George Washington - American first President

George Washington was born on 22/02/1732 in Virginia farmhouse. It was an English Colony. He was interested in fishing and boating. He watched ships that sailed past on nearby river. But most of all he liked to ride horse.. He learned to read and write in school. He practiced his handwriting by copying lists of rules such as "Keep your fingers clean" and "Thank before you speak." But his favorite subject was arithmetic. When George  was 11 years his father died. George helped his mother to run their farm and  watch his younger brothers and sister.. One day George found some surveying tools that had belongs to his father, he used them to measure and map a turnip field and a pine forest. He liked surveying. When he was sixteen he was very tall and looked much matured. He was given a job surveying land in the Virginia wilderness. On attaining    21 years he joined Virginia army. He rode to the Ohio Valley to warn French to get off English land. 

   In 1754 the French and Indian War began. George Washington fought on the side of England. He led Virginia soldiers against the French. George was was known as a brave good leader throughout the the thirteen American colonies. When he was 26 years of age he married with Martha Custis  a wealthy widow with two children and moved to Mount Vernon. The England won their long  war against French. King George III of England wanted the American Colonies to help pay the cost of war, so he taxed them. American Colonists refused to pay the taxes. In Boston , colonies dumped tea into the harbor rather than pay the tax on it. 

   In  April, 1775 fighting between England and her American colonies began near Boston, at Lexington and at Concord, Massachusetts. One month later leaders of the thirteen colonies met in Phildelphia. George Washington was chosen to lead the Continental Army.  Often there were not enough uniforms, food, blankets and guns for George Washington's soldiers.

War lasted eight years,George Washington and the Continental Army fought bravery. In 1783, when the American colonies won the war, Geoprge Washington was a hero. Thirteen colonies became 13 states. They joined together and formed a government, but it was weak. In 1787 a new government was formed. with a congress, a supreme court and a President. George Washington was the best known, most loved leader in America . He was elected the first president of the United States of America in 1789. He was reelected in 1792.

 President George Washington signed treaties with the Indians, Spain and England. There was a war in Europe, but George Washington  kept the United States out of it. When some farmers in Pennsylvania refused to pay a tax  on whisky, George Washington sent soldiers to force the farmers to obey the law. In 1797, after eight years as President, George Washington returned to his home at Mount Vernon. Each morning he rode across his large farm on horseback.

  Sometimes he rode fifteen miles north of Mount Vernon to watch the building of a new city. It would be the capital of the United States, and it would be named after him. It would be called Washington. Then, in 1799 George Washington became ill and died, he was sixty-seven years old. He was a great leader. He has been called the "Father of our Country". It has been said that George Washington was "First in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen."

written by David A. Adler, illustrated by John & Alexandra Wallner.  (28/10/2011(