 George Washington – first American

president, commander of the

Continental Army, president of the
Constitutional Convention, and
gentleman planter. These were the
roles in which Washington exemplified
character and leadership.
Childhood and Education

 Parents Augustine and Mary Ball Washington

 George's father, Augustine Washington, was a leading
planter in the area and also served as a justice of the county
court.
 Augustine Washington's first wife, Jane Butler, died in 1729,
leaving him with two sons, Lawrence and Augustine, Jr.,
and a daughter, Jane. The elder Augustine then married
George's mother, Mary Ball Washington, in 1731. George
was the eldest of Augustine Washington's and Mary Ball's
six children: George, Elizabeth, Samuel, John Augustine,
Charles, and Mildred.
 Little is known of Washington's childhood, and it
remains the most poorly understood part of his
life.
 Popular fables illustrating young George
Washington's youthful honesty, piety, and
physical strength have long taken the place of
documented fact. Some of these fables are more
plausible than others.
 When George Washington was eleven years
old, his father Augustine died, leaving most
of his property to George's older half
brothers. The income from what remained
was just sufficient to maintain Mary
Washington and her children. As the oldest
child remaining at home, George
undoubtedly helped his mother manage the
Rappahannock River plantation where they
lived. There he learned the importance of
hard work and efficiency.
Washington's Education
 Unlike many of his contemporaries, Washington never
attended college or received a formal education. His two
older brothers, Lawrence and Augustine Washington, Jr.,
attended Appleby Grammar School in England. However,
when Washington was just 11 years old, his father,
Augustine Washington, passed away, leaving the family
limited funds for education. Private tutors and possibly a
local school in Fredericksburg provided the young man
with the only formal instruction he would receive.
 To augment his studies, George Washington, begin to teach
himself through reading and experimentation. In his early
life, three major influences drove Washington's path of
self-betterment.
 To the world's amazement, Washington had
prevailed over the more numerous, better
supplied, and fully trained British army, mainly
because he was more flexible than his opponents.
He learned that it was more important to keep his
army intact and to win an occasional victory to
rally public support than it was to hold American
cities or defeat the British army in an open field.
Over the last 200 years revolutionary leaders in
every part of the world have employed this insight,
but never with a result as startling as Washington's
victory over the British.