George Washington. George Washington
3 G. W. takes command, at Cambridge, Mass., of 16,000 armed men
1776
March 17 British evacuate Boston
July 4 Declaration of Independence
August 27 Battle of Long Island; Americans retreat, ultimately across Delaware River
December 25-26 G. W. recrosses Delaware, surprises British Hessians, takes 1,000 prisoners
1777
January 3 Battle of Trenton; British defeated
September 11 Americans defeated at Brandywine Creek
October 4 Americans defeated at Germantown
October 17 Surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga
November 14 Articles of Confederation sent to states
1778
June 18 British evacuate Philadelphia
June 28 Battle of Monmouth; British defeated
1779
August 19 British driven from New Jersey
October 19 Battle for Savannah; Count Pulaski slain
1780
May 25 Mutiny at Morristown following winter of supply shortages and no pay for troops
1781
March 1 Articles of Confederation ratified
September 8 Battle of Eutaw Springs; British retreat to Charleston
October 19 Battle of Yorktown; Cornwallis surrenders with 7,000 men
1783
March 15 Newburgh Address
May 19 G. W. announces peace agreement, still pending ratification, to army
June 8 “Circular Address to the Governors of the Thirteen States”
September 3 Peace Treaty signed in Paris; the report reaches America in late October
November 2 G. W. bids farewell to the army
December 4 G. W. bids farewell to his officers
December 23 G. W. resigns as Commander-in-Chief before Congress at Annapolis
1785
March 28 Mount Vernon Conference on navigation of Potomac and Chesapeake
1786
September 14 Annapolis Convention; call for Constitutional Convention
October 16 G. W. appointed to Virginia delegation to Constitutional Convention
1787
January-February Shays’ Rebellion in Massachusetts
February 21 Confederation Congress approves call for Convention
May 25 Constitutional Convention opens with quorum of seven states represented; G. W. unanimously elected Convention President
1788
June 21 New Hampshire becomes ninth state to ratify Constitution, making it effective
1789
January 7 Presidential electors appointed
February 4 G. W. unanimously chosen President
April 30 G. W. inaugurated as first President
1791
December 15 Bill of Rights ratified
1792
December 5 G. W. re-elected to presidency
1793
March 4 Second Inaugural
1794
November 19 G. W. declares suppression of Whiskey Rebellion
1795
August 14 G. W. signs Jay Treaty
1796
September 19 G. W. publishes his “Farewell Address” in the American Daily Advertiser
1797
March 4 G. W. retires
1799
December 14 G. W. dies at Mount Vernon
George
Washington
A COLLECTION
During the final years of the war for American independence, no one was trusted more profoundly than George Washington. In its conduct of the war, the Continental Congress seemed little more than a government in name only, and so it was that Washington proved “in the absence of any real government,” as Woodrow Wilson phrased it, “almost the only prop of authority