He pursued two intertwined interests: military arts and western expansion. At 16 he helped survey Shenandoah lands for Thomas, Lord Fairfax. He revealed a skill in mathematics and surveying. When the Second Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia in May 1775, Washington, one of the Virginia delegates, was elected Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. Commissioned a lieutenant colonel in 1754, he fought the first skirmishes of what grew into the French and Indian War. Washington longed to retire to his fields at Mount Vernon. But he became instrumental in leading to the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia in 1787. When the new Constitution was ratified, the Electoral College unanimously elected Washington President. President Washington acted with congress to establish the first great executive departments and to lay the foundations of the modern federal judiciary. His policies provided revenue for the national government and supplied the country with a sound currency, and a network of national banks. As a Virginian, Washington belonged to, attended, and served as warden of the established (Anglican) church. He was a colonel in The French and Indian War also estranged him from the British.

Resigning his commission late in 1758, he retired to Mount Vernon. On Jan. 6, 1759, he married Martha Dandridge, widow of Daniel Parke Custis, whose estate included 15,000 acres and 150 slaves. He was a progressive farmer who promoted reforms to eliminate soil-exhausting practices that prevailed in his day. As a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, Washington opposed the Stamp Act. Washington spent the winter of 1774-1775 in Virginia, organizing independent military companies to fight the British. He took command of the army at Cambridge on July 3, 1775. Washington's military record during the revolution was very successful. Washington's army trapped Cornwallis at Yorktown, Va. in October 1781 to which he surrendered. Elected president Washington was inaugurated in New York City on April 30, 1789. The Tariff Act, the Tonnage Act, and the Excise Act and The Funding Act (1790) were just to name a few of his accomplishments. He established The Judiciary Act specified the number of Federal courts and judges in 1789. Washington's diplomacy also had to deal with events in the West that involved Britain and Spain. Washington enjoyed less than three years of retirement at Mount Vernon, for he died of a throat infection December 14, 1799.