| Date of Birth | February 22, 1732 |
| Hometown | Pope's Creek Westmoreland County Virginia |
| Wife | Martha Dandridge Custis Washington |
| Death | December 14, 1799 at Mount Vernon, Virginia |
George Washington may be best known as the United State's first President, however He accomplished much more during his life. He was a colonel in the colonial Militia, a General in the continental Army was posthumously promoted to General of the Armies of the United States Army. He fought in he French and Indian war and was commander in chief during the American Revolution. He was elected to the constitutional convention and unanimously elected its president. He was elected as President of the United States Unanimously by the Electoral College, and has been the only president to receive unanimous support. He did not believe in parties, and is the only president not to belong to one. He also Proclaimed American Neutrality, a concept that would last until the First World War and warned against involvement in European wars.
Friends and Citizens:
The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made.
I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the State, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally.
There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within certain limits is probably true; and in governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume
Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love towards it, which is so natural to a man who views in it the native soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations, I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government, the ever-favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.