ction 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation--

* * * * *

George Washington

April 30, 1789, to March 4, 1797

George Washington

George Washington was born at Bridges Creek, on the Potomac River, in
Westmoreland County, Va., on the 22d day of February (or 11th, old
style), 1732. Augustine Washington, his father, was a son of Lawrence
Washington, whose father, John Washington, came to Virginia from England
in 1657, and settled at Bridges Creek. Augustine Washington died in
1743, leaving several children, George being the eldest by his second
wife, Mary Ball. At the early age of 19 years he was appointed
adjutant-general of one of the districts of Virginia, with the rank of
major. In November, 1753, he was sent by Lieutenant-Governor Dinwiddie,
of Virginia, to visit the French army in the Ohio Valley on important
business. War followed, and in 1754 he was promoted to the rank of
lieutenant-colonel, and engaged in the war. In 1755 he acted as
aid-de-camp to General Braddock. Soon after this he was appointed by the
legislature commander in chief of all the forces of the Colony, and for
three years devoted himself to recruiting and organizing troops for her
defense. In 1758 he commanded a successful expedition to Fort Du Quesne.
He then left the Army, and was married to Mrs. Martha Custis, a widow
lady of Virginia. For sixteen years he resided at Mount Vernon,
occasionally acting as a magistrate or as a member of the legislature.
He was a delegate to the Williamsburg convention, August, 1773, which
resolved that taxation and representation were inseparable. In 1774
he was sent to the Continental Congress as a delegate from Virginia.
The following year he was unanimously chosen commander in chief, and
assumed the command of the Continental Army July 2, 1775. He commanded
the armies throughout the War for Independence. At the close he resigned
his commission, December 23, 1783, and retired to private life. He was
a delegate to, and president of, the National Convention which met
in Philadelphia, Pa., in May, 1787, and adopted a new Constitution,
that greatly increased the power of the Federal Government. He was
unanimously elected the first President of the United States, and was
inaugurated on the 30th of April, 1789, in New York City, and at the
end of his first term was unanimously reelected. He retired March 4,
1797, having de