George Washington for Kids

In this video we will learn about an important man in American history, George Washington, George Washington was a military general and led the American colonists to victory in the American Revolution. He was the founding father of the United States, which means he was one of the people. who started the united states of america and served as the first president of the united states the first president of the united states let's look at his life to see how

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helped start the united states of america starts in 1732. wow! It was a long time ago, George Washington was born in the colony of Virginia in 1732 now, when George Washington was born, the colony of Virginia was part of Great Britain, in fact all the American colonies were part of Great Britain, this is what it looked like the british flag. as during

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's life it looked quite similar to what the colony of virginia looks like today the place where george washington grew up belonged to great britain now many people have wondered what george washington was like when he was a child, but george washington doesn't I don't share many details about his childhood.

There is a popular legend about George Washington when he was six years old. It's interesting. Legend has it that George Washington received an ax for his birthday and used it on one of his father's cherry trees. Oh, that's it. a strange gift for your 6th birthday when his father discovered that his cherry tree was damaged by young george george was brave and told his father the truth saying that I can't lie this legend is one of the most famous in American history the legend was written by this guy, a man named Parson Weems, that's an interesting name.

He was the first person to write a biography about George Washington after his death. Most historians believe this story was made up by Parson Weems, although it was made up. A legend that many people think of when they think of George Washington One thing we know for sure about George's childhood is that his father died when George was only 11 years old. After his father's death, George spent some time living with his half-brother named Lawrence at a place called Mount Vernon, the plantation owned by Lawrence, who lived with his half-brother, Lawrence George, was able to learn how to survey the land, to survey the land is to calculate the distance between different parts of a piece of land, usually to calculating the size of a piece of land is someone who surveys the land is called a surveyor in order to be a surveyor you have to know a lot of math george washington had to use his math skills to survey the land as he got older people paid him to survey his land and had to use his math skills every time he did it.

This is great. Here is an image of a topographical survey done by George Washington himself. My God! It had elegant handwriting. It's so sad that maybe he would have continued working as a surveyor if that were the case. Not for another tragedy in his life nine years after the death of his father, George's half-brother, Lawrence, became ill and died as well. George was 20 years old when Lawrence died two years later, when George was only 22 years old, he became the full owner of Mount Vernon. Now we didn't mention this before, but Lawrence had been a military general for the British in the Virginia Militia.

Remember that the colony of Virginia, like the other American colonies, belonged to Great Britain. George decided to follow in his footsteps and became a major in Virginia. militia this was a big deal especially for someone as young as george and it didn't take long for george washington to be tested the governor of virginia sent george washington on a special mission to tell the french to leave an area called Al valley The Ohioans did not like that and made it clear that they would not abandon the Ohio Valley and a year later, George Washington led hundreds of soldiers in an event that would start the French and Indian War.

The French and Indian War made George Washington. Famously, he wrote about his experiences and became well known not only in the colonies but also throughout the Atlantic Ocean in Great Britain. The French and Indian War not only made George Washington famous but also gave him military experience that he would later need during the American Revolution. After the war, George was not offered a position in the regular British army, which must have been very frustrating after everything he did and he returned to his plantation. Remember it was called Mount Vernon. He married a lady named Martha and raised a family in Mount Vernon. settled down and that could have been the end of the story for him, but he also got involved in politics, which would put him in the right place at the right time after years of being a politician in Virginia in 1774, George Washington was elected delegate. from virginia in the first continental congress a delegate is someone who is sent to represent other people virginia trusted george washington to represent her interests he was really great george washington was frustrated with the way great britain was treating the colonies just like so many other colonists many of their rights were taken away by laws called intolerable acts the colonists called them intolerable acts because they could not accept them they were intolerable well in 1775 the american revolutionary war began in the second continental congress they decided to establish their own army called the continental army they selected george washington as commander of the continental army.

It made sense that he not only had a lot of experience as a general in the French and Indian War but also wanted the American colonies to be independent and free from great britain george washington accepted the position but refused to be paid to serve as army commander continental that's right he wanted to volunteer and serve at no cost to the american colonies what a good guy so he went to work george washington trained and prepared the continental army for battle he wanted to make sure they were ready and help them become an army better and stronger and this was his job, if you will, george washington helped devise battle plans, led the continental army in many battles and helped the continental army run as a well organized unit and was a great commander, part of What made him a great commander was that he was not afraid to take risks, for example in one of the most famous moments of the Revolutionary War, George Washington led troops across the Delaware River to make a surprise attack on December 25, 1776, that was Christmas night, oh my goodness, even though the water was freezing and dangerous, George Washington knew it would be a huge surprise attack.

They were all like George, too many eyes, too much ice man, but they kept going and it was a great victory for the continental army george washington finally led the continental army to victory with the help of the french the americans defeated the british after winning the revolutionary war the american colonies began to establish their new government and really, to no one's surprise, george washington was chosen to lead the constitutional convention that established order in the new government and, of course, because he presided over everything, george washington signed the constitution and then, when it came time to elect officials, the American people decided that there was no better man to serve as the same first president of the United States than George Washington himself was elected president in the first national election in 1789 after serving sworn in as president of the united states he went to live in philadelphia philadelphia was the temporary capital of the united states this is a photo of the house he lived in while he was president now of course this was before the white house was built this It's the house in Philadelphia that George Washington lived in before we continue talking about George Washington as president We have a random fun fact about George Washington for you, did you know that George Washington didn't wear a wig?

That's right, it was always his own hair. He left it long and simply pulled it back. The reason his hair always looked white was because he powdered his hair. You must have thought. He looked amazing, so if anyone ever asks you for a random interesting fact, let them know that George Washington didn't wear a wig, yeah, he didn't need one. It's shocking, isn't it, Mr. Desire? It's crazy that he didn't wear one. wig, they didn't wear a wig, well let's go back to george washington as president, as we mentioned earlier, he lived in philadelphia, which was the temporary capital of the united states, which is interesting and as you can imagine, sounds about as cool as it gets the first president.

It was really difficult and challenging, there were a lot of problems that needed to be solved, you know, being a completely new nation and everyone except George Washington worked hard to give America a good start in the second national election. George Washington was elected president for the second time. He declined to run a third time and began the tradition of most presidents of serving no more than two terms. Can you see president george washington in this photo? uh yeah, it's there, right there, yeah, george washington not only helped the American colonies gain their independence and become a new nation, but George Washington was also the first president of the United States, that's why George Washington is often called the father of his country.

Unfortunately, George Washington did not get to see much of what would become the United States, he became ill and died. In 1799 at Mount Vernon, George Washington made a great impact and is celebrated and honored all around us. The capital of the United States, Washington DC, is named after George Washington. The Washington Monument in Washington DC was built to honor the memory of George Washington, Sr. from the united states we see george washington honored on our money like the dollar bill the dollar bills are great and george washington is on all of them he is also on the fourth george washington is on the front of every quarter even the quarters Of course, George Washington is on Mount Rushmore.

It is the incredible sculpture that was carved directly into the granite of a mountain in South Dakota. Wow, it appears in many other sculptures, but this is the largest and most famous. What a life George Washington lived here just a couple. Of his achievements he was a general in the French and Indian War, he was the commander of the Continental Army and he was the first president of the United States.