George Washington's Path to the Presidency
-"Charles Wilson Peale painted George Washington more times from life than any other artist. [...] None [of the paintings] was as popular as the enduring image of Washington after the Battle of Princeton, which was commissioned by the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania for its council chamber in Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The original, now owned by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, was completed in early 1779, when Washington sat for Peale in Philadelphia." - from Senate.gov's Art and History.
"In June 1775, Congress commissioned George Washington to take command of the Continental Army besieging the British in Boston. He wrote home to Martha that he expected to return safely to her in the fall. The command kept him away from Mount Vernon for more than 8 years.
It was a command for which his military background, although greater than that of any of the other available candidates, hardly prepared him. His knowledge lay in frontier warfare, involving relatively small numbers of soldiers. He had no practical experience maneuvering large formations, handling cavalry or artillery, or maintaining supply lines adequate to support thousands of men in the field. He learned on the job; and although his army reeled from one misfortune to another, he had the courage, determination, and mental agility to keep the American cause one step ahead of complete disintegration until he figured out how to win the unprecedented revolutionary struggle he was leading."
- Picture and text from George Washington's Mount Vernon web site, MountVernon.org
"Washington retired from the army in 1783, but he could not retire from public life. By the end of his service as commander in chief, no American was better known or more widely revered. [...] The union of the new American states, weakly joined by the Articles of Confederation (ratified in 1781) seemed on the verge of collapsing before the experiment had received a fair trial. The states did not comply with Congress's directives; the British still retained key posts on the western frontier- an especially sensitive point for Washington, with his dreams of Westward expansion.
[...] In 1786 and 1787, with the outbreak of Shay's rebellion, an uprising by disgruntled Massachusetts farmers against their state government, these sentiments crystallized and moved Washington, and others, to action. [...] After the failure of earlier attempts to reform the Confederation, Washington endorsed the call for a convention to meet in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 to propose amendments to the Articles, amendments that would strength the Confederation and provide Congress with essential powers it lacked, above all the power to tax.
Washington would have preferred not to attend the convention, but it was clear to him and others that his presence would confer a legitimacy far greater than any resolution of Congress. He was chosen as President of the convention on May 25 1787. [...] Once the delegates decided to craft a new document [our Constitution], rather than simply repair the old one, and once they moved to create a strong one-man executive, it was inevitable that Washington would be the first President." (p.7-8)
- From Herbert Sloan of Barnard College, featured in The American Presidency: The Authoritative Reference.
Timeline of Washington's Rise to the Presidency:
February 1753 - Washington is appointed a major in Virginia's provincial militia by Virginia's Royal Governor, at the age of 21. He would lead his troops in defending the western frontier from the French, whom the British felt were encroaching on their territories.
1755 - Washington is named Colonel of the Virgina regiment and Commander in Chief of all forces now raised in the defense of His Majesty's Colony. The Virginia regiment was the first full-time American military unit in the colonies.
December 1758 - Having helped to take control of Ohio Valley for the Crown, Washington resigned his position as Colonel and would not return to military life until the outbreak of the American revolution in 1775.
January 1759 - Washington married the wealthy widow Martha Dandridge Custis, then 28 years old. Washington's marriage to Martha greatly increased his property holdings and social standing, and made him one of Virginia's wealthiest men.
May 1769 - Washington introduced a proposal, drafted by his friend George Mason, calling for Virginia to boycott English goods until the [Townshend and Stamp] Acts were repealed.
July 1774 - Washington chaired the meeting at which the "Fairfax Resolves" were adopted, which called for the convening of a Continental Congress, among other things. In August, Washington attended the First Virginia Convention, where he was selected as a delegate to the First Continental Congress.
April 1775 - The Americans and British declare war in the aftermath of the battles of Lexington and Concord.
June 1775 - Congress creates the Continental Army, and John Adams of Massachusetts nominates Washington as General and Commander in-chief. He was tasked with organizing and training the army, as well as leading some of its battles.
July 1780 - 5,000 French troops arrive in Rhode Island to join the colonists in their war effort against the British. The French have their own interests in North America, thus they fund the war and offer naval support. This tips the scales in the favor of the American rebels, essentially ending the war.
December 1783 - The British surrender and evacuate Manhattan and Washington and his troops seize it, at which point General Washington resigns his post as commander-in-chief of the army, the war won.
Summer 1787 - Washington is persuaded to attend the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, and then unanimously selected as its President. His role is more overseer than participator; everyone recognizes and respects him, lending an air of civility and authority to the event that might not be there otherwise. Among many other things, the delegates decide how the President will be elected. It seems a foregone conclusion, based on his popularity, that Washington would be elected.
April 30 1789 - Washington is inaugurated as the first President of the United States of America. His first acts as President are to set up a judiciary (including a six-seat Supreme Court) and a cabinet of trusted advisers.