George Washington's Education: A Foundation for Leadership
George Washington, a pivotal figure in American history, is often remembered for his military leadership during the Revolutionary War and his role as the first President of the United States. While he didn't have the formal education many leaders of his time possessed, his self-taught knowledge and experiences shaped him into the leader he became.
Early Life and Limited Formal Education
Born on February 22, 1732, in Westmoreland County, Virginia, to Augustine and Mary Ball Washington, George was the first of their six children. His father had three older children from a previous marriage. The Washington family initially lived on a plantation on Little Hunting Creek before settling at Ferry Farm near Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 1738.
When George was eleven, his life took a turn when his father passed away. His older brothers inherited most of Augustine’s estate, including Little Hunting Creek Plantation, later known as Mount Vernon. Lacking a substantial inheritance, George had to rely on his family and connections to forge his own path. Unlike his older brothers, he didn't have the opportunity to study at a university. He likely received a basic education from a private tutor. Some scholars speculate that he might have attended grammar school for a short period, but he certainly never pursued higher education. The demands of the family farm required George and his brothers to work full-time after their father’s death.
Self-Education and Acquisition of Knowledge
Despite the lack of formal schooling, Washington was a devoted learner who relentlessly pursued knowledge. He was completely self-educated and achieved amazing success. His role as the first President of the United States is even more remarkable when we consider that he was the first. As the first President, he had no blueprint to follow. There was no predecessor to consult, and he ran the country better than most modern Presidents.
He made friends with people who taught him things he did not know. He became quite close to his brother’s in-laws - the Fairfaxes. They treated young George like family, and he loved them dearly. The patriarch of the family took George under his wing and often took him hunting. The Fairfaxes may have been the ones to teach him geometry, which he used in his work.
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Another major source of knowledge was from reading all the books he could get his hands on. George Washington would take the time to copy books word for word, to helped him to understand the text. Doing this tedious act, allowed him to keep a copy of the book to keep in his library.
At the time of his death, George Washington’s personal library numbered more than a thousand books. A breakdown of the topics he kept in his library explains why he was such a powerful statesman and leader:
- Nearly 400 books on Economics, Politics, and Law
- 168 books on Agriculture
- 168 books on Religion and Philosophy
- More than 100 books on Military and Naval Affairs
- More than 100 books of fiction, including plays and poems
- About 85 books on History and biographies
- 60 reference books
- 60 books on Science, Industry, and Natural History
- Nearly 50 books on Travel, Accounting, Geography, and Atlases
Washington, like many other important historical figures, was an autodidact, or self-taught.
Surveying: A Practical Education
By George’s seventeenth birthday, he received his first official commission to survey Culpeper County. He had learned the skills under the supervision of Colonel William Fairfax, his neighbor and one of the leading figures in Virginia. His surveying experience instilled in George a firm conviction in the importance of westward expansion to the future of the colonies, and later the United States.
In 1748, Washington spent a month with a team surveying Fairfax's Shenandoah Valley property. The following year, he received a surveyor's license from the College of William & Mary. Even though Washington had not served the customary apprenticeship, Thomas Fairfax (William's cousin) appointed him surveyor of Culpeper County, Virginia.
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Military Career: Learning Through Experience
In 1751, George accompanied his favorite older brother, Lawrence, on a trip to Barbados. While in the Caribbean, George contracted smallpox. The trip to Barbados was also formative for Washington’s future. He toured the military structures on the island and was increasingly interested in a military career. Initially, George wanted to join the British Navy, and Lawrence promised to help secure him a position. Mary, George’s mother, had strong reservations about the physical abuse her son might receive in the navy and the limited possibilities for advancement.
In 1752, George’s older brother Lawrence died, and Washington appeared to lose interest in surveying as a profession and pursued a military career instead. In October 1753, he offered his services to Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie of Virginia, who planned to send an emissary to meet with the French in the Ohio Valley. The governor accepted Washington’s offer, and he headed west.
Over the next few months, Washington became convinced that the French were planning a large military force to attack the British. Eager to warn Dinwiddie, George left the protection of the expedition and made his way on foot with one guide for company. For his daring service, Washington was promoted to lieutenant colonel and ordered to raise men for an upcoming mission to drive the French out of the Ohio Valley.
On his way to the Monongahela River, Washington encountered a French scouting party and determined that they had to be stopped before they revealed his location. He met up with Tanacharison, a local Native American chief, and they made their way to a French camp at Jumonville Glen. According to Washington’s later retelling of the events, when Washington intended to accept the French surrender, the Native American forces attacked and scalped many French soldiers. After the attack, Washington hastily built a small defensive enclosure he named Fort Necessity. On July 3, 1754, French forces surrounded the fort, and by the end of the day, Washington asked for terms of surrender. The French allowed the British forces to leave the fort in return for admitting to the assassination of Jumonville, an official ambassador. The terms were written in French, which Washington could not read. Washington never accepted this explanation, insisting that the French forces were spies and that the terms were unclear.
After the debacle at Jumonville, Washington joined Brigadier General Edward Braddock’s official family as an aide-de-camp. He accompanied Braddock on his march out west to capture the French Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh). French and Native American forces attacked the British line, killing most of the British officers and inflicting horrific casualties during the Battle of Monongahela. Washington won acclaim and promotion for his courage under fire and his efforts to manage an unruly retreat.
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Lawrence Washington's service as adjutant general of the Virginia militia inspired George to seek a militia commission. Virginia's lieutenant governor, Robert Dinwiddie, appointed Washington as a major and commander of one of the four militia districts. In October 1753, Dinwiddie appointed Washington as a special envoy to demand the French forces vacate land that was claimed by the British. Washington was also directed to make peace with the Iroquois Confederacy and to gather intelligence about the French forces. Washington met with Iroquois leader Tanacharison at Logstown. Washington said that at this meeting Tanacharison named him Conotocaurius.
Washington's party reached the Ohio River in November 1753 and was intercepted by a French patrol. The party was escorted to Fort Le Boeuf, where Washington was received in a friendly manner. He delivered the British demand to vacate to the French commander Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, but the French refused to leave.
In February 1754, Dinwiddie promoted Washington to lieutenant colonel and second-in-command of the 300-strong Virginia Regiment, with orders to confront the French at the Forks of the Ohio. Washington set out with half the regiment in April and was soon aware that a French force of 1,000 had begun construction of Fort Duquesne there. In May, having established a defensive position at Great Meadows, Washington learned that the French had made camp seven miles (11 km) away; he decided to take the offensive.
The French detachment proved to be only about 50 men, so on May 28 Washington commanded an ambush. His small force of Virginians and Indian allies killed the French, including their commander Joseph Coulon de Jumonville, who had been carrying a diplomatic message for the British. The rest of the Virginia Regiment joined Washington the following month with news that he had been promoted to the rank of colonel and given command of the full regiment. They were reinforced by an independent company of a hundred South Carolinians led by Captain James Mackay; his royal commission outranked Washington's and a conflict of command ensued.
On July 3, 900 French soldiers attacked Fort Necessity, and the ensuing battle ended in Washington's surrender. Washington did not speak French, but signed a surrender document in which he unwittingly took responsibility for "assassinating" Jumonville, later blaming the translator for not properly translating it. The Virginia Regiment was divided and Washington was offered a captaincy in one of the newly formed regiments.
In 1755, Washington volunteered as an aide to General Edward Braddock, who led a British expedition to expel the French from Fort Duquesne and the Ohio Country. On Washington's recommendation, Braddock split the army into one main column and a smaller "flying column". Washington was suffering from severe dysentery so did not initially travel with the expedition forces. When he rejoined Braddock at Monongahela, still very ill, the French and their Indian allies ambushed the divided army. Two-thirds of the British force became casualties in the ensuing Battle of the Monongahela, and Braddock was killed.
The Virginia Regiment was reconstituted in August 1755, and Dinwiddie appointed Washington its commander, again with the rank of colonel. Washington clashed over seniority almost immediately, this time with Captain John Dagworthy, who commanded a detachment of Marylanders at the regiment's headquarters in Fort Cumberland. Washington, impatient for an offensive against Fort Duquesne, was convinced Braddock would have granted him a royal commission and pressed his case in February 1756 with Braddock's successor as Commander-in-Chief, William Shirley, and again in January 1757 with Shirley's successor, Lord Loudoun.
In 1758, the Virginia Regiment was assigned to the British Forbes Expedition to capture Fort Duquesne. General John Forbes took Washington's advice on some aspects of the expedition but rejected his opinion on the best route to the fort. Forbes nevertheless made Washington a brevet brigadier general and gave him command of one of the three brigades that was assigned to assault the fort. The French had abandoned the fort and the valley before the assault, however, and Washington only saw a friendly fire incident, which left 14 dead and 26 injured. Under Washington, the Virginia Regiment had defended 300 miles (480 km) of frontier against twenty Indian attacks in ten months. He increased the professionalism of the regiment as it grew from 300 to 1,000 men. Though he failed to realize a royal commission, which made him hostile towards the British, he gained self-confidence, leadership skills, and knowledge of British military tactics.
Political Life and the American Revolution
After leaving the military, Washington had a new position, a new fiancé, and a new home that demanded his attention. He won election to the Virginia House of Burgesses and took his seat in February 1759-one month after his wedding to the wealthy widow Martha Custis. The marriage was advantageous for George’s prospects, but also appears to have developed into a love match, or an amiable partnership at the very least.
As a respected military hero and large landowner, Washington held local offices and was elected to the Virginia provincial legislature, representing Frederick County in the Virginia House of Burgesses for seven years beginning in 1758. Early in his legislative career, Washington rarely spoke at or even attended legislative sessions, but was more politically active starting in the 1760s, becoming a prominent critic of Britain's taxation and mercantilist policies towards the American colonies.
Washington was opposed to the taxes which the British Parliament imposed on the Colonies without proper representation. He believed the Stamp Act 1765 was oppressive and celebrated its repeal the following year.
After supporting the colonies’ protests against British tax measures in the 1770s, Washington was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army by Congress in June 1775. For the next eight years, Washington remained with the army, only leaving camp to attend summons by Congress. Under Washington’s command, the Continental Army lost more battles than it won, constantly struggling to obtain the necessary food, supplies, and ammunition. But the army persisted-and the colonies’ fight for independence could not be extinguished. Washington also served a critical role ensuring that military power remained subordinate to civilian government. He never used his authority to challenge Congress and ended potential military coups within the army’s ranks.
Washington hastily departed Mount Vernon on May 4 to join the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia. On June 14, Congress created the Continental Army and John Adams nominated Washington as its commander-in-chief, mainly because of his military experience and the belief that a Virginian would better unite the colonies. Congress chose Washington's primary staff officers, including Artemas Ward, Horatio Gates, Charles Lee, Philip Schuyler, and Nathanael Greene. Henry Knox impressed Adams and Washington with his knowledge of ordnance and was promoted to colonel and chief of artillery.
Washington initially banned the enlistment of Black soldiers, both free and enslaved. When the Charles River froze over, Washington was eager to cross and storm Boston, but Gates and others were opposed to having untrained militia attempt to assault well-garrisoned fortifications. Instead, Washington agreed to secure the Dorchester Heights above Boston to try to force the British out. On March 17, 8,906 British troops, 1,100 Loyalists, and 1,220 women and children began a chaotic naval evacuation.
After the victory at Boston, Washington correctly guessed that the British would return to New York City and retaliate. He arrived there on April 13, 1776, and ordered the construction of fortifications. Howe's troop strength totaled 32,000 regulars and Hessian auxiliaries; Washington had 23,000 men, mostly untrained recruits and militia. In August, Howe landed 20,000 troops at Gravesend, Brooklyn, and approached Washington's fortifications. Howe sent a message to Washington to negotiate peace, addressing him as "George Washington, Esq." Washington declined to accept the message, demanding to be addressed with diplomatic protocol-not as a rebel. Despite misgivings, Washington heeded the advice of General Greene to defend Fort Washington, but was ultimately forced to abandon it. Howe pursued and Washington retreated across the Hudson River to Fort Lee. In November, Howe captured Fort Washington.
In July 1777, the British general John Burgoyne led his British troops south from Quebec in the Saratoga campaign; he recaptured Fort Ticonderoga, intending to divide New England. However, General Howe took his army from New York City south to Philadelphia rather than joining Burgoyne near Albany. Washington and Gilbert, Marquis de Lafayette rushed to Philadelphia to engage Howe. In the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777, Howe outmaneuvered Washington and marched unopposed into the American capital at Philadelphia.
In Upstate New York, the Patriots were led by General Horatio Gates. Concerned about Burgoyne's movements southward, Washington sent reinforcements north with Generals Benedict Arnold and Benjamin Lincoln. On October 7, 1777, Burgoyne tried to take Bemis Heights but was isolated from support and forced to surrender.
Washington and his army of 11,000 men went into winter quarters at Valley Forge north of Philadelphia in December 1777. There they lost between 2,000 and 3,000 men as a result of disease and lack of food, clothing, and shelter, reducing the army to below 9,000 men. By February, Washington was facing low troop morale and increased desertions. An internal revolt by his officers prompted some members of Congress to consider removing Washington from command.
In early 1778, the French entered into a Treaty of Alliance with the Americans. In May, Howe resigned and was replaced by Sir Henry Clinton. The British evacuated Philadelphia for New York that June and Washington summoned a war council of American and French generals. He chose to order a limited strike on the retreating British. Generals Lee and Lafayette moved with 4,000 men, without Washington's knowledge, and bungled their first strike on June 28. Washington relieved Lee and achieved a draw after an expansive battle. This battle "marked the end of the war's campaigning in the northern and middle states.
Washington had disregarded incidents of disloyalty by Arnold, who had distinguished himself in many campaigns, including the invasion of Quebec. In 1779, Arnold began supplying the British spymaster John André with sensitive information intended to allow the British to capture West Point, a key American defensive position on the Hudson River. On September 21, Arnold gave André plans to take over the garrison. André was captured by militia who discovered the plans, after which Arnold escaped to New York. On being told about Arnold's treason, Washington recalled the commanders positioned under Arnold at key points around the fort to prevent any complicity. By June 1780, the British had occupied the South Carolina Piedmont and had firm control of the South. General Clinton sent Arnold, now a British Brigadier General, to Virginia with 1,600 troops.
The Presidency and Beyond
When the Treaty of Paris ended the Revolutionary War, Washington resigned his commission to Congress. Washington’s relinquishing of power was nearly unprecedented and made him an international hero.
In 1787, Washington was again called to serve when Virginia appointed him as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. The delegates crafted a Constitution that created a government with significantly more authority and centralized power. They hoped the new government would address the economic, diplomatic, and domestic calamities that had besieged the nation for over a decade under the Articles of Confederation. Unsurprisingly, the delegates trusted Washington with the presidency. To this day, he is the only president to be unanimously elected.
On April 16, 1789, George Washington left his home at Mount Vernon to travel to New York City to be inaugurated as the first President of the United States.
During Washington’s presidency, he established countless precedents that guided his successors, including creating the president’s cabinet, asserting executive privilege, and using the veto for the first time. He also expanded executive authority over diplomatic and domestic issues, crafting foreign policy during the Neutrality Crisis in 1793 and subduing the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794. Perhaps most importantly, Washington again relinquished his power when he retired after two terms in office. This precedent was reinforced by Thomas Jefferson and followed by every successive president until Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1951, the states ratified the 22nd Amendment, which limits presidents to two terms in office.
After retiring from public office, Washington returned to Mount Vernon for a few short years. On December 12, 1799, he became ill after riding his horse through rain and sleet. His condition rapidly worsened and he died on December 14, 1799. His will included a provision to immediately free William Lee, his enslaved valet who served with him during the American Revolution. He also stipulated that the other 122 enslaved people owned by him receive their freedom upon Martha’s passing. While Washington was a slave owner for 56 years, he was the only Founding Father president to free all of the enslaved people he held in bondage.
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