The Life of President George Washington

Gilbert Stuart's unfinished 1796 painting of
 George Washington is also known as  
The Athenaeum, his most celebrated
 and famous work.

       George Washington(1732-1799), an American soldier and statesman, the hero of American independence, and the first President of the nation which he helped to establish. There are two Americans of the generations now past who have won the undying love and reverence of their countrymen - Washington and Lincoln.

       Though they are equally honored, the one as founder and the other as preserver of the American nation, they are thought of as totally different types. Lincoln, so much nearer our own time, is by far the more human figure. His humanity, his rugged appearance, his humor and his kindliness are remembered as the characteristics of a very real man. Washington is more or less of a mythical personage. The idealized portrait painted by Charles Stuart, reproduced right, is in a way symbolic of the impression that Americans cherish of the "Father of His Country." He seems to them a lofty figure somewhat detached from everyday life; a great man, but one aloof from his fellowmen; a strong man, but without fire and vigor. The complete record of his life refutes these ideas. There is every reason to believe that if he were alive to-day he would be a virile and influential figure in American political affairs, a personality as vivid as in his own time. 

• The Ancestry and Youth of George Washington
• The Early Military Career of Washington
• At Mount Vernon
• The Revolutionary War
• The Constitution and First Administration
• President Washington's Second Term
• The End of Washington's Story

Artifacts About President George Washington:

1. Questions and Answers About George Washington
2. President Washington's Receptions
3. Farewell, Address To His Officers
4. Tribute To Washington
5. Ode For Washington's Birthday
6. Washington's Birthday by William Cullen Bryant
7. Welcome to Lafayette by Edward Everett
8. The Twenty-Second of February by Webster
9. True Heroism
10. Under The Washington Elm, Cambridge
11. Provocation: Abraham Lincoln and Cabin Building

More Online Resources:

• White House biography
• United States Congress. "George Washington (id: W000178)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• George Washington's Mount Vernon
• American President: George Washington (1732–1799) at the Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia
• George Washington: A Resource Guide at the Library of Congress
• George Washington Resources at the University of Virginia Library
• Original Digitized Letters of George Washington Shapell Manuscript Foundation
• The Papers of George Washington at the Avalon Project
• The Papers of George Washington, subset of Founders Online from the National Archives
• George Washington Birthplace National Monument, Virginia from the National Park Service
• Copies of the wills of General George Washington: the first president of the United States and of Martha Washington, his wife (1904), edited by E. R. Holbrook
• "What Made George Washington a Good Military Leader?". EDSITEment: Lesson Plans. National Endowment for the Humanities.
• Works by George Washington at Project Gutenberg
• George Washington Personal Manuscripts