George Washington (1) (1732–1799)
Author of George Washington's Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation
For other authors named George Washington, see the disambiguation page.
About the Author
George Washington was born in Westmoreland County, Va., on Feb. 22, 1732. His father died in 1743, and Washington went to live with his half brother Lawrence at Mount Vernon. He was appointed surveyor for Culpeper County in 1749. Washington's brother died in 1752 he ultimately inherited the Mount show more Vernon estate. Washington first gained public notice when, as adjutant of one of Virginia's four military districts, he was dispatched in October 1753 by Govenor Robert Dinwiddie on a fruitless mission to warn the French commander at Fort Le Boeuf against further encroachment on territory claimed by Britain. Discouraged by his defeat and angered by discrimination between British and colonial officers in rank and pay, he resigned his commission near the end of 1754. The next year, however, he volunteered to join British general Edward Braddock's expedition against the French. In 1755, at the age of 23, he was promoted to colonel and appointed commander in chief of the Virginia militia, with responsibility for defending the frontier. In 1758 he took an active part in Gen. John Forbes's successful campaign against Fort Duquesne. Assured that the Virginia frontier was safe from French attack, Washington left the army in 1758 and returned to Mount Vernon, directing his attention toward restoring his neglected estate. With the support of an ever-growing circle of influential friends, he entered politics, serving from 1759 to 1774 in Virginia's House of Burgesses. After 1769, Washington became a leader in Virginia's opposition to Great Britain's colonial policies. As a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congress, Washington did not participate actively in the deliberations. In June 1775 he was Congress's unanimous choice as commander in chief of the Continental forces. Washington took command of the troops surrounding British-occupied Boston on July 3, 1775. After the war, Washington returned to Mount Vernon. He became president of the Society of the Cincinnati, an organization of former Revolutionary War officersand in May 1787, Washington headed the Virginia delegation to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and was unanimously elected presiding officer. After the new Constitution was submitted to the states for ratification and became legally operative, he was unanimously elected president in 1789. Washington was reelected president in 1792. By March 1797, when Washington left office, the country's financial system was well established; the Indian threat east of the Mississippi had been largely eliminated; and Jay's Treaty and Pinckney's Treaty with Spain had enlarged U.S. territory and removed serious diplomatic difficulties. Although Washington reluctantly accepted command of the army in 1798 when war with France seemed imminent, he did not assume an active role. He preferred to spend his last years in happy retirement at Mount Vernon. In mid-December, Washington contracted an illness; he declined rapidly and died at his estate on Dec. 14, 1799. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Portrait by Gilbert Stuart.
Via Wikimedia Commons
Series
Works by George Washington
George Washington's Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation (1747) — Author; Author — 988 copies
The Journal of Major George Washington: An Account of His First Official Mission, Made as Emissary from the Governor of… (1754) 164 copies
George Washington's Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior, and Other Important Writings (2008) 56 copies
The Last Will and Testament of George Washington and Schedule of His Property: To Which Is Appended the Last Will and… (1947) 48 copies
George Washington's Rules to Live By: How to Sit, Stand, Smile, and Be Cool! A Good Manners Guide From the Father… (2014) 38 copies
Acts passed at the first session of the Congress of the United States of America, begun and held at the city of… (2013) 35 copies
George Washington: Selected Writings (Library of America Paperback Classics Series) (2011) 15 copies
Monument: Words of Four Presidents Who Sculpted America: Words of Four Presidents Who Sculpted America (Leather-bound… (2020) 13 copies
Washington and the West : being George Washington's diary of September, 1784, kept during his journey into the… (2010) 8 copies
Inaugural Speeches from the Presidents of the United States - Complete Edition: From Washington to Trump (1789-2017)… (2017) 6 copies
Washington's Masonic Correspondence As Found among the Washington Papers in the Library of Congress (2010) 6 copies
The Complete Works of George Washington: Military Journals, Rules of Civility, Writings on French and Indian War,… (2017) 5 copies
Letters and Recollections of George Washington: Being Letters to Tobias Lear and Others Between 1790 and 1799 (2017) 5 copies
Epistles domestic, confidential, and official, from General Washington. Written about the commencement of the American… (1796) 5 copies
Washington's political legacies. To which is annexed an appendix, containing an account of his illness, death, and the… (1800) 5 copies
THE WRITINGS OF GEORGE WASHINGTON FROM THE MANUSCRIPT SOURCES, 1745-1799 [VOLUME 9, AUGUST 1, 1777 - NOVEMBER 3, 1777]. (1933) 5 copies
The Papers of George Washington. Revolutionary War Series, October 1776-January 1777 (1996) 5 copies
The Papers of George Washington. Revolutionary War Series, November 1778-January 1779 (2008) 4 copies
The Papers of George Washington. Revolutionary War Series, December 1777-February 1778 (2003) 4 copies
Burke's Speech On Conciliation With The Colonies (March 22, 1775) / Webster's First Bunker-Hill Oration (1915) 4 copies
"I have not a wish to mix again in the great world" : George Washington retires from the presidency : a Washington… (2008) 3 copies
The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources 1745-1799: Vol. 12, June 1, 1778-September 30,… (1999) 3 copies
The Papers of George Washington: Volume 18, 1 April - 30 September 1795 (Papers of George Washington, Presidential… (2015) 3 copies
Washington's Farewell Address and Webster's Bunker Hill Orations (Macmillan's Pocket American and… (1914) 3 copies
The daily journal of Major George Washington, in 1751-2, kept while on a tour from Virginia to the island of Barbadoes,… (1892) 3 copies
My Fellow Americans: Presidential Inaugural Addresses from George Washington to Barack Obama (2009) 3 copies
The Writings of George Washington; Being His Correspondence, Addresses, Messages, and Other Papers, Official and… (2007) 3 copies
The Writings of George Washington; Being His Correspondence, Addresses, Messages, and Other Papers, Official and… (2010) 2 copies
The Writings of George Washington; Being His Correspondence, Addresses, Messages, and Other Papers, Official and… (2009) 2 copies
Washington in his own words 2 copies
Autograph letters and documents of George Washington now in Rhode Island collections;: Published by State bureau of… (1932) 2 copies
George Washington and Mount Vernon 2 copies
Washington's Inaugural address of 1789 (Milestone documents in the National Archives) (1986) 2 copies
Merrill's English Texts - Washington's Farewell Address and Webster's First and Second Bunker Hill Orations — Contributor — 1 copy
Last will and testament of George Washington, of Mount Vernon: The only authenticated copy, full and complete,… (1926) 1 copy
Washington's First Inaugural Address (1789) (The Complete Harvard Classics, Vol. 43) (KINDLE) 1 copy
Washingtons Farewell Address, 1796: Lincolns Lyceum Address "the Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions" 1838… (2017) 1 copy
Washington's monuments of patriotism: being a collection of the most interesting documents connected with the… (2012) 1 copy
Letters & Recollections of George Washington: Being Letters to Tobias Lear and Others Between 1790 and 1799 (1932) 1 copy
A versification of President Washington's excellent Farewell-address, to the citizens of the United States (2012) 1 copy
A Fairfax Friendship: the Complete Correspondence Between George Washington and Bryan Fairfax, 1754-1799 (1982) 1 copy
QUOTABLE GEORGE WASHINGTON: An A-Z Collector's Edition of Quotes (Quotable Wisdom Books Book 1) (2013) 1 copy
Diary of George Washington from 1789 to 1791 Embracing the Opening of the First Congress, Together With His Journal of… (1978) 1 copy
George Washington as a housekeeper, with glimpses of his domestic arrangements, dining, company, etc. (1924) 1 copy
Washington's Prayers 1 copy
The will of General George Washington: to which is annexed, a schedule of his property, directed to be sold. (2010) 1 copy
"I never mean ... to possess another slave by purchase": George Washington on the abolition of slavery : an original… (2002) 1 copy
Trial by Wilderness: The Emergence of George Washington As Revealed In His Own Journal, 1753-1754 1 copy
Associated Works
The Debate on the Constitution, Part One: September 1787 to February 1788 (1993) — Contributor — 841 copies
The Debate on the Constitution, Part Two: January 1788 to August 1788 (1993) — Contributor — 685 copies
A Patriot's Handbook: Songs, Poems, Stories and Speeches Celebrating the Land We Love (2003) — some editions — 492 copies
The Declaration of Independence and Other Great Documents of American History 1775-1865 (2000) — Contributor — 429 copies
Founding America : Documents from the Revolution to the Bill of Rights (2006) — Contributor — 218 copies
American Antislavery Writings: Colonial Beginnings to Emancipation (2012) — Contributor — 122 copies
The Glorious American Essay: One Hundred Essays from Colonial Times to the Present (2020) — Contributor — 83 copies
The Academy Classics: Washington's Farewell Address, Webster's First Bunker Hill Oration, Lincoln's… (1909) — Contributor — 17 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Other names
- WASHINGTON, George
- Birthdate
- 1732-02-22
- Date of death
- 1799-12-14
- Burial location
- Washington Family Tomb, Mount Vernon, Virginia, USA
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Westmoreland County, Virginia, USA
Westmoreland, Virginia, British America - Place of death
- Mount Vernon, Virginia, USA
- Places of residence
- Westmoreland County, Virginia, USA
Ferry Farm, Stafford County, Fredericksburg, Virginia, USA
Pope's Creek Estate, Westmoreland County, Virginia, USA
Mount Vernon, Virginia, USA - Occupations
- President of the United States (1789-1797)
Senior Officer of the United States Army (1798-1799)
Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army (1775-1783)
Virginia Delegate to the Second Continental Congress (1775)
Virginia Delegate to the First Continental Congress (1774)
Commander of Virginia Regiment (1755-1758) (show all 11)
planter
soldier
surveyor
vestryman
church warden - Relationships
- Washington, Martha (wife)
Washington, Bushrod (nephew)
Mason, George (friend) - Organizations
- Freemasons
U.S. Army
Continental Army
First Continental Congress
Second Continental Congress - Awards and honors
- First President of the United States
Washington Monument
Commander of the first, full-time American military unit in the colonies (Virginia Regiment)
Washington's Birthday Federal Holiday
Appointed General of the Armies of the United States posthumously by Congress
Highest-ranking military officer in U.S. history (show all 24)
Appears on the one-dollar bill
Appears on the quarter-coin
Appeared on first postage stamps issued by the U.S. Post Office
Mount Rushmore Memorial mounument
George Washington Masonic National Memorial
Name given to the U.S. national capital (Washington ∙ D.C.)
Name given to the only state named after a U.S. president (Washington state)
Name given to George Washington University
Name given to Washington University in St. Louis
Name given to Washington and Lee University
Name given to Washington College
Virginia Washington Monument
George Washington Equestrian Statue
Marble statue, Rotunda of the State Capitol, Richmond, Virginia
Marble statue, Trafalgar Square, London, England
Name given to 886 Washingtonia asteroid
Congressional Gold Medal
Thanks of Congress
Members
Discussions
George Washington in Legacy Libraries (July 2018)
Reviews
George Washington's Farewell Address (Books of… by George Washington
With this being an election year, I'm drawn more than usual to history and events that shaped our nation. Having read this, I'm interested to read other farewell addresses.
Why don't we get this book in the first grade? Why haven't you given this book to your children? Though written in old English, just a simple list of rules that we should still be teaching our young people, let alone a good refresher for our own behavior.
Incredible, illuminating. I have never read a work more important, for giving context to the Revolutionary era. In several of his letters George Washington mentions his concern about preserving his papers, which he guessed would be important to later generations, and that was one of many things this man was absolutely prescient about.
the Washington Benevolent Societies started in 1812 as a society in support of the Federalist Party. The Societies thrived for several years but then dwindled, the Worcester County society terminating it existence in 1836. William Trowbridge was a Revolutionary War veteran and the person for whom "Trowbridgeville" was named. He was the grandfather of William Trowbridge Merrifield and the great grandfather of William Trowbirdge Forbes. The record book for the Worcester County Society is at the American Anitquarian Society.… (more)
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Statistics
- Works
- 214
- Also by
- 19
- Members
- 3,247
- Popularity
- #7,869
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 24
- ISBNs
- 245
- Languages
- 3
- Favorited
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