It is small wonder, therefore, that Washington was unanimously elected to be the first President of the United States of American, and that four years later he was re-elected.
He retired to his estate at Mount Vernon to resume his career as a farmer and, with the exception of a short period when President John Adams asked him to serve as commander-in-chief of the United States Army, Washington took no further part in national affairs. Only a truly great leader would have done that. My hero is George Washington. He commanded a ragtag army of volunteers against what was then the mightiest force in the world: the British empire.
He did so not from the comfort of a Manhattan townhouse, but from shared quarters in the frozen fields of Valley Forge. His leadership managed to fight a far more superior better trained army because of passion and the need for freedom from the crown. Alexander, Caesar, or Napoleon could have beaten him on the battlefield, but Washington was the most principled of all of them.
Not simply power hungry, he voluntarily relinquished command after defeating the greatest military power of the day, and declined to rule his new country as king. Successfully transitioned the American people from hereditary to electoral rule. He could have been a king, instead became the first president of what would become the greatest modern nation. He was a brilliant general who fought against The military superpower at the time with Militia and won.
He also chopped down a cherry tree. George Washington was the first President of the United States and he will always be remembered and was a hard act to follow. George W. A job he promptly quit and went back to become a wealthy farmer again just like nothing happened. Most of the other canidates here wanted to be king or even a God.
Acclaimed as the father of his country he developed the forms and rituals of government that have been used ever since, and built a strong, well-financed national government that avoided war, suppressed rebellion and won acceptance among Americans of all types.
He was the first president of USA and in my opinion the best. A National Treasure that no-one will forget. Even through adversity and almost being replaced Washington never faltered. Without him the greatest nation on earth would not be as we know it. Therefore to win when at a disadvantage you must have an exceptional leader, or the best.
It was nearly impossible to wage war on the country who supplies you with weapons, and with boats, and horses, and everything. Was the presence that molded a small number of ill-equipped militia into a force that defeated the greatest power on earth at the time. In my opinion the Greatest Leader of all time would have to go to Jesus.
Coming from the bottom up was not handed some special birth right kingdom or prince of any kind and rose up to become the founding father of the greatest nation in the world not only in military might , Technology, but ideas that have spread across the world people from all over the world come to America because of freedom because of a dream that can become real cause one man stood up and lead a new nation or should i say colonies and united them to go on and achieve what no other country would even think would be possible at the time the birth of an independent and powerful nation.
His driving ambition, love of detail, patience, determination, sense of responsibility and other conspicuous traits that made him the person that he was are related to the temperament with which he was born. Another contributory stream was that made up of family and friends — his parents, his brother Lawrence and the Fairfax family.
His father was apparently a strong, humane and entrepreneurial person. His mother was obviously a very determined, acquisitive, demanding mother. His brother was educated, cultured and militarily oriented. The Fairfaxes were courtly and very affluent. Something from all of these and other people can be seen in Washington.
Boller, Jr. His serious participation in Freemasonry may also have contributed to his character. Henry T. Of them all, he had the best long and short range ideas and how to maintain coherency between them.
Just as he did not have to waste energy and thought in dealing with moral issues so he did not have to waste them either in deciding how to treat others; he treated everyone in a courteous and respectful manner. Another stream entering this river was that Washington always sought to learn more in order to improve himself. Who knows from whence these traits came?
He was a great listener, he was a keen observer of people and events and he read far more widely and deeply than has been generally assumed. See pages in Paul K. More than a contributory stream and more like a small river made up of a number of its own streams was the river bringing the models Washington chose for himself.
These he deliberately, systematically and creatively melded together to form the George Washington whom he then portrayed. He saw life as a theater in which we all play our parts and he certainly had in his mind the character that he wanted to play and did play. This does not imply any lack of personal integrity or a multi-polar personality. It does mean that George Washington, in a real sense, invented himself by creating an original model from several that he had in mind and then lived by that model.
There were, at least, four such models that he used. Washington saw the play many times, memorized parts of it and had it acted at Valley Forge. A fourth model for Washington was that of the Father. In addition to these four major models, Washington experienced many other major figures who influenced him.
There were the royal governors of Virginia, the landed gentry and their leaders with whom he lived and worked while in the Virginia House of Burgesses for fifteen years and British generals Braddock and Forbes.
Washington keenly observed them and learned from them all. The best answer, I believe, is that the Washington whom we know is Washington, the Father of the Country, whom George Washington invented and portrayed. He was a genius in this creation as one part of his being a genius in leadership. I believe that the answer points again to the fact that he was eminently successful as the Father of the Country, a title bestowed on him but one which he also appropriated and lived.
A truly successful and effective father is one who never claims credit for his achievements in being the father and who inculcates his ideas and values in his offspring so well that they, in fact, do not realize themselves from whence these came; they, therefore, tend just to take them for granted or to credit themselves for them. We all know the story of the college sophomore who was amazed at how seemingly uninformed, even stupid, was his father, only to discover later how informed, bright and wise his father had become.
The ideas that Washington had and lived became so imbued in American institutions and culture, because of his skill as a visionary leader, that we have failed to realize from whence they came, namely, from our national Father, George Washington.
In the tradition of George Washington, perhaps, my personal interest in the study of famous people who have made major positive contributions to life has always been what can I learn from them that will make me a better person and citizen. I believe that we can learn a great deal from studying the life of George Washington that would lead to personal and public renewal if we were to apply what we learn.
I shall mention just a few items. Washington was able to control so much externally because he first learned to control himself from within. Two, the importance of constant learning by observing, listening, reading and reflecting; Washington spent much time reflecting or pondering. Six, the inextricable relationship in a democracy between public and personal virtue; the absence of one will always cause a diminution in the other and vice versa.
Seven, the need in a democracy for all citizens to be good citizens and for the government to be administered in such a manner as to merit the trust of the citizens. This is enough to show, I believe, that today we urgently need a rebirth of the ideas which he had which made our nation great and a renewal of Washington as our prime national hero and role model.
Baldridge, Letitia, ed. Boller, Paul F. Garrity, Patrick J. Hannaford, Peter, ed. Kroeger Otto and Thuesen, Janet M. Washington could have retired at Mount Vernon a military hero. Instead, he chose the more difficult role of national leader. While he was a proven commander of men on the battlefield, his ability to lead an entire nation was as yet untested.
Washington was inaugurated as president on April 30, He dedicated himself to being leader for the whole country, not for just one region, one economic class, or one political group. He usually spent a lot of time asking people for their advice before he made up his mind. His two closest advisers were Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, two men who bitterly disagreed almost daily over every important issue facing the nation.
At the end of these arguments, however, it was Washington who decided what was best for the country and all the people. A majority of Americans welcomed this news, many believing that the revolutionaries in France were continuing the fight for liberty that began on American soil in This caused more rejoicing among Americans. People flew the French revolutionary flag and sang the "La Marseillaise," the anthem of the French Revolution.
President Washington responded by authorizing Secretary of State Jefferson to formally recognize the new revolutionary government of France. More news from Europe changed the picture: France and England were at war! After all, the French had helped the Americans win their liberty.
Was it not right to return the favor? Thomas Jefferson agreed with this argument. Naturally, Alexander Hamilton took the opposite view. He advised Washington that America needed to remain friendly with England in order to encourage trade and commerce between the two countries.
Washington looked at the issue quite differently. He realized that the United States was weak. Most of the soldiers who had fought in the revolution had left the army long ago. The United States did not have a navy. Economically, the United States could ill afford to fight in Europe or even at home if the British decided to invade.
To Washington, the choice was a clear one. Washington later explained that it was "the sincere wish of the United States to. Washington did not escape criticism of his policy. Many newspapers accused Washington of turning his back on a friend and ally. Members of Congress, especially the followers of Jefferson now calling themselves Republican-Democrats charged that Washington had no constitutional power to issue such a proclamation.
Mobs of people gathered in the streets of Philadelphia and threatened to drag the president from his house. Despite this shocking display of hostility toward Washington, the Proclamation of Neutrality stuck.
America did not go to war, at least while Washington was in office. American energies were needed for building, not warring. Washington understood this better than most of his fellow citizens. He gave his country the time it needed. One year after issuing the Proclamation of Neutrality, he personally led 13, militiamen to enforce a federal tax law.
Backwoodsmen in western Pennsylvania refused to pay an excise tax on the making of whiskey. Soon, violence erupted. Evaluate qualities that made George Washington an effective military leader. Analyze how Washington's military experiences influenced his military leadership.
Analyze the difficulties Washington faced as Commander-in-Chief and evaluate his responses. Curriculum Details Preparation Instructions. Review the lesson plan. Locate and bookmark suggested materials and other useful websites. Download and print out documents you will use and duplicate copies as necessary for student viewing.
Download the Master PDF. Print out and make an appropriate number of copies of any handouts you plan to use in class. You may wish to have students read this essay as well, particularly if they have not had recent background on the Revolutionary War.
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