"To draw such a line for the conduct of the President as will please every body, I know is impossible..." - Letter to James Madison, May 12, 1789

George Washington

BORN	February 22, 1731, Westmoreland County, Virginia
MARRIED	Martha Dandridge Custis (1732-1802), January 6, 1759
CHILDREN	John and Martha Custis (adopted)
DIED	December 14, 1799, at Mount Vernon, Virginia
EDUCATION	No formal education
OCCUPATION	Planter, soldier
POLITICAL PARTY	Federalist
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS	- Officer in the French and Indian War - Commander in Chief, Continental Army, American Revolution - President, Constitutional Convention
NATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS	- The first tax laws were adopted The Bill of Rights became law

"Time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of givernments, as of other human institutions; ...Liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian." - Farewell Address, September 17, 1796 Gutzon Borglum, Sculptor of Mount Rushmore "This is the work that I love most, this intimate contact with the four men. As I become engrossed in the features and personality of each man, I feel myself growing in stature, just as they did when their characters grew and developed." -New York Times Magazine, August 25, 1941 "Washington, as the guiding genius from the time of our national conception, through its struggle for life and the completion of its Constitution, becomes the central part of the great group." - New York Herald Tribune, June 30, 1929