George Washington - America's First President
George Washington is best known as America’s first president. But he was much more than that. He fought against and defeated the British army in the War of Independence (1775 –1783) and he helped to write the American constitution.
As a boy, Washington had an exciting life. He worked on his parents’ plantation and learned how to plant tobacco and grow crops. He also loved to explore the wilderness, hunt for food and sleep in the open.
At an early age Washington became a surveyor and helped new settlers buy land. When he grew older he became a soldier and fought with the British against the French and the Indians.
When Great Britain started to collect more and more taxes from the settlers war broke out between the American colonists and British soldiers. George Washington became commander of the American army.
Washington had many problems during the war. The British had more soldiers and weapons. Winters were cold and long. Many soldiers left him and his troops didn’t have enough clothes.
When Washington surprised the British army at Yorktown, Virginia almost 8,000 British soldiers gave up. The British king started to lose interest in the colonies and in 1783 the war ended. Washington and his soldiers had won America’s independence.
In the following years George Washington and many other leaders helped to write a constitution for the new country. In 1789 , Washington was elected as the country’s first president. Nobody was against him. He didn’t want a second term but his friends convinced him that he was the best person for his country. In 1797, at the age of 65, Washington went back home to his farm. He died on December 14, 1799.
No other American has become more famous than George Washington. The nation’s capitol was named after him. Many towns, streets, lakes and parks have his name. Even a state is called Washington. His portrait is on stamps and the one dollar bill.
The American President - Table of Contents
- The American President - His Life, Job and Duties
- The Road to the White House
- How American Government Works
- The Electoral College
- The 2000 Presidential Election
- Famous American Presidents
Presidential Election 2008 - Table of Contents
- Results of the 2008 Election
- Democratic Presidential Candidate - Barack Obama
- Republican Presidential Candidate - John McCain
Online Exercises
- American President - Multiple Choice Exercise
- American President - True or False
- American President - Rearrange the events in their correct order
- The Road to the White House - Find the correct order
- American States
- Vocabulary Matching Exercise 1
- Vocabulary Matching Exercise 2
- American President - Crossword 1
- Presidents of the Past - Crossword 2
- American President - Fill in the missing words
Related Topics
Words
- bill = banknote
- colonist = someone who settles in a new colony
- commander = a person who is the boss of a soldiers
- constitution =a set of laws that a country is organized by
- convince =to talk someone into doing something
- crops =a plant that farmers grow and sell as food
- defeat = to win against
- explore = to go somewhere for the first time and find out about something
- independence =freedom, liberty
- lose interest = not interested any more
- plantation = a large farm
- portrait = somebody’s face
- settler = someone who lives in a place where not many people have lived before
- stamp = a small piece of paper that you buy and put on a letter
- surveyor =a person who measures land
- tax =the money you pay to your government ; it is used to pay for the country’s needs
- term = the time when a person is President
- tobacco = dry leaves that are smoked in cigarettes
- troops = same as soldiers
- War of Independence = the war in which the people in the British colonies of America became independent
- weapon = things you use to fight in a war
- wilderness = a place where nobody has lived before