Commander In Chief Of The Continental Army,President Of The Constitutional Convention, First President Of The United States

"The Father of His Country."

George Washington's image as "The Father of His Country," who guided the birth and development of the American republic in war and peace, is more than a cliche. He did possess several qualities of the ideal patriarch—courage, strength, honesty, and decisive judgment tempered by patience and the ability to restrain and conciliate opposing views—which made him a skillful leader and conferred legitimacy on the offices he assumed.

Youth.

George Washington, the first child of Augustine Washington and his second wife, Mary Ball Washington, was born on 22 February 1732 near Pope's Creek in Westmoreland County, Virginia. His father's death in 1743 ended Washington's chance to be educated in England like his older half brothers, but other opportunities arose in his teens when he...