George Washington for Kids

in this video we are going to 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 a founding father of the united states meaning he was one of the people who started the united states of america and he served as the first president of the united states the very first president of the united states let's look at his life to see how

george

washington

helped start

the united states of america it starts in 1732. well that 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 of the american colonies were part of great britain this is what the british flag looked like during

george

washington

's lifetime it looked pretty similar to what it looks like today the colony of virginia the place where

george

washington

grew up belonged to

great britain now a lot of people have wondered what

george

washington

was like as a kid right but

george

washington

didn't share many details about his childhood there is a popular legend about

george

washington

when he was six years old it's an interesting one the legend says that

george

washington

received an axe for his birthday and used it on one of his dad's cherry trees oh that's a weird gift to get for your sixth birthday when his dad found out that his cherry tree was

damaged by young

george

george

was brave and told his dad the truth saying i cannot tell a lie this legend is one of the most famous legends 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 on

george

washington

after he died most historians believe this story was made up by parson weems even though it was made up it is 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 dad died when

george

was just 11 years old after his dad died

george

spent some time living with his half brother named lawrence at a place called mount vernon the plantation owned by lawrence living with his half-brother lawrence

george

was able to learn how to survey land to survey land is to figure out the distance between different parts of a piece of land usually to figure out how big a piece of land is someone who surveys

land is called a land surveyor in order to be a land surveyor you have to know a lot of math

george

washington

had to use his math skills to survey land as he got older people paid him to survey their land and he had to use math skills every time he did it this is pretty cool here is a picture of a land survey done by

george

washington

himself oh my goodness he had fancy handwriting this is so sad he may have continued working as a surveyor if it weren't for another tragedy in his life nine

years after his dad died

george

's half brother lawrence got sick and died too

george

was 20 years old when lawrence died two years later when

george

was just 22 years old he became the full owner of mount vernon now we didn't mention this earlier but lawrence had been a military general for the british in the virginia militia remember 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 the

virginia militia this was a big deal especially for someone as young as

george

was and it didn't take long for

george

washington

to be put to the test the governor of virginia sent

george

washington

on a special mission to tell the french to leave an area called the ohio valley they didn't like that and they made it clear they would not leave the ohio valley and one 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

famous he wrote about his experiences and became well known not just in the colonies but also across the atlantic ocean in great britain the french and indian war not only made

george

washington

famous but it also gave him military experience that he would later need during the american revolution after the war

george

was not offered a placement in the regular british army which must have been so frustrating after all he did and he returned to his plantation

remember called mount vernon he got married to a lady named martha and started a family at mount vernon so he settled down and that might have been the end of his story but he also got involved in politics which would put him at the right place at the right time after years of being a politician in virginia in 1774

george

washington

was chosen to be a delegate of virginia in the first continental congress a delegate is someone who is sent to represent other people virginia trusted

george

washington

to represent their interests it was really cool

george

washington

was frustrated with how the colonies were being treated by great britain just like so many other colonists many of their rights were taken away by laws called the intolerable acts colonists called them the intolerable acts because they weren't able to take it they were intolerable well in 1775 the american revolutionary war began in the second continental congress decided to set up their own army called the

continental army they selected

george

washington

as the commander of the continental army it made sense he not only had a lot of experience as a general in the french and indian war but he also wanted the american colonies to be independent and free from great britain

george

washington

accepted the position but he refused to get paid to serve as commander of the continental army that's right he wanted to volunteer and serve without any cost to the american colonies what a nice guy so he got

to work

george

washington

trained and prepared the continental army for battle he wanted to make sure they were ready and helped them become a better stronger army and here was his job if you will

george

washington

helped come up with battle plans led the continental army in many battles and helped the continental army run like a well-organized unit and he was a great commander part of what made him a great commander was he was not afraid to take risks for example in one of the most famous

moments in the revolutionary war

george

washington

led troops across the delaware river to do a surprise attack on december 25th in 1776 that was christmas night oh my goodness even though the water was icy and dangerous

george

washington

knew it would be a great surprise attack everyone was like

george

too much eyes too much ice man but they pressed on and it was a big victory for the continental army

george

washington

eventually led the continental army to victory with help from the french the

americans defeated the british after winning the revolutionary war the american colonies began setting up their brand new government and really to no one's surprise

george

washington

was picked to lead the constitutional convention that established order in the new government and of course because he was presiding over everything

george

washington

signed the constitution then when it came time to elect officials the american people decided there was no better man to serve as the very first

president of the united states than

george

washington

himself he was elected president in the first national election in 1789 after he was 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 picture of the house he lived in while he was president now of course this was before the white house was built this is the house in philadelphia that

george

washington

lived in before we keep 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 that was always his own hair he grew it long and would just pull it back the reason his hair always looked white was because he powdered his hair you must have thought it looked awesome so if anyone ever asks you for a cool random fact let them know that

george

washington

didn't wear a wig yes he didn't need one it's shocking

isn't it mr wish it's just crazy he didn't wear a wag he didn't wear a wig all right well back to

george

washington

as president as we mentioned earlier he was living in philadelphia which was the temporary capital of the united states which is interesting and as you might imagine as need as being the first president sounds it was really difficult and challenging there were many issues that needed fixing you know being a brand new nation and all but

george

washington

worked hard

to give the united states a strong start in the second national election

george

washington

was elected president for the second time he refused to run a third time and started the tradition by most presidents of serving no more than two terms can you spot president

george

washington

in this picture huh yeah he's right there right there yep not only did

george

washington

help the american colonies win their independence and become a new nation but

george

washington

also served as the first

president of the united states that is why

george

washington

is often called the father of his country sadly

george

washington

wasn't able to see much of what america would become he became sick and died in 1799 at mount vernon

george

washington

made a huge impact and he is celebrated and honored all around us the capital of the united states

washington

dc was named after

george

washington

the

washington

monument in

washington

dc was built to honor the memory of

george

washington

the father

of the united states we see

george

washington

honored on our money like the dollar bill dollar bills are super cool and

george

washington

is on all of them he is also on the quarter

george

washington

is on the front of every single quarter even the state quarters and of course

george

washington

is on mount rushmore it's the amazing sculpture that was carved right into the granite of a mountain in south dakota wow he is featured on many other sculptures but this is the biggest and most famous

what a life

george

washington

lived here just a couple of his accomplishments 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