GEORGE WASHINGTON

What qualities made George Washington the leader America needed as Commander-in-Chief and the nation's first president? He did not come from a high-status family. Essentially a farm boy, Washington had a lifelong interest in agriculture. His hopes for an education in England, as his older half-brothers had enjoyed, were dashed when his father died. Washington was only eleven, eldest child of his father's second wife. Least educated of all American presidents, Washington undertook a course of self-education, including the social practices that allowed him to engage with the upper classes.

A genuine self-starter, Washington pursued his goals with ambition, despite his disadvantages. He accumulated land as a surveyor by taking his payment in property. As a militia leader in his early twenties, he learned from his mistakes, and was considered a hero of the French and Indian War. And the hand of Providence, Washington would say, led him to a loving marriage with the wealthiest widow in Virginia.

Though he wasn't a trained or skilled military tactician, he inspired his men and never wavered once he committed himself to the cause of freedom. Could the colonists have prevailed without him? His contemporaries' confidence in him is reflected in his unanimous selection as our first president.

Twenty-five percent of our presentations have been to public and private elementary, middle school and high school students. George shares with them many of the events that surrounded the founding of this country, encourages them to be young women and men of good character, and inspires them to become involved and active in the communities and our country. He challenges the older students and adults to consider what “We the People” means, a call for every citizen to take an active role in civic affairs.