...George Washington Carlos Gallo George Washington is one of the most important people in our nations history and he helped shape the country we see today. George Washington was born on February 22, 1732, in Westmoreland County, Virginia. His family came to North America when his grandfather left England for Virginia. Washington was home schooled in the early teens and later developed important skills like learning to grow, tobacco. His father died when Washington was 1 and was raised by his brother who was a good influence on him. At 16 George was sent to go look for land in western Virginia, which led to his appointment as an official surveyor. His brother was a naval officer which led to Washington wanting to be the same even thou his mom...
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...president and the people. George Washington and John Adams both served as presidents of the United States who played key roles in developing plans of action. Washington served a two year term as president from 1789 to 1797, while Adams followed after Washington and served only one term from 1797 to 1801. President Washington played a part after the Whiskey Rebellion broke out during his presidency. During Adams presidency, he contributed to producing the...
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...GEORGE WASHINGTON THESIS Coming from a modest family and not having a superior level of education, George Washington would prove worthy to become a true leader at a young age. George Washington was born on February 22, 1732 in Colonial Virginia and was the first child of his fathers’ second marriage. His father, Augustine Washington and mother Mary Ball Washington were owners of a tobacco plantation and gained a reputation as being moderately prosperous. As a young boy, George Washington suffered many family tragedies with the loss of several of his siblings and by the age eleven the loss of his father. George Washington would have his older step/half brother Lawrence, who was an intelligent man, an experienced soldier and the owner by inheritance of his fathers’ land and responsibilities; raise and guide him, until he too would lose a battle with tuberculosis in 1752. (Haworth, 8-9) George Washington received an education in his town school as a boy. It was a simple school of that which could be afforded by the neighborhood. There he would learn the basic skills; reading, and writing. His father Augustine seemed to have more of an impact on his mind intellectually teaching George moral culture, virtue and inspired him to appreciate justice, generosity and most of all a love of truth. During...
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...George Washington was not just the president during his lifetime. He was General and commander-in-chief during the colonial armies during the American Revolution. Washington had impacted many lives before becoming president and changing the way things were ran in the White House. His family background was very rich, but lost it all during the Puritan revolution and when his grandfather migrated to Virginia in 1657. He was a very special president to American history. Washington did not get elected after a president he started the whole presidency. He served from 1789 to 1797. He was chosen unanimously at the Constitution Convention. John Adams was the vice president for Washington, of course he was the first one. Washington was intelligent, so he wanted to be surrounded by some of the most capable people. Therefore, he appointed Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of Treasury and Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State. The both men helped him do stuff during his two terms like a...
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...Preface: The Generation In the preface, Joseph Ellis takes his time in explaining the importance of the American Revolution. He starts off by stating that during the 1780’s everyone thought that it was only natural that America verge away from British rule. They all figured that it would be a gradual change; not a full blown revolution. Throughout the chapter, Ellis puts great emphasis on the many things that could have gone wrong during the revolution. He points all these negative events and set backs that he felt could easily have brought the developing America down to show just how great of an accomplishment the revolution was. The Founding Fathers were not completely oblivious to the severity of breaking away from Great Britain. Tom Pain states that, “it is only common sense that an island can not rule a continent (pg.3).” Many assumed that it was only natural that the thirteen colonies govern themselves. They figured that it would be a peaceful break such as the gaining of independence for Ghana or Canada. It was not until later on that the colonies realized that Britain would not easily hand over the land. What I find interesting is that only the Founding Fathers seemed to realize the great events taking place during their time. John Adams even instructed his wife to file and keep all of his records. It is as if he knew that hundreds of years from then, we the future Americans would look back at his notes and recognize his greatness. This makes me wonder why they...
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...resolutions. His use of rhetoric worked well with his audience as a public speaker. “No taxation without representation”, an excerpt from his speech, became a very well known statement. Patrick Henry fought for the political rights of Americans. He wanted his family to have inheritances, so he moved the family to Scotchtown and had a farm using slave labor. He was truly concerned with the mental health of his wife, who had severe depression, but he continued to voice the concerns of the people. The first Continental Congress was held in 1774. Patrick Henry was one of seven elected to go to this meeting. Adams and Henry decided that war was inevitable. A second meeting was called in 1775 where one hundred-twenty delegates from the colony met. Washington, Jefferson, and Henry were all there. The third day of this meeting, Henry finally spoke. His speech at this convention became one of the most famous speeches in American history. He was a very confident speaker, which helped to keep the attention of the other delegates. “Give me liberty or give me death” became another very well known phrase amongst...
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...The assumption of George Washington being the President of the United States was just that an "assumption." According to Global Watch -The 1st President was black, A Black man, A Moor, John Hanson. The new Country was actually enhanced on March 1, 1781 with the adoption of the Articles of Confederation. Once the signing took place in 1781, a President was needed to run the Country. John Hanson was chosen unanimously by congress. (Because of his ethnicity he is one of those great men that’s lost in History).In fact, all the other potential candidates refused to run against him, as he was am major player in the revolution and an extremely influential number of congress, No one had ever been President and the role was beyond the norms and poorly defined. His action residing in office would set precedent for all future Presidents. John Hanson in a subtly way calmed down the troops who demanded to get paid. He also sanctioned all foreign troops off American soil and the removal of all inappropriate foreign flags in the whim of the moment despite the interracial gab between Hanson and George Washington he was still able to calm the nation down as well as keep his title as President John Hanson was elected “President of the Continental Congress” by Congress, on November 5th 1781 and was 60 years old at the time. He was the first person to serve a full one year term as the President of the Continental Congress. The President of the Continental Congress...
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...Over the course years after the American Revolution, Americans typically viewed the revolution as American colonies standing up to the “big bad bully” that is Great Britain and rebel for their freedom and rights and that “these years are the most important in American history, indeed in the history of the world”. That American colonist wanted to be viewed by Great Britain as an independent country. John Merrell thinks that the revolutionary period deserves to be looked at closer. Merrell insist that “the founding fathers would be surprised by our certainty, for they themselves were confused” confused about what they had started in the revolution. In the article merrell talks about how hard it was for john Adams and his friend, Jefferson, to make sense of their Revolution and that they “knew what generations since have largely forgotten” which is that the independence of America was unheard of and such a unbelievable event. Merrell suggest that we have to look past the American heroes to find the real reasoning behind it all. We can find the true impact of the revolution by looking deep into the social aspects in pre-Revolutionary and post revolution. With all the news about a rebellion against Great Britain more social groups started to come into play one of them being white women. In the 1700’s women were not considered a person but as a possession males had, but the boycotting of British goods gave women a bigger role. Merrell suggest that woman played a major role in the...
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...One of the most well-known pictures of the revolutionary war, painted by Emanuel Leutze almost a hundred years after, depicts a scene where George Washington stoically stands on a boat leading the troops across the frozen Delaware River. The American flag wraps around itself in the frozen wind, some troops are holding their hats, while others are paddling the claustrophobic wooden crafts. One guy even pushes a mini iceberg away with a stick so the boat can pass through the murky frozen waters. This picture is meant to elicit pride in this moment just before a major victory that would boost morale. It depicts troops who are willing to sacrifice their life for freedoms, a tradition that is carried throughout American military history. Americans...
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...dividing the once united Federalist party into two separate groups, he was able to gain the support needed to take the office of the President away from the Federalist party. This feat was more than a challenge for Jefferson and would shape the structure of American political parties forever. (1) In 1788, George Washington was the first President of the United States and he chose two men with contrasting views on what the fate of the United States should be as part of his advisory board. Thomas Jefferson was chosen by Washington as the head of Department of State. Jefferson was a Virginian and diplomat, known for his views on small national government and representing the small planters and western farmers of America. George Washington then chose Alexander Hamilton as his secretary of the Treasury. Born and raised in the Caribbean, he worked for Washington as his aid during the revolutionary war and was a lawyer. Hamilton was known for his views on a strong national government. He favored merchants and financiers by implementing bold financial policies which gave the national government more authority. (1) As secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton submitted to Washington and Congress three major proposals which shaped American Treasury forever. The first was for a national public credit which helped fund the United States debt both nationally and internationally. The second was for the creation...
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...revolution. He was educated in Dublin, New York where he learn to become a surgeon. In his career he served on the staff of George Washington at Valley Forge and was a Maryland Senate. McHenry arrived at the convention May 28 and departed June 1st but returned August sixth for the signing of the constitution. James McHenry had a diary for the revolution and it consisted of reasons for a strong Federal Government. Also he supported ratification for the constitution near Maryland which got him a statue in Baltimore. McHenry was born on November 16, 1753 in Ireland. He was educated at Dublin Newark academy in Delaware 1772. Mchenry immigrated to Philadelphia in 1771 and the next year his family arrived. His dad created an important business in Baltimore that James would think about taking over in the future. After his years of schooling he went into medical school in Philadelphia where he was taught by Dr. Benjamin Rush. During the revolutionary war, McHenry served as a military surgeon but late in 1776, he was captured by the British at fort Washington in NY....
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...Most Americans nowadays like to think that they have the American Revolution pretty well figured out. Conventional wisdom starts the saga in 1763 when Britain, saddled with debt at the close of the Seven Years' War, levied new taxes that prompted her American colonists to resist, and then to reject, imperial rule. Having declared independence and defeated the British, American patriots then drafted the constitution that remains the law of the land to this day. With George Washington's inauguration as president in 1789, the story has a happy ending and the curtain comes down. This time-honored script renders the road from colonies to nation clear, smooth, and straight, with familiar landmarks along the way, from Boston's Massacre and Tea Party through Lexington and Concord, then on to Bunker Hill and Yorktown before reaching its destination: Philadelphia in 1787, where the Founders invented a government worthy of America's greatness. Those Founders are equally familiar. Washington and Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and James Madison, Sam and John Adams, Patrick Henry and Alexander Hamilton: in the popular mind this band of worthies, more marble monuments than mere mortals, guides America towards its grand destiny with a sure and steady hand. "[F]or the vast majority of contemporary Americans," writes historian Joseph Ellis, the birth of this nation is shrouded by "a golden haze or halo."(1) So easy, so tame, so much "a land of foregone conclusions" does America's Revolution...
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...POLITICS MUST DEFEAT POLITICS Byung Gyu Lim History 117A-06 Professor Prater April 21, 2014 John Adams was born in 1735 at Braintree, Massachusetts; he was the eldest of four brothers. He graduated from Harvard College (University) in 1755. Sometimes, John Adams was contradictory and outspoken, but he was a gentle husband to Abigail Adams. His wife was extremely intelligent and an advisor to her husband’s political career. One reason John Adams felt quite fortunate for his wife was because she was good on a federalist point of view and greatly influential in her husband’s political career because he lacked charisma and political charm. John Adams had a good political career before becoming president of the United States. Adams was well-educated and had diplomatic experience in France and Great Britain. John’s message in the following quotation: “On November 1, 1800, just before the election, Adams arrived in the new Capital City to take up his residence in the White House. On his second evening in its damp, unfinished rooms, he wrote his wife “Before I end my letter, I pray Heaven to bestow the best blessings on this house and all that shall hereafter inhabit. May none but honest and wise Men ever rule under this roof.” Before becoming president, John Adams was a lawyer and his service fee was low, but he was proud that his political argument was published in several newspapers. Let me give some brief background on President Washington’s cabinet; he appointed...
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...Chapter 6 The war in the north: Some people thought that the rebels stood a chance of defeating the British; Great Britain had more people and more money with which to fight. Indians were still against the white settlement so they were not supportive only a few were. Prime Minister North got a large invasion force and selected General. William Howe as leader; North ordered Howe to capture New York City and control of the Hudson River in order to get the radical Patriots alone in New England from the other colonies. The British troops landed in New York 1776 while continental congress was declaring independence. Armies and Strategies: Howes strategies worked by making the opponent surrender rather than destroying them. General Washington’s strategy was to draw the British away from the seacoast, extending their lines of supply and draining morale in a war of attrition. Most of the continental army was low class and they were not well armed. Victory at Saratoga: This is also known as the turning point. In order to finance this battle the British were increasing land tax. Their main goal was to isolate New England. Howe had a different plan he wanted to attack Philadelphia and end the rebellion with one victory. General Burgoyne’s troops were forced to surrender to General Horatio Gates and his men at Saratoga, New York. Social and financial Perils: After the victory at Saratoga difficulties included a British naval blockade that cut supplies of European manufactures, the occupation...
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...Alexander Hamilton: (1755–1804) the founder of the nation's financial system, and the founder of the Federalist Party. Hamilton took the lead in the funding of the states' debts by the Federal government, the establishment of a national bank, a system of tariffs, and friendly trade relations with Britain. Anti-Federalists: who favored a more decentralized federal system. Articles of Confederation: postwar economic conditions were difficult because British markets were closed to the new nation and the Articles had not provided for a mean to raise taxes or stimulate economic recovery. Shay's Rebellion made many Americans fear that anarchy would destroy the new republic and led them to clamor for a stronger national government. Battle of Bunker/Breed’s Hill: took place on June 17, 1775, just a few months after the start of the American Revolutionary War. Boston was being besieged by thousands of American militia. The British were trying to keep control of the city and control its valuable sea ports. The British decided to take two hills, Bunker and Breeds, in order to gain a tactical advantage. The American forces heard about it and went to defend the hills. Although the British won the hill and the battle, they paid heavy costs with so many soldiers, officers dying. This gave the Americans courage to know that they could stand up to the British in battle. Many more colonists joined the army after this battle and the revolution continued to grow in strength. Boston Tea Party:...
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