Profile of President George Washington

George Washington: The American Cincinnatus

George Washington’s life is the story of the American Revolution itself. Born into the Virginia gentry, he began his career as a land surveyor, a job that taught him the vastness of the American frontier. He gained early military fame (and infamy) in the French and Indian War before becoming the unanimous choice to lead the Continental Army in 1775. Against the might of the British Empire, he managed to keep a ragtag army together through eight years of war, eventually forcing the British surrender at Yorktown.