Who is George Washington?

George Washington was the United States of America's first president. Washington's passion for a free country led him to fully support the American Revolutionary War and secured him the title of "father of the nation."

George Washington was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia on 22 February 1732 to a family of planters, a profession he embraced himself early on. After graduating from university, Washington worked as a land surveyor until the French and Indian War started and he decided to join the war. His leadership during the war later won him an appointment as the American Army's commander in chief, which he held until the end of war in 1783.

George Washington's intentions were to go back to his early work as a planter, but his love for the emerging nation kept bringing him back to the center of political upheavals. He was one of the driving forces behind the drafting of the Constitution, and the key creator of a new tax system and the first national bank.

As the first US president, Washington was responsible for establishing an executive department and avoiding future conflicts with Britain, which he did by signing the Jay Treaty, which guaranteed the United States fair trade with other nations without the need for British approval. He also spoke openly about the importance of freedom of religion.

George Washington married a widow and had no children of his own, but he helped raise two stepchildren and, later on, two of his grandchildren. Washington owned 317 slaves at his plantation in Mount Vernon, but since he refused to break families, he never sold any of them, even when they were not longer productive at the farm. Washington did, however, leave a statement declaring his slaves free after the death of his wife.

George Washington died on his bed on 14 December 1799 of an acute case of pneumonia. The illness developed overnight and it was possibly worsened by the fact that his doctor used bleeding techniques in his treatment. The first U.S. president is buried in Mount Vernon.