George Washington is called "the father of his country" for several reasons. Washington was an outspoken proponent for American independence from Great Britain. He commanded the American Continental Army in its long and ultimately successful struggle in the Revolutionary War (1775—83). After the war, Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention (1787), the assembly of representatives at which the United States was formed. Elected the nation's first president, Washington proved by example that the American system could work. He established a model of how the nation's chief executive should act.

Political differences among Americans threatened the unity of the young nation. Washington served a second term as president to keep the increasingly divided nation together. He avoided a war with Great Britain in the early 1790s that would have slowed the nation's progress. When Washington left office, the peaceful transition from one elected president to another proved that...