Summary
George Washington, the first president of the United States,
was born on February 22, 1732, in Westmoreland County, Virginia.
He was the son of Augustine Washington and great-grandson of John Washington,
who had arrived from Britain empty-handed in 1658. George's mother
was Mary Ball Washington. She was Augustine's second wife; the
first one had died after bearing two children.
George's childhood was modest. He lived in a six-room
house crowded with beds and frequent visitors. From what evidence
we have, George seems to have been happy as a child, spending much of
his time outdoors. In 1743, Augustine Washington died. He left most
of his estate to his two oldest sons. George inherited only a few hundred
acres and ten slaves. With his two older half- brothers already
married and living on their own estates, George became the head
of his household at age 11. Along with his mother, he took care of
his younger brothers and sister.
George's formal education ended near this time. He had
studied reading, writing, mathematics, draftsmanship, and mapmaking. George
also read a lot and enjoyed fine art and music. After the death
of his father, George found a new role model and mentor in his
half-brother Lawrence, who was fourteen years older. Lawrence took
George hunting and fishing and told him stories of his military
adventures in South America. George's admiration for Lawrence probably
influenced his desire to become a soldier.
In 1748, when he was seventeen, Washington accompanied
a surveying party into the Shenandoah Valley. The Shenandoah was then
wilderness; in the month he spent there, Washington gained valuable
knowledge of the frontier. He also proved himself as a good surveyor,
and a year later was appointed the surveyor of Culpeper County.
His surveying work was interrupted in 1751 when Lawrence became
ill with tuberculosis. George accompanied him to Barbados, where
Lawrence hoped to recover. This was to be the only trip outside
of the original thirteen colonies George took during his entire
life. While in Barbados Washington caught smallpox, but he recovered.
Having already had the disease, he was now immune–later, when during
the Revolutionary
War soldiers died from smallpox by the hundreds,
Washington remained unaffected.
Despite the trip to Barbados, Lawrence died in 1752. George inherited
Lawrence's estate, Mount Vernon, and he began his lifelong project
of enlarging and improving the house and grounds. Later that year,
Virginia Governor Robert Dinwiddie appointed Washington to a position
in the Virginia militia. As a lieutenant, Washington drilled his
troops and prepared to defend the hostile frontier, where Indians
and French soldiers challenged Virginia's claims. Within a year,
Washington would be deeply involved in this conflict.
Analysis
What were George Washington's origins? On one hand, he
was a member of Virginia's landowner class. This made him something like
an aristocrat. In colonial Virginia, planters owned large tracts of
land with grand mansions, producing tobacco with the forced labor
of slaves. Though the planters were often in debt, they lived in high
style, imitating the manners, lifestyles, and social customs of English
aristocrats. This small group of white, English men held all power
in Virginia. Washington was born into this group.
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