George Washington in a portrait by Gilbert Stuart. Gilbert Stuart. Public domain or freely licensed; see source record.
1732–1799
Commander of the Continental Army and first president of the United States.
Direct answers to common questions about George Washington, followed by the full sourced biography.
Commander of the Continental Army and first president of the United States. Washington led a coalition of states and an often-fragile army through the American Revolution. As first president he established precedents for federal government and the peaceful transfer of power. His wealth and public life depended on the labour of enslaved people at Mount Vernon.
George Washington is particularly known for Commander of the Continental Army and first president of the United States., American History.
George Washington lived 1732–1799. This profile places that life within 18th Century and American History.
George Washington's career belongs within American History. American public life was shaped by constitutional government alongside slavery, Indigenous dispossession, racial exclusion and struggles to widen citizenship. Achievement and contradiction need to be studied together. The central subjects here are the events behind this summary: Commander of the Continental Army and first.
Washington led a coalition of states and an often-fragile army through the American Revolution. As first president he established precedents for federal government and the peaceful transfer of power. His wealth and public life depended on the labour of enslaved people at Mount Vernon.
Washington led a coalition of states and an often-fragile army through the American Revolution. As first president he established precedents for federal government and the peaceful transfer of power. His wealth and public life depended on the labour of enslaved people at Mount Vernon.
1732: Born. George Washington was born in 1732. 18th Century: Historical career. Commander of the Continental Army and first president of the United States.
1799: Died. George Washington died in 1799.
George Washington's career belongs within American History. American public life was shaped by constitutional government alongside slavery, Indigenous dispossession, racial exclusion and struggles to widen citizenship. Achievement and contradiction need to be studied together. The central subjects here are the events behind this summary: Commander of the Continental Army and first president of the United States.
George Washington was born in 1732.
Commander of the Continental Army and first president of the United States.
George Washington died in 1799.
Why thirteen colonies broke with Britain and how revolutionary ideals coexisted with slavery and exclusion.
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The Civil War began over slavery and secession. Union victory destroyed legal slavery, but equal freedom required a Reconstruction that faced organised white supremacist violence.
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The movement was built through decades of local organising, litigation, boycotts and direct action. Famous leaders mattered, but they did not act alone.
Read story →Biographical claims are summarised from the sources above. Interpretation and disputed reputations are identified in the text rather than presented as settled fact.
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