第一位美国总统 乔治·华盛顿 1789-1797
生卒年月：1732年2月22日生于弗吉尼亚，卒于1799年12月14日。
总统任期：1789年4月30日——1793年3月4日
1793年3月4日——1797年3月4日
所属政党：联邦主义者
美国首任总统(1789～1797)，美国独立战争大陆军总司令。他毕生未进大学学习，但注意自学，使自己具备了突出的才干。早年当过土地测量员。1752年，成为维农山庄园的主人。曾参加七年战争，获中校和上校衔，积累了军事指挥的经验。1758年当选为弗吉尼亚议员。翌年与富孀M.D.卡斯蒂斯结婚，获得大批奴隶和60.75平方千米土地，成为弗吉尼亚最大的种植园主。在经营农场、手工作坊的过程中，华盛顿饱尝了英国殖民当局限制、盘剥之苦。1774年和1775年，先后作为弗吉尼亚议会的代表出席第一届、第二届大陆会议。1775年7月3日，华盛顿就任大陆军总司令。他把一支组织松散、训练不足、装备落后、给养匮乏，主要由地方民军组成的队伍整编和锻炼成为一支能与英军正面抗衡的正规军。通过特伦顿、普林斯顿和约克德等战役，击败英军，取得了北美独立战争的胜利。1783年《巴黎和约》签订，英国被迫承认美国独立。同年12月23日递交辞呈，解甲归田。1787年他主持召开费城制宪会议。制定联邦宪法，为根除君主制，制订和批准维护有产者民主权利的宪法作出不懈的努力。
1789年，当选为美国第一任总统。他组织机构精干的联邦政府，颁布司法条例，成立联邦最高法院。他在许多问题上倾向于联邦党人的主张，但力求在联邦党和民主共和党之间保持平衡。他支持A.汉密尔顿关于成立国家银行的计划，确立国家信用。批准T.杰斐逊所支持的公共土地法案，奠定了西部自由土地制度的基础。1793年，再度当选总统。为了缓和同英国的矛盾，1794年11月4日华盛顿派出首席法官J.杰伊与英国谈判，签订杰伊条约，因有损于美国利益，遭反对。1796年9月17日，他发表告别词，表示不再出任总统。从而开创美国历史上摒弃终身总统，和平转移权力的范例。次年，回到维农山庄园。因对美国独立作出重大贡献，被尊为美国国父。
George Washington
此主题相关图片如下：
On April 30, 1789, George Washington, standing on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York, took his oath of office as the first President of the United States.\"As the first of every thing, in our situation will serve to establish a Precedent,\" he wrote James Madison, \"it is devoutly wished on my part, that these precedents may be fixed on true principles.\"
Born in 1732 into a Virginia planter family, he learned the morals, manners, and body of knowledge requisite for an 18th century Virginia gentleman.
He pursued two intertwined interests: military arts and western expansion.At 16 he helped survey Shenandoah lands for Thomas, Lord Fairfax.Commiioned a lieutenant colonel in 1754, he fought the first skirmishes of what grew into the French and Indian War.The next year, as an aide to Gen.Edward Braddock, he escaped injury although four bullets ripped his coat and two horses were shot from under him.
From 1759 to the outbreak of the American Revolution, Washington managed his lands around Mount Vernon and served in the Virginia House of Burgees.Married to a widow, Martha Dandridge Custis, he devoted himself to a busy and happy life.But like his fellow planters, Washington felt himself exploited by British merchants and hampered by British regulations.As the quarrel with the mother country grew acute, he moderately but firmly voiced his resistance to the restrictions.
When the Second Continental Congre aembled in Philadelphia in May 1775, Washington, one of the Virginia delegates, was elected Commander in Chief of the Continental Army.On July 3, 1775, at Cambridge, Maachusetts, he took command of his ill-trained troops and embarked upon a war that was to last six grueling years.
He realized early that the best strategy was to hara the British.He reported to Congre, \"we should on all Occasions avoid a general Action, or put anything to the Risque, unle compelled by a neceity, into which we ought never to be drawn.\" Ensuing battles saw him fall back slowly, then strike unexpectedly.Finally in 1781 with the aid of French allies--he forced the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.
Washington longed to retire to his fields at Mount Vernon.But he soon realized that the Nation under its Articles of Confederation was not functioning well, so he became a prime mover in the steps leading to the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia in 1787.When the new Constitution was ratified, the Electoral College unanimously elected Washington President
He did not infringe upon the policy making powers that he felt the Constitution gave Congre.But the determination of foreign policy became preponderantly a Presidential concern.When the French Revolution led to a major war between France and England, Washington refused to accept entirely the recommendations of either his Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, who was pro-French, or his Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, who was pro-British.Rather, he insisted upon a neutral course until the United States could grow stronger.
To his disappointment, two parties were developing by the end of his first term.Wearied of politics, feeling old, he retired at the end of his second.In his Farewell Addre, he urged his countrymen to forswear exceive party spirit and geographical distinctions.In foreign affairs, he warned against long-term alliances.
Washington enjoyed le than three years of retirement at Mount Vernon, for he died of a throat infection December 14, 1799.For months the Nation mourned him.
美国的国父：乔治·华盛顿 (George Washington) 的就职演讲词
