It is well known that the first president of the United States is George Washington, but few people know who Washington was and what life he had lived.
This time, let's take a look at the life of George Washington, the father of the founding of the United States.
Marriage with Martha
George Washington was born in the Colony of Virginia in 1732.
The Washington family was a family of immigrants who moved from England to the United States in 1657, and although they were engaged in farming and mine development, they were not a leader class, and even though they were very common English-Americans. Was good.
The Washington family gained leadership positions when George, who later became the first president of the United States, married Martha, who had huge fortunes at the time.
Martha was originally the daughter of a celebrity in the Colony of Virginia, and at the age of 18, she married a man named Daniel, a well-known millionaire, and seven years later, when Daniel died, she took over her vast heritage. ..
At that time, Martha's inherited assets were said to be 17,000 acres (1 acre =4046 m2) of land, 300 black slaves, and $ 100,000, and I don't know if George Washington had noticed them. However, after a fierce attack on Martha, the two married and suddenly became a leading figure in the Virginia colony.
Her marriage to Martha was in 1759, but before that George fought the French army in 1754 as a colonel but was defeated, creating the cause of the French and Indian War.
In this war, George repeatedly won and lost, eventually retiring from the army, engaged in farm management for a while, married a millionaire as mentioned above, and steadily increased his assets.
During this period, the opposition to Britain, the home country, increased, especially in the Virginia colony, and the momentum for independence in the United States increased.
George has been a member of the Virginia Parliament since 1758, after which he became one of the members of the Continental Congress.
However, George himself was not initially in favor of American independence, and he said he only strengthened his independence after reading the book "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine in 1776.
"You guys are creating a new world."
This passage in common sense greatly enhanced the independence of the Americans of the time.
Father of American Independence
America is a mysterious country.
From the founding of the country to the present day, there has never been a tyranny. Not only the old Japanese, but even Europeans didn't understand why it was possible.
Initially, the United States had not decided who would be the leader of those who decided to become independent.
Speaking of Britain, it was the strongest nation in the world at that time. The colonies were originally too disadvantaged to compete with the vast North American and Indian colonies that had full maritime hegemony.
Historically, the only way for an unfavorable army to win is to rely on sudden guerrilla tactics rather than large-scale battles.
The first battle of the American Revolutionary War, the Battle of Lexington and Concord, was a small battle with 1700 on the British side and 4000 on the colonial side. This was a battle that began when the colonial side sensed and assaulted the British side secretly moving troops, so to speak, it was a guerrilla tactical victory.
This is similar to the battle between Rome, which was once not a great power, against Hannibal, a great power in Carthage.
After that, the colonial army repeated the "Battle of Trenton", "Battle of Princeton", "Battle of Bunker Hill" and the collision of less than 3000 troops with George Washington as the General Commander of the Continental Army, and won a small victory. go.
The decisive factor was the victory in the Battle of Saratoga, where the Continental Army 15,000 and the British Army 10000 collided with each other, led by the famous general Benedict Arnold.
In addition, this person named Benedik will later turn over to the British side and fight against the Continental Army.
George Washington skillfully tied up with France to attack the British army, and won small battles such as "Battle of Bonomrichari," "Battle of Camden," and "Battle of King's Mountain," in 1781 Yorktown. He also won the Battle of Town, and the British troops continued to occupy New York after that, but the peace was established in 1783.
Britain, a superpower, failed to beat the Continental Army led by George Washington because of the long coastline of the United States.
Later, he issued a continental blockade order against Napoleon, but the lengths of the French coastline and the American coastline were incomparable, and the Continental Army side could not be blocked, making it always available for supply.
In addition, although the occupation of New York was completed, small-scale attacks were launched in other areas, so the front line was extended, troops could not be concentrated, and the British side could not fully grasp the movement of the Continental Army side. , Has led to defeat in battles around the world.
By the way, the relationship between the enemy and the ally in the Revolutionary War was actually quite complicated, and even in the Americas, it was divided into the independence faction and the royalist faction. Or the French army was on the side of the continental army.
First President of the United States
The United States is one big country called the United States, but as the name of "Federal Republic" suggests, it is a country where several "national" states are gathered.
In 1774, before the Declaration of Independence, those states gathered to form the "Continental Congress."
The number of states at this time is 13.
When America's independence was recognized in 1781, the Continental Congress became the "Congress of the Confederation," which continued until 1789. Washington is not the chairman of this congress.
In 1783, George resigned from the position of Commandant of the Union when he regained New York from Britain.
This part has great significance in American history.
Many American presidents are from the military, even in later history.
As is the case from Washington, there are many cases where wartime heroes become presidents, such as Eisenhower, who was the commander of the Normandy landings, becoming president.
But those people are presidents, not military personnel.
With Washington becoming president without holding the position of general commander, the United States departed from its founding as a "civilian control" country.
In 1787, the United States Constitution was created and entered into force in 1788, and the first US presidential election began in 1789.
The result is unanimous, with George Washington, the hero of the Revolutionary War, becoming the first president.
By the way, it seems that Washington intended to quietly devote itself to farm management after retiring from military service, but Washington was probably the only person who could organize the United States at that time. He has appointed John Adams as the first Vice President, Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State, and Alexander Hamilton as Treasury Secretary.
He once formed an asset in farm management, but George said he tried to complete his duties without receiving presidential compensation. However, he was eventually decided by Congress to be paid, which he later received.
However, avoiding the flashy clothes and life of European royal aristocrats, after completing the four-year term, he was selected by the president again, and he was asked to take office for the third term, but he ran for the third time. No one has ever served as the third president of the United States, except Franklin Roosevelt, who refused.
It can be said that the American presidential system that continues to this day was established in the time of Washington, and when the capital was later created, he took his name and called the city "Washington DC".
After his resignation, he returned to farm management and died in 1799.
Personal evaluation of George Washington
There is an episode that he cut a cherry tree when he was young and was praised when he told his father honestly about it, but that is a lie.
The story of Hideyoshi's sandals is also a lie, and there are often false stories in world history.
The episode of Cherry Tree was a lie, but it is certain that George Washington had such a character, and he and other early Americans wanted to make America a country like the Roman Republic. It seems.
The president is close to the Roman consul Consul, the US Parliament is close to the Senate, and as of 2019, the Senate is "Senatus," which stands for the Senate.
It is most rational to elect the best person to run the nation, and after that, the United States became unprecedentedly prosperous, and the era called "Pax America" was likened to "Pax Romana". Will be created.
George Washington was the basis for this, and in a sense it could even be the father of American democracy.
Even now, the political situation in Africa and South America is not stable, but I personally think that this is because civilian employees are heads of state and martial politics is likely to occur.
The military is prone to runaway, and even in Japan, when the military came to power, it caused the Pacific War in World War II, and in ancient Rome, which was so good, military personnel became emperors and saw. It has fallen without a shadow.
In addition, it can be said that the character of the United States was determined by the fact that it did not occupy a long-term dictatorship like Stalin in the Soviet Union and did not do long-term dictatorship.
Without Washington, America would not have been prosperous today.
If you dare to stingy, it would be the part where you used black slaves as the owner of a large farm.
In fact, in Philadelphia, the capital of George Washington, people already had the idea that black slaves should be released, creating the first emancipation proclamation organization in the United States, and Washington does not agree with it.
From a different point of view, it is also true that George Washington's assets were formed by the use of black slaves.
Gandhi, the father of India's independence, is not against the caste system, and in some respects great people are not great in some respects.
Evaluation of a person is really difficult.