As the first U.S. president, he implemented a strong, well-financed national government while remaining impartial in the fierce rivalry that emerged within his cabinet between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.

His 1796 farewell address became a preeminent statement on republicanism: Washington wrote about the importance of national unity and the dangers that regionalism, partisanship, and foreign influence pose to it.

His small force of Virginians and Indian allies[c][26] killed the French, including their commander Joseph Coulon de Jumonville, who had been carrying a diplomatic message for the British.

They were reinforced by an independent company of a hundred South Carolinians led by Captain James Mackay; his royal commission outranked Washington's and a conflict of command ensued.

Washington clashed over seniority almost immediately, this time with Captain John Dagworthy, who commanded a detachment of Marylanders at the regiment's headquarters in Fort Cumberland.

[48] At Washington's urging, Governor Lord Botetourt fulfilled Dinwiddie's 1754 promise to grant land bounties to those who served with volunteer militias during the French and Indian War.

[e][56] Between 1764 and 1766, he sought to diversify his holdings: he changed Mount Vernon's primary cash crop from tobacco to wheat and expanded operations to include flour milling and hemp farming.

[62] Parliament sought to punish Massachusetts colonists for their role in the Boston Tea Party in 1774 by passing the Coercive Acts, which Washington saw as "an invasion of our rights and privileges".

[68] On June 14, Congress created the Continental Army and John Adams nominated Washington as its commander-in-chief, mainly because of his military experience and the belief that a Virginian would better unite the colonies.

[71] Congress chose Washington's primary staff officers, including Artemas Ward, Horatio Gates, Charles Lee, Philip Schuyler, and Nathanael Greene.

[83] When the Charles River froze over, Washington was eager to cross and storm Boston, but Gates and others were opposed to having untrained militia attempt to assault well-garrisoned fortifications.

[105] Strategically, Washington's victories at Trenton and Princeton were pivotal: they revived Patriot morale and quashed the British strategy of showing overwhelming force followed by offering generous terms, changing the course of the war.

[115] Congress agreed to strengthen the army's supply lines and reorganize the quartermaster and commissary departments, while Washington launched the Grand Forage of 1778[h] to collect food from the surrounding region.

Washington was reinvigorated, however, when Lafayette returned from France with more ships, men, and supplies,[133] and 5,000 veteran French troops led by Marshal Rochambeau arrived at Newport, Rhode Island in July.

[140] Although the peace treaty was not negotiated for two more years, Yorktown proved to be the last significant battle of the Revolutionary War, with the British Parliament agreeing to cease hostilities in March 1782.

[147] In a final appearance in uniform, he gave a statement to the Congress: "I consider it an indispensable duty to close this last solemn act of my official life, by commending the interests of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God, and those who have the superintendence of them, to his holy keeping.

[166] The delegate Edmund Randolph introduced Madison's Virginia Plan; it called for an entirely new constitution and a sovereign national government, which Washington highly recommended.

[31] Hamilton formulated the Jay Treaty to normalize trade relations with Britain while removing them from western forts, and also to resolve financial debts remaining from the Revolution.

[214] Jefferson's claim was verified when relations with France deteriorated after the signing of the treaty, with the French Directory authorizing the seizure of American ships two days before Washington's term ended.

I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence, and that, after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.

[243] At the time of his death in 1799, his estate was worth an estimated $780,000,[244] and he held title to more than 58,000 acres (23,000 ha) of land across Virginia, Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Kentucky, and the Northwest Territory.

The published account of Craik and Brown stated that his symptoms were consistent with "cynanche trachealis", a term then used to describe severe inflammation of the upper windpipe, including quinsy.

[250] Modern medical authors have largely concluded that he likely died from severe epiglottitis complicated by the treatments he was given, which included multiple doses of calomel (a purgative) and extensive bloodletting, likely resulting in hypovolemic shock.

[271][272] Prior to the Revolutionary War, Washington's views on slavery matched those of most Virginia planters of the time: "his principal interest was still their contribution to the economic life of the plantation.

His first doubts were prompted by his choice to transition from tobacco to grain crops, which left him with a costly surplus of slaves, causing him to question the system's economic efficiency.

[281] In personal correspondence the next year, he made clear his desire to see the institution of slavery ended by a gradual legislative process, a view that correlated with the mainstream antislavery literature published in the 1780s.

[292] He believed in a divine power who watched over battlefields, influenced the outcome of war, protected his life, and was involved in American politics and specifically in the creation of the United States.

[293] Chernow has argued that Washington avoided evangelistic Christianity, hellfire-and-brimstone speech, and anything inclined to "flaunt his religiosity", saying that he "never used his religion as a device for partisan purposes or in official undertakings".

[334] The author David Hackett Fischer defined Washington's character as "integrity, self-discipline, courage, absolute honesty, resolve, and decision, but also forbearance, decency, and respect for others".

[335] Chernow describes Washington as always trying to be even-handed in dealing with Indigenous peoples, hoping they would abandon their itinerant hunting life and adapt to fixed agricultural communities in the manner of White settlers.