author
George Washington
1732–1799
Remembered as the first president of the United States, he helped shape the country in its earliest years after leading the Continental Army through the American Revolution. His life also reflects the contradictions of the era, from public service and national leadership to the reality that he was a Virginia planter who enslaved people.
4 Audiobooks
Washington's Masonic Correspondence As Found among the Washington Papers in the Library of Congress
by George Washington
George Washington's Rules of Civility Traced to their Sources and Restored by Moncure D. Conway
by George Washington, Moncure Daniel Conway
State of the Union Addresses
by George Washington
About the author
Born in Virginia in 1732, George Washington first gained experience as a surveyor and military officer before rising to national prominence during the French and Indian War. He became commander in chief of the Continental Army in 1775 and led American forces through the Revolutionary War, including the hard winter at Valley Forge and the victory at Yorktown.
After the war, Washington returned to Mount Vernon but was soon called back into public life. He presided over the Constitutional Convention in 1787 and then served two terms as the first president of the United States, from 1789 to 1797. His leadership helped establish key traditions for the new office, including the example of stepping down after two terms.
Washington died at Mount Vernon in 1799. He has long been honored as a founding figure in American history, though modern readers also look more fully at his life as a slaveholding planter, making him a figure of both great influence and deep historical complexity.