Washington (1929, reissued 1962); John C. Fitzpatrick, George Washington Himself (1933, reprinted 1975); James Thomas Flexner, George Washington: The Forge of Experience, 1732-1775 (1965), George Washington in the American Revolution, 1775-1783 (1968, reissued 1972), George Washington and the New Nation, 1783-1793 (1970), George Washington: Anguish and Farewell (1793-1799) (1972), and Washington: The Indispensable Man (1974, reissued 1984); Marcus Cunliffe, George Washington, Man and Monument, rev. ed. (1982); and Richard Brookhiser, Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington (1996). Other works dealing with Washington's life and career are Charles Cecil Wall, George Washington, Citizen-Soldier (1980), emphasizing his personal life; John R. Alden, George Washington: A Biography (1984), focusing on his role in the military and as president; Robert F. Jones, George Washington, rev. ed. (1986); and John E. Ferling, The First of Men: A Life of George Washington (1988), seeking the correlation between the man and his career. Rosemarie Zagarri (ed.), David Humphreys' Life of General Washington: With George Washington's "Remarks" (1991), compiles biographical details written in 1787-89 by a Washington aide-de-camp, complete with Washington's comments and corrections. Presidency and political career Washington's presidency is examined in Thomas G. Frothingham, Washington, Commander in Chief (1930); Forrest McDonald, The Presidency of George Washington (1974, reissued 1988), a study of the political and economic aspects of his administration; Frank T. Reuter, Trials and Triumphs: George Washington's Foreign Policy (1983), a useful introductory study; and Richard Norton Smith, Patriarch: George Washington and the New American Nation (1993), a detailed treatment of Washington's presidential days. Washington's role in determining the focus and development of the U.S. Constitution is discussed in John Corbin, The Unknown Washington (1930, reprinted 1972); and Glenn A. Phelps, George Washington and American Constitutionalism (1993). Military career Analyses of his military career can be found in Charles H. Ambler, George Washington and the West (1936, reprinted 1971); Hugh Cleland, George Washington in the Ohio Valley (1955); George Athan Billias (ed.), George Washington's Generals (1964, reprinted 1994), with an essay on Washington's generalship; Burke Davis, George Washington and the American Revolution (1975), an account of his role as military commander; Edmund S. Morgan, The Genius of George Washington (1980), a brief study; Don Higginbotham, George Washington and the American Military Tradition (1985), an examination of his public life and life in the military prior to his becoming president; and Thomas A. Lewis, For King and Country: The Maturing of George Washington, 1748-1760 (1993), with emphasis on the French and Indian War. Special topics Valuable studies on special aspects of Washington's life include Paul Leland Haworth, George Washington, Farmer (1915, reissued as George Washington, Country Gentleman, 1925); Eugene E. Prussing, The Estate of George Washington, Deceased (1927); Halsted L. Ritter, Washington as a Business Man (1931); Charles Wyllys Stetson, Washington and His Neighbors (1956); and Fritz Hirschfeld, George Washington and Slavery: A Documentary Portrayal (1997).Paul Leicester Ford, The True George Washington (1896, reprinted 1971; also published as George Washington, 1970), is a classic examination of all sides of Washington's career and personality. Charles Moore, The Family Life of George Washington (1926), is a look at the president's private life. Paul K. Longmore, The Invention of George Washington (1988), is a study that suggests that Washington created his own public image. That public image and its meaning are further analyzed in Garry Wills, Cincinnatus: George Washington and the Enlightenment (1984); and Barry Schwartz, George Washington: The Making of an American Symbol (1987).Anne Hollingsworth Wharton, Martha Washington (1897, reprinted 1968), is an excellent biography of Washington's wife; it is supplemented by Paul Wilstach, Mount Vernon: Washington's Home and the Nation's Shrine (1916, reissued 1930). Correspondence to and from Martha Washington, 1757-1802, is found in Joseph E. Fields (compiler), Worthy Partner: The Papers of Martha Washington (1994). Allan Nevins The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica