First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen

-Light Horse Harry (Henry Lee)

George Washington’s Family

Lawrence - Great, great, Grandfather

• Oxford University academic

• Anglican priest

• Puritan Prosecution left his family with no money

  • Oliver Cromwell believed there was only one true religion: puritanism, and so he persecuted those with other religions

John - Great Grandfather - Ancestor that brought them to America

• Sailed for America in 1656

• Successful planter, politician, and militia colonel

Anne Pope - Wife (of John)

• Daughter of a rich Virginia plantation owner

Lawrence - Grandfather

• Sent to England to train as a lawyer

• He inherited Mount Vernon but was not a farmer

Mildred Warner - Grandmother of G.W.

Augustine - Father

• Ambitious Virginia planter and merchant

• Gentry- “Planter class”, educated, upper-class, generally came from successful families

• died when George was 11*

Mary Ball - (Second Wife of Augustine)- Mother of GW

• “domineering, pious, possibly pipe-smoking woman who ran her farm with a firm hand and read daily to her children from Contemplations Moral and Divine”

  • Pious- devoutly religious

  • Story mentioned- Philosophical and religious understanding

• did not grant permission for George to enlist in the British Royal Navy as a midshipman

• no interest in investing in George’s education (sent two of his brothers to fine schools)*

Summary

George Washington — born Feb. 22, 1732

Growing up, he had little support from his parents*, and bettered himself from a young age, following 110 rules in the Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation(conceived by French Jesuits)

Impressed the colonial power brokers of British Virginia

• made him a surveyor [of western lands], and officer w/ the British during the French and Indian War

  • part of the Seven Years’ War (1753-1763)

• saw his first battle in his early twenties - liked it

“I have heard the bullets whistle; and believe me, there is something charming in the sound” -George Washington, London Gazette

☆ Resigned from commission in 1758

☆ Took up life as a Virginia planter, renting a family farm in North VA

☆ Inherited Mount Vernon in 1761 in Potomac (love of his life, along with Marther D. Custis

June 15, 1775 - appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army which was created a day before

April 30, 1789 - Elected as the first president of the U.S., serves two terms but refuses third

Dec. 14, 1799 - dies from acute infection touring estates in winter

• Britain emerges from the Seven Years’ War as an empire with more than double its previous holdings, and to try and cover the costs, levied taxes on colonists

  • 13 colonies ruled by 13 legislatures - 1.5 mil people

    • “Fire and water are not more heterogenous than the different colonies of North America” -a British Traveler

      • Heterogenous - diverse

• George Washington grows sick of George III

  • George Washington speculates on wild land to the west, but the Royal Proclamation of 1763 banned his investment

By 1774 he realizes that this (British taxes) has gone too long and far

• leaves Mount Vernon for PA w/ Patrick Henry

• one of seven elected delegates in the First Continental Congress

June 15, 1775 - appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army which was created a day before

☆ Abigail Adams is impressed by his “simple but grand air”

In 1785, he held talks in Mount Vernon, encouraging cooperation from the states

• Great consolation - returning to Mount Vernon, living out his days carefreely

  • and so he did… for a few years

by 1787 he was back in PA, as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention

April 30, 1789 - Elected as the first president of the U.S., serves two terms but refuses third in 1796

• returns to Mount Vernon, with three years of happiness

Dec. 14, 1799 - dies from acute infection touring estates in winter

Vocabulary-

Prosaic - having the style or diction of prose; lacking poetic beauty.

Gentry - people of good social position, specifically (in the UK) the class of people next below the nobility in position and birth.

• Describes Augustine (father) but not Mary (stepmother)

Auspices - a divine or prophetic token.

• In his farewell address, “Auspices of Liberty”

Repugnant - extremely distasteful; unacceptable.

• How Washington described the British administration

Disparate - essentially different in kind; not allowing comparison

• used to describe the states

Abeyance - a state of temporary disuse or suspension

• he held himself in abeyance at Mount Vernon in case he should be needed again [by America]

Essential Questions

How did George Washington’s family end up in America from England?

1. His Great, great, Grandfather (Lawrence) was prosecuted for being Anglican (or a different religion, not specified in the text) by Oliver Cromwell leaving them penniless

2. John sailed to America [for a new start].

What land holdings did Britain have?

• They had Canada, and the entire present-day US that was East of the Mississippi after the Seven Years’ War [not stated in the text]

Which ancestor brought George and his family to America?

• John Washington

What was the Post-Revolutionary War government like?

• They had a weak government since they feared a strong central government like they had in England

What happened to George Washington and his children/wife financially? - didn’t get what he wanted

• He wanted wild land in the West, but the British banned his investment as they wanted to control the cost of America to the crown (Royal Proclamation of 1763)

  • One of his motives is hunger for land - probably on the test

Washington’s position on slavery?

• Mount Vernon relied on slaves to function, but Washington hoped that it would be abolished

  • Instructed his slaves to be free after Martha’s death, but Martha freed them a year after George died