This wasn't a little ol' farm, by any means, and he was raised to become an 18th Century gentleman.
Through the years, as his farm grew, so did his dissatisfaction with the British, their regulations and their merchants.
As a delegate to the Second Continental Congress in 1775, he was elected Commander in Chief of the Continental Army.
Undermanned and underdeveloped, Washington kept his men along the edges of skirmishes doing damage when he could and trying to avoid a straight up battle. The eventual help of forces from France assisted the General in forcing the surrender of the British in 1781 at Yorktown.
Washington became involved again when the government as created by the Articles of Confederation was failing and he helped pull together the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. After ratification, he was elected President by the Electoral College.
He retired after his second term as President to Mt. Vernon, but died less than three years later in 1799 at the age of 67.
(Information from whitehouse.gov.)
It causes one to wonder if George was, as the saying goes, destined for greatness or had greatness thrust upon him.
To me, it appears that those years enabled people united for a goal and set their personal interests aside.
Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and many others like them risked fortune and their way of life in pursuit of something better.
Wouldn't it be nice if some of the men and women elected to serve today could hammer out a way to reach consensus on the issues facing our nation?
Comments
Post a Comment