Todd Davis - The New Big Book of U.S. Presidents: Fascinating Facts about Each and Every President, Including an American History Timeline

Born: February 22, 1732

Died: December 14, 1799

Birthplace: Popes Creek, VA

V.P.: John Adams

First Lady: Martha Dandridge Custis

The only president inaugurated in two cities: New York and Philadelphia

Wore false teeth made from exotic materials

By the 1790s, there were almost 3/4 of a million slaves in the United States. Although the northern states all outlawed slavery between 1777 and 1804, the South became increasingly dependent on slave labor. This dependence increased in 1793 when Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. This machine simplified the cotton-picking process and saved a tremendous amount of work causing southern cotton production to soar.

K nown as the Father of his Country, George Washington fully understood the significance of his presidency. While in office, he set the precedents that shaped the job of president. His domestic policies strengthened the national government, and his response to international events helped determine American foreign policy for more than one hundred years.

Washington was born into a well-to-do Virginia planter family. Although he had little formal schooling, he learned the morals, manners, and knowledge necessary for an eighteenth-century Virginia gentleman. Spending much of his time outdoors, he became an excellent horseman and an expert surveyor. Commissioned a lieutenant colonel at the age of 22, Washington fought in the French and Indian War (also known as the Seven Years War). His exploits and adventures during the conflict between France and Great Britain showed that he had a gift for leadership and made him famous throughout the colonies.

From 1759 until 1775, Washington managed the lands of his Mount Vernon plantation and served in the Virginia House of Burgesses. Devoted to the planter life, he played only a minor role in the initial stages of the American Revolution. Elected to lead the new Continental Army because of his past military experience, Washington held together his ill-trained and poorly supplied troops for six years. Washingtons strategy was to harass the more powerful British and avoid major battles. The Continental Army did win some small victories that boosted colonial morale and prevented the Americans collapse. On Christmas night, 1776, for example, Washington crossed the Delaware River and defeated a surprised British garrison at Trenton, New Jersey. For the next two years, the war swept back and forth across New Jersey and Pennsylvania. As the war in the northern states turned into a deadly stalemate that neither side was able to win, the South became the primary battleground during the final years of fighting. In October 1780, Washington sent Nathaniel Greene to South Carolina. Dividing his army into small, mobile bands, Greene employed what today would be called guerrilla tactics, striking by surprise and then disappearing into the interior. In time, the tide began to turn. Finally, in October 1781, with the aid of French allies, Washington forced the British to surrender at Yorktown, Virginia. After the war, Washington longed to retire and enjoy the peaceful life of his Mount Vernon fields. The new nation he helped create needed him, however. Probably no other man could have succeeded in welding the states into a lasting union, so he was the unanimous choice for president in 1789.

During his first months in office, Washington enjoyed almost universal support. Within a year, however, there was serious disagreement within Washingtons cabinet. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, who had played an important role in securing ratification of the Constitution, favored a strong central government with broad powers. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, feared that a strong government might abuse its power and oppress the people. Washington usually took Hamiltons side in these disagreements. The Hamilton vs. Jefferson debate about how much power the Constitution gave the federal government has continued to this day.