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 * __George Washington__**

//February 22, 1732 - December 14, 1799 in Westmoreland County (Colony of Virginia) Terms of Office: April 30, 1789 - March 3, 1797 (2 Terms) Vice President: John Adams (1789-1797) Political Party: Federalist (never offically joined, but supported it's programs and was an inspirational leader)//

George Washington, being the very first president of the United States of America, was and remains a very important figure in our country's history. __In terms of all of his achievements, Washington was an A grade president.__ George Washington was and remains the only president ever to recieve 100% of the Electoral College's votes. This unanimous decision was due largely in part to his popularity as Commander-in-Chief of the colonial forces in the Revolutionary War. After becoming president he made many important decisions, some of which are still in use today, such as devising an effective tax system. Washington's most important accomplishments came during and after the Revolutionary War. These accomplishments include leading the Americans to victory in the Revolutionary War, heading the Philadelphia Convention, which produced the United States Constitution, and establishing a national bank. Overall, Washington was probably one of the most successful presidents in history, espically considering he was the first and that it was an entirely new form of government to the American citizens when he was made president.

On February 22, 1732 in Westmoreland County Virginia, George Washington was born to Augustine Washington and Mary Ball Washington. George was the third child and also the third son. Around age six George's education began, with his father and oldest brother teaching him at home. In his early years George worked as a land surveyor around various places in Virginia. At just seventeen years old George was made first Surveyor of Culpeper County Virginia. George got this opportunity and many other good surveying opportunities due to his brother's marrying into the Fairfax family, who owned about five million acres of land. Besides being a surveyor, George also was a planter. He continued with these two jobs until 1752 when he was appointed district general in the Virginia militia. For two years he trained the militia and carried out various orders appointed to him by Virginia governor Robert Dinwiddie. Then, in 1754 around the time the French and Indian War was beginning, Washington was appointed Lieutenant Colonel and lead an attack on the French at Fort Duquesne. For the next four years Washington fought as a leader of the Virginia troops until in 1758 he resigned from all military activity and went back to being a planter and a politcian.

For the next sixteen years Washington remained a planter and a very un-involved politician. Around the time that war between the British and Americans was becoming imminent, Washington was appointed a delegate to the First Continental Congress. Just one year later, in 1755, he was nominated by Congress to be Commander-in-Chief of the newly created Continental Army. This brings up the first major accomplishment of George Washington, the Revolutionary War. Right at the time Washington was elected Commander-in-Chief the British forces were threating to overtake Boston. So Washington made due with a very low number of supplies and repelled the British army. Also, even though he was a traitor for fighting against England, British newspapers made many positive comments about Washington's qualities as a leader of the American forces. After his first victory though, Washington and his armies fortunes weren't so great. Upon arriving in New York after the victory in Boston, Washington was forced to retreat from the Battle of Long Island to prevent American casualties. The British won more battles, causing teh Continental Army to retreat even further, the whole way to New Jersey. The next battle is a very famous one, in which Washington devised a clever counter attack which resulted in the capture of about one thousand Hessian mercinaries in Trenton, New Jersey. Another battle in January caused many trrops to gain hope, and as a result the Continental Army's numbers were sufficent enough to providied ample resistance to the British forces. Despite this new found hope, the British won the next few battles, causing Congress to contimplate his removal as lader of the army. Washington had many supporters though and they convinced Congress to keep Washington as Commander-in-Chief. At this same time, the French joined the war on the side of the Americans. With new forces behind them and extra leadership from men like Baron von Steuben, the Continental Army was able to finally overcome British opposition in 1781 at the surrender of Yorktown. The victory of the Americans in the Revolutionary War was a very important part of George Washington's future as it gained him unprecedented popularity, eventually leading to his election as the first president of the United States of America. So essentially, if it werent for his positon as Commander-in-Chief, George Washington most like wouldn't have been America's first president, or any of America's presidents for that matter.

Another important accomplishment of Washington before being elected president was heading of the Philadelphia Convention. The Philadelphia Convetnion was the convention established as a means of making revisions to the Articles of Confederation. Though the articles were revised, the end result of the convention was the United States Constiution. Because the convention occured after the turmoil of the war, the country was still very disorganized and in need of some kind of leadership. Washington was elected head of the convention, again due to his popularity as leader of the Americans in the war. The Convention was filled with a total of fifty five delegates from the various states. Because of the large number of delegates, it is obvious that there were many conflicting opinions. These opinions led to much heated debate, and a looming sense of unsurety as to wether or not the convention would be able to come up with a decision that satisfied all the differnent viewpoints. From May 25th 1787, to Spetember 17th of the same year, Washington lead the convention by controlling debates and taking into account all opinions, in hopes of formulating a system of government that would be beneficial to all involved in it. Had it not been for Washington's leadership over the convention, the delegates would've gone mostly unchecked, and it is questionable if the convention would've succeded or not. In short, it was Washington's great leadership skills that helped to make successful a convention that was on track to produce arguably the most important document in American History.

Upon being elected president in 1789 George Washington had many goals that he intended to accomplish. His first and possibly most important goal was to unite the American people and to prevent conflict within the country. He accomplished this first off by denying allegiance into any political party. He believed that favoring a single point of view on politics would only lead to bickering between the different parties. Also, being the first president, one of his major goals was to have establish a successful system of government. After the war America was still very disjointed and there really wasn't a specific way as to how things were run. Washington went about this goal by establishing many of the policies of teh Executive Branch taht are still in use today, such as how a president can only serve two terms. Another thing that helped organize the newly formed American government was something that Washington was involved in two years before his first presidential term, which was presiding over the Philadelphia Convention which drafted and produced the U.S. Constitution. It is apparent by the above information that Washington's main goal was to unify the colonists under one system of government and to organize the colonists after the huge toll taht was taken upon them by the Revolutionary War. George Washington, by the end of his second term, had successfully completed his goals for the most part, by playing an important role in establishing a successful government and unite the American citizens under common beliefs such as the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

George Washington was not the only one attmepting to "get a feel" for this new system of government. Congress was also becoming an essential piece of the American Democracy, coming mainly from it's important and successful decisions duing the war. So because both Washington and Congress were essentially just beginning in the new government system, it was essential that they created a good relationship. They got off to a good start with Washington recieving the Congressional Gold Medal from Congress in 1776, right after leading America to victotry in the Revolution. Along with this he recieved the Thanks of Congress for exceptional actions during the war. These good relationships continued with both Congress and Washington working hard and working together to create a working system of government. Their combined actions help to establish much of the customs which are still used by our government today, such as which Congressional House controls which part of the government. The cohesiveness of this relationship produced many important decisions, acts and treaties, like the Jay Treaty in 1794 which helped to regulate trade with Britian, decreasing some of the still-existing tension as a result of the war. This relationship, which was a very successful one, helped not only to further the growth of America, but also to help George Washington achieve the goals he set for his presidency.

Besides many important events in George Washington's life that occured before his presidency, there were also many more important events after he was elected president. Probably the most important, or atleast the one that has had the longest lasting effect on our country, is the formation of a national banking system. The dictionary definition of a national bank is "an ordinary private bank operating within a specific regulatory structure, which may or may not operate nationally". Washington's main reason for the formation of a central banking system was to repair the economy after the war. The American economy was in a large amount of debt to various places, such as France. This debt stemmed from the buying of large amounts of supplies and paying troops during the Revolution. Washington felt that being in debt was a major setback to a contry, espically one that was just beginning to operate independently. So, to fix this problem, he introduced a taxing system that was fair to all Americans. This steady income of money would eventually help to pay off the large amounts of debt, Washington hoped. To keep all of this money organized, he designed a national banking system, in which the national government would operate a central government, and underneath the central governement, would be a complex organization of state and local banks. This system was very effective because it allowed the government to control the money without becoming to powerful. Also, it was fair to all the citizens because they were allowed to make decisions as to how their money was used. The national banking system is a great example of Washington's leadership, and overall, was and is a representation of his success as a president.

All one needs to do to determine the lasting effects of Washington's presidency is to look at the United States government today. Many of the policies and customs he implimented back in the late 1700's are still in use today. Take for instance his rejectionof a third term as president. Upon being "elected" to serve as president for a third term in 1797, Washington turned down the offer. The standard of each president serving only two terms became an amendment to the Constitution, which is obviously still in effect today. This amendment brings up the topic of the Constitution, which is essentially the outline for how the American government is run. Were it not for Washington's leadership in presiding over the Philadelphia convention, the Constitutuion might never have been made. Next, we have the national banking sytem implemented by Washington. This successful system is still in use today, as it allows the government and the people control over their money. And lastly, we have the fact that Washington led America to victoy in the Revolution. His vital role as Commander-in-Chief was essential to the successful campaign of the colonists against the British. Had Washington not lead our troops, we may not have one the war, and as a result, would still be part of Britian, which would be an entirely diffeerent life than we are currently living.

At the end of Washington's two presidential terms, the America was better off in every way imaginable. I think this because, being the first president, Washington was successful in organizing the colonies under one government and establishing many of the policies taht have helped shape our county's history. Without Washington as our patriotic leader during the war, without him presiding over the essential Philadelphia Convention and without his many successful decisions as president, America would be a very different place. In light of all hi saccomplishments, I think that George Washington deserves an A for everything he did.


 * Bibliography**:

Wikipedia. "George Washington - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." //Wikipedia,//. N.p., 24 Jan. 2010. Web. 26 Jan. 2010. []

Wikipedia. "Philadelphia Convention - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." //Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia//. Google, 20 Jan. 2010. Web. 26 Jan. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia