This is the second Friday where Glenn Beck is hosting Founders' Friday on this show. Today the founder he's featuring is George Washington, who was the first president of the United States from 1789-97. Last Friday Glenn Beck aired a special on the life of Samuel Adams, who was a cousin to John Adams and was considered the father of the American Revolution. Today Beck is speaking about the life of George Washington. The purpose of this blogpost isn't to critique or elaborate on what Beck had to say about George Washington. I'm writing these blogposts in conjunction with Founders' Friday on the Glenn Beck Fox News program. Each Friday as long as the Founders' Friday is aired on Glenn Beck's television program, I'll be writing about one of the Founders in conjunction with his program.
George Washington was a man of unimpeachable character. He had a great love for America. Even before this country ever became the United States he always rose up to the call of duty to serve this great country. He was the commander in chief of the Continental army during the American Revolution and the first president of the United States from 1789-97. Washington was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia on February 22, 1732. He was the eldest son of Augustine Washington and his second wife, Mary Ball Washington, who were prosperous Virginia gentry of English descent. He spent his early years on the family estate on Pope's Creek along the Potomac River. His early education included studying subjects such as mathematics, surveying, the classics, and "rules of civility." His father died in 1743 and George would then move in with his older brother Lawrence, who became something of a substitute father to young George. George Washington had an ambition early in his wife to go to sea but his mother discouraged that. Therefore, he turned his sights to surveying. He secured an appointment in 1748 to Lord Fairfax's lands in the Shenandoah Valley. He helped lay out the Virginia town of Belhaven (Alexandria) in 1749 and was appointed surveyor for Culpeper County.
By 1753 there was a growing rivalry between the British and French over control of the Ohio Valley, which was soon to erupt into the French and Indian War (1754-63). It created new opportunities for the ambitious Washington. He first gained public notice when, as an adjutant of one of Virginia's four military districts, he was dispatched by Governor Robert Dinwiddie on a fruitless mission to warn the French commander at Fort Le Boeuf against further encroachment on territory claimed by Britain. Washington's diary account of the dangers and difficulties of his journey may have helped him win his ensuing promotion to lieutenant colonel. He was 22 years of age and inexperienced at the time. In April 1754, on his way to establish a post at the Forks of Ohio which is the current site of Pittsburgh, Washington learned that the French had already erected a fort there. Warned that the French were advancing, he quickly threw up fortifications at Great Meadows, Pennsylvania, aptly naming the entrenchment Fort Necessity. In the resulting skirmish the French commander the sieur de Jumonville was killed and most of his men were captured. Washington pulled his small force back into Fort Necessity where he was overwhelmed by the French in an all-day battle fought into a drenching rain. Surrounded by enemy troops, with his food supply almost exhausted and his dampened ammunitions useless, Washington capitulated. Under the terms of the surrender signed that day, he was permitted to march his troops back to Williamsburg. Discouraged by his defeat and angered by discrimination between British and colonial officers in rank and pay, he resigned his commission near the end of 1754. The next year he volunteered to join British general Edward Braddock's expedition against the French. When Braddock was ambushed by the French and Indian allies on the Monongahela River, Washington tried to rally the Virginia troops. As a result, his military reputation was enhanced and in 1755 at the age of 23, he was promoted to colonel and appointed commander in chief of the Virginia militia, with responsibility for defending the frontier. In 1758, he took an active role in General John Forbe's successful campaign against Fort Duquesne.
In 1758 Washington left the army and returned to Mount Vernon, directing his attention toward restoring his neglected estate. He erected new buildings, refurnished the house, and experimented with new crops. With some encouragement from friends, he entered politics serving 1759-64 in Virginia's House of Burgesses. In January 1759 he married Martha Dandridge Custis, a young widow with two small children. After 1769, Washington became a leader in Virginia's opposition to Great Britain's colonial policies. Washington also served as a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congress in 1774 and 1775. He didn't actively participate in the deliberations, but his presence was undoubtedly stabilizing. In June 1775, he was Congress's unanimous choice as commander in chief of the Continental forces.
During the American Revolutionary War, Washington took command of the troops surrounding British-occupied Boston on July 3, devoting the next few months to training the undisciplined 14,000-man army and trying to secure urgently needed powder and supplies. Early in March 1776, he used cannon brought down from Ticonderoga by Henry Knox. He occupied Dorcheser Heights, effectively commanding the city and forcing the British to evacuate on March 17. He then moved to defend New York City against the combined land and sea forces of Sir William Howe. In New York he committed a military blunder by occupying an untenable position in Brooklyn, although he saved his army by skillfully retreating from Manhattan into Westchester County and through New Jersey into Pennsylvania. However, Washington lost most of the battles he fought against the British at that time. In the last months of 1776, Washington was desperately short of men and supplies. Morale was very low. He had lost New York City to the British. Enlistment was almost up for a number of the troops, but others were deserting in droves. Congress had withdrawn from the city facing the possibility of a British attack on Philadelphia. Colonial morale was briefly revived by the capture of Trenton, NJ, a brilliant attack in which Washington crossed the Delaware River on Christmas night in 1776 and suprised the predominantly Hessian garrison. Advancing to Princeton, NJ, he routed the British there on January 3, 1777, but in September and October 1777 he faced serious reverses in Pennsylvania--at Brandywine and Germantown. The major success of that year was the British defeat at Saratoga, NY, but it was due to Benedict Arnold and Horatio Gates. After holding his bedraggled army together during the difficult winter months at Valley Forge, Washington learned that France recognized the independence of America. With the aid of Prussian Baron von Steuben and the French marquis de LaFayette, he concentrated on turning the army into a viable fighting force, and by spring he was ready to take the field again. It was due to the aid of the French that enabled Washington and his troops to win the war as well as strength from God. I believe it was divine providence that allowed us to become the great United States of America.
After the war Washington returned to Mount Vernon, which had declined in his absence. He was back to business as usual at home. In May 1787 Washington headed the Virginia delegation to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and was unanimously elected presiding officer. His presence lent prestige to the proceedings. He didn't contribute much directly, but he supported a strong central government. After the new constitution was submitted to the states for ratification and became legally operative, he was unanimously elected president in 1789. Washington was very cautious as the nation's first president, trying to establish precedents for future presidents. For one thing, he chose not to run for a third term as president. Until Franklin Delano Roosevelt won a third term in 1940, all the presidents prior served two terms at the most. He was an able administrator. There were factions that developed during his presidency between Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. Washington supported many of Hamilton's policies such as the assumption of state debts, the Bank of the United States, and excise taxes. He became the target of attacks from Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans. Political parties soon formed not too long afterward. Washington was vehemently opposed to political parties because they could divide the nation. When Washington finished his second term as president, he gave his Farewell Address warning America to stay neutral in foreign affairs. He stated America shouldn't be entangled in foreign alliances. Washington helped steer the nation on a solid course during his two terms as president. He died in 1797.
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