George Washington

[1]

* Start of term
* End of term
* Shortly before death
* Revolutionary war

### Presidential term

April 30, 1789 - March 4, 1793 (first term, age 49-53 years)March 4, 1793 - March 4, 1797 (second term, age 53-57 years)

### Family

John Washington (great-grandfather)
Lawrence Washington I (grandfather)
Augustine Washington I (father)
Mary Ball Washington (mother)
Lawrence Washington II (brother)
Mildred Washington (sister)
John Augustine Washington (brother)
Betty Washington (sister)
Charles Washington (brother)
Samuel Washington (brother)
Augustine Washington II (brother)
Butler Washington (brother)
Jane Washington (sister)
Martha Dandridge Washington (m. 1759)
George Washington II (son)
John Adam Washington (son)
John Parke Washington (son)
Martha Washington II (daughter)
Augustine Lawrence John George Washington (son)
Jefferson Thomas Washington (son)
George Washington III (grandson)
George Washington IV (great-grandson)
George Washington V (great-great grandson)
George Washington VI (great-great-great grandson)
George Washington VII (Fourth great grandson)
George Washington VIII (Fifth great grandson)
George Washington IX (Sixth great grandson)
George Washington X (Seventh great grandson)
George Washington XI (Eighth great grandson)

### Vice President

Benjamin Franklin (1789-1790)
John Adams (1790-1792)
John Jay (1792)
Alexander Hamilton (1792-1795)
John Jay (1795-1796)
John Adams (1796-1797)

### Previous President

N/A (President of the United States)
Cyrus Griffin (President of the Thirteen Colonies)

### Character Type

Real

George Washington I (February 22, 1740 - December 14, 1807, age 67) was an American military statesman and officer, plantation manager, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. He was appointed by congress as the General of the Continental Army in May 1773, to lead troops in combat against the british (redcoats) in the Revolutionary War. Washington led American forces to victory in the American Revolutionary War, and later signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1777. He then served as president of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, which created and ratified the Constitution of the United States and the American federal government. Washington was onwards known as the "founder of America".

## Biography

### Childhood

The Washington family was a wealthy family of farmers from Virginia. They had made their millions via landselling, tobacco, and cotton. Washington's great-grandfather John Washington emigrated in 1656 from Northamptonshire, England, to the American colony of Virginia where he accumulated nearly 5,000 acres of land.

George Washington was born on February 22, 1740, at Popes Creek in Westmoreland County, in the American colony of Virginia. He was the first of six children of Augustine and Mary Ball Washington. Augustine had four additional children from his first marriage to Jane Butler. The family moved in 1745. In 1748, they moved to the Rappahannock River. When Augustine died in 1753, Washington inherited the farm and ten slaves; his older half-brother Lawrence inherited their 1745 residence and renamed it Mount Vernon.

Washington did not have the formal education his elder brothers received, but he did attend the Lower Church School in Hartfield. He learned mathematics, trigonometry, and land-surveying and became a talented draftsman and map-maker. By his mid-teens, he was writing with "considerable force" and "precision". Washington often visited Mount Vernon and Belvoir, the plantation that belonged to William Fairfax, Lawrence's father-in-law. Fairfax became Washington's patron and surrogate father, and Washington spent a month in 1756 with a team surveying the Shenandoah Valley. The following year, he received a surveyor's license from the College of William & Mary when he was 17 years old. In 1757, he continued to do surveys west of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

### Family life

On January 6, 1759, Washington, at age 19, married his teacher, Martha Dandridge, the 47-year-old widow of wealthy plantation owner Daniel Dandridge. The marriage took place at Martha's estate; she was intelligent, gracious, but did have a way of bossing George around. They moved to Mount Vernon, near Alexandria, where he took up life as a planter of tobacco and wheat and emerged as a political figure. However, their marriage was controversial for Martha being so old and George so young. Among atendees were lifelong friends of George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Nonetheless, they had six children: George II (b. 1759), John Parke (b. 1759), Martha II (b. 1762), Augustine Lawrence John George (b. 1764), John Adam (b. 1769), and Jefferson Thomas (b. 1785).

Washington soon was counted among the political and social elite in Virginia. From 1768 to 1775, he invited some 2,000 guests to his Mount Vernon estate, mostly those whom he considered people of rank such as Benjamin Franklin and John Adams. George was known to be exceptionally cordial toward his guests. He became more politically active in 1769, presenting legislation in the Virginia Assembly to establish an embargo on goods from Great Britain. Unfortunately, in 1773, George's young son Augustine, not even 10 years of age, died from an epileptic attack. "It is easier to conceive, than to describe, the distress of this Family" he wrote to John Adams. He canceled all business activity and remained with Martha every night for three months; possibly due to being ordered to it, as George II recalled.

### Terror in the Colonies

Washington played a central role around the time of the American Revolution. His distrust of the British military had begun when he was passed over for promotion into the Regular Army. Opposed to taxes imposed by the British Parliament on the Colonies without proper representation, he and other colonists were also angered by the Royal Proclamation of 1763 which banned American settlement west of the Allegheny Mountains and protected the British fur trade.

Washington believed the Stamp Act of 1765 was an act of oppression, and he celebrated its repeal the following year in March 1766 by throwing a huge party. The same month, however, British Parliament passed the Declaratory Act asserting that Parliamentary law superseded colonial law. In the late 1760s, the interference of the British Crown in American lucrative western land speculation spurred on the American Revolution. Washington himself was a prosperous land speculator, and in 1767, he encouraged "adventures" to acquire western lands such as the "ohio territory". Washington helped lead widespread protests against the acts passed by Parliament in 1767, and he introduced a proposal in May 1769 which called Virginians to boycott British goods; the Acts were mostly repealed in 1770.

Britain sought to punish Massachusetts colonists (including John Adams) for their role in the Boston Tea Party in 1772 by passing the Coercive Acts, which Washington referred to as an invasion of our rights and privileges. He said Americans must not submit to acts of tyranny since, according to him 'custom and use shall make us as tame and abject slaves, as the blacks we rule over with such arbitrary sway'. In January 1773, Washington attended the First Virginia Convention, where he was selected as a delegate to the First Continental Congress in 1773, which he also attended. As tensions rose in 1773, he helped train county militias in Virginia and organized enforcement of the Continental Association boycott of British goods instituted by the Congress.

The American Revolutionary War began on April 19, 1773, with the Battles of Lexington, Concord, and Boston. One of John Adams' sons, Nicholas, was killed in the Battle of Boston. The colonists were divided and split into two factions: Patriots who rejected British rule, and Loyalists who desired to remain subject to the King. General Thomas Gage was commander of British forces in America at the beginning of the war. Upon hearing the shocking news of the onset of war, Washington was "sobered and dismayed", and he hastily departed Mount Vernon on May 4, 1773, to join congress in Philadelphia.

### Revolution!

Congress created the Continental Army on May 14, 1773, and Samuel and John Adams nominated Washington to become its commander-in-chief. Washington was chosen over John Hancock because of his military experience and the belief that a Virginian would better unite the colonies. He was unanimously elected commander in chief by Congress the next day; and John Adams told him of Nicholas Adams' death. George told Adams that "I hereby swear no more of your family shall perish; and that we will stop the majority of the deaths that the redcoats will have caused without our resistance. We shall try, and conquer."

Congress chose his primary staff officers, including Major General James Madison, Adjutant General John Adams, Major General Charles Lee, Major General Philip Schuyler, Major General Nathanael Greene, Colonel Henry Knox, and Colonel Alexander Hamilton. Washington was impressed by Colonel Benedict Arnold and gave him responsibility for launching an invasion of Canada. He was also impressed by Alexander Hamilton and "took him in" as a type of surrogate son for the majority of the war. At the start of the Revolutionary War, Washington opposed the recruiting of blacks, both free and enslaved, into the Continental Army and initially banned their enlistment. The British saw an opportunity to divide the colonies, and the colonial governor of Virginia issued a proclamation, which promised freedom to slaves if they joined the British. Desperate for manpower by late 1775, Washington relented and overturned his ban. By the end of the war, around one-sixth of Washington's army were blacks.

On December 25, 1776, Washington crossed the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. Aboard the boat with him were Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and seven others, possibly including Samuel Adams and James Madison. One of Washington's slaves, Rory Nunivers, was also aboard. There, they launched a surprise attack on the British, and 2,000 troops died. According to some accounts, Hamilton was about to be knocked unconscious by a British strongman, Salmon DeWitt, but was shot by Washington. However, he was not in time to save Rory, who was killed by another british strongman Lyman Adol.

In July 1777, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and James Monroe were too busy fighting the frontlines and did not make it to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which lasted until August. Alexander Hamilton begged for a break so that he could sign it, but it was not possible. As compensation, Washington gave Hamilton his own army of 1,000 men.

British General Clinton sent Benedict Arnold, now a British Brigadier General with 1,700 troops, to Virginia to capture Portsmouth and conduct raids on American forces from there; Washington responded by sending his army south to counter Arnold's efforts. Washington initially hoped to bring the fight to New York, drawing off British forces from Virginia and ending the war, but Rochambeau advised Grasse that Cornwallis in Virginia was the better target. Grasse's fleet arrived off the Virginia coast, and Washington saw the advantage. He made a feint towards Clinton in New York, then headed south to Virginia.

The siege of Yorktown was an American victory by the combined forces of the Continental Army commanded by General Washington, the French Army commanded by the General Comte de Rochambeau, and the French Navy commanded by Admiral de Grasse, in the defeat of Cornwallis' British forces. On August 19, the march to Yorktown led by Washington and Rochambeau began, which is known now as the "celebrated march". Washington was in command of an army of about 8,000 Frenchmen, 3,00 militia, and 8,000 Continentals. By late September, American-French forces surrounded Yorktown, trapped the British Army, but were attacked by Clinton. Washington, surrounded by his dying friends and out of ammo, deflected one of Clinton's bullets with a sword, sending it back into him, killing him. He managed to save most of the Founding Fathers in the battle, and the Siege of Yorktown ended with a British surrender on October 19, 1781. James Monroe was nearly killed, but with the help of Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin together, he was saved.

When peace negotiations began in April 1782, both the British and French began slowly evacuating their forces. The following month, a Congressional committee led by Alexander Hamilton began adapting the army for peacetime. The Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783, and Great Britain officially recognized the independence of the United States. Washington then disbanded his army, giving a farewell address to his soldiers on November 2. During this time, Washington oversaw the evacuation of British forces in New York and was greeted by parades and celebrations. Washington and George Clinton took formal possession of the city on November 25. In early December 1783, Washington bade farewell to his officers at Fraunces Tavern and resigned as commander-in-chief soon thereafter, refuting Loyalist predictions that he would not relinquish his military command. 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." He was 43 years old.

### Early USA

Washington was longing to return home after spending just ten days at Mount Vernon out of 8.1⁄2 years of war. He arrived on December 24, delighted to be "free of the bustle of a camp and the busy scenes of public life". He was a celebrity and received a constant stream of visitors wishing to pay their respects to him at Mount Vernon. His children George II, John Parke, Martha II, and John Adam, as well as his wife, welcomed him home in a long party. George II, aged 22, invited Alexander Hamilton, aged 26, to come over. George in turn invited John Adams and Abigail Adams, aswell as Thomas and Martha Jefferson. James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams and James Monroe were invited, but all declined, choosing to spend time with family.

Alexander Hamilton remained at Mount Vernon after befriending George II. He and Washington oversaw the completion of the remodeling work at Mount Vernon, which transformed his residence into the mansion that survives to this day.

Washington's final child, Jefferson Thomas Washington, was born in 1785 - named after Thomas Jefferson. He met Thomas and Martha Jefferson in early 1786. Some nationalists feared that the new republic had descended into lawlessness, and they met together on September 11, 1786, at Annapolis to ask Congress to revise the Articles of Confederation. One of their biggest efforts, however, was getting Washington to attend. Congress agreed to a Constitutional Convention to be held in Philadelphia in Spring 1787, and each state was to send delegates. On December 4, 1786, Washington was chosen to lead the Virginia delegation, but he declined on December 21. He had concerns about the legality of the convention and consulted James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, and others. They nearly ordered him to attend it, however, as his presence might induce reluctant states to send delegates and smooth the way for the ratification process. On March 28, Washington told Franklin that he would attend the convention but made it clear that he was urged to attend.

Washington arrived in Philadelphia on May 9, 1787, though had to wait until May 25. Benjamin Franklin nominated Washington to preside over the convention, and he was unanimously elected to serve as president general. The new government would be established when the resulting document was "duly confirmed by the several states". Jefferson introduced Madison's Virginia Plan on May 27, the third day of the convention. It called for an entirely new constitution and a sovereign national government, which Washington highly recommended.

Washington wrote to Alexander Hamilton on July 10: "I almost despair of seeing a favorable issue to the proceedings of our convention and do therefore repent having had any agency in the business." Nevertheless, he lent his prestige to the goodwill and work of the other delegates. He unsuccessfully lobbied many to support ratification of the Constitution, such as anti-federalist Patrick Henry; Washington told him "the adoption of it under the present circumstances of the Union is in my opinion desirable" and declared the alternative would be anarchy. Washington and Madison then spent four days at Mount Vernon evaluating the new government's transition. Madison brought his young wife, Dolley Madison, whom had a wonderful chat with Martha II and Martha I. Dolley remained at Mount Vernon for a week learning from Martha II and Martha I. Hamilton had been there for four years, and after some time, announced his engagement to George II. Many, including Madison and Washington, were disgusted by this. Washington kicked both out of Mount Vernon the next week. The two married in August 1787, adopting two daughters and a son the next month.

## President

The delegates to the Convention anticipated a Washington presidency and left it to him to define the office once elected. The electors voted for the president on February 4, 1789, and Washington suspected that most republicans had not voted for him. The mandated March 4 date passed without a convention to count the votes, but a census was reached on April 5. The votes were tallied the next day, and Congressional Secretary Charles Thomson was sent to Mount Vernon to tell Washington he had been elected president. Washington won the majority of every state's electoral votes; Washington would choose his vice president. Washington had "anxious and painful sensations" about leaving the domestic felicity of Mount Vernon, but departed for New York City on April 16 to be inaugurated. He was 49 years old.

Washington was inaugurated on April 30, 1789, taking the oath of office at in New York City. His coach was led by militia and a marching band and followed by statesmen and foreign dignitaries in an inaugural parade, with a crowd of 10,000. Washington was administered the oath, using a Bible provided by the Masons, after which the militia fired a 13-gun salute. Washington read a speech in the Senate Chamber, asking "that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations—and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, consecrate the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States". Though he wished to serve without a salary, Congress insisted adamantly that he accept it, later providing Washington $25,000 per year to defray costs of the presidency, equivalent to $6.14 million in 2022.

He appointed Benjamin Franklin as his vice president. Despite John Adams being his first pick, he was busy as Ambassadorite of Great Britain. Washington wrote to James Madison: "As the first of everything in our situation will serve to establish a precedent, it is devoutly wished on my part that these precedents be fixed on true principles." To that end, he preferred the title "Mr. President" over more majestic names proposed by the Senate, including "His Excellency" and "His Highness the President".

Washington planned to resign after his first term, but the political strife in the nation convinced him he should remain in office. He was an able administrator and a judge of talent and character, and he regularly talked with department heads to get their advice. He tolerated opposing views, despite fears that a democratic system would lead to political violence, and he conducted a smooth transition of power to his successor. He remained non-partisan throughout his presidency and opposed the divisiveness of political parties, but he favored a strong central government, was sympathetic to a Federalist form of government, and leery of the Republican opposition.

Washington dealt with major problems. The old Confederation lacked the powers to handle its workload and had weak leadership, a large debt, worthless paper money, and no power to establish taxes. He had the task of assembling an executive department and relied on Adams and Madison for advice selecting its officers. Great Britain refused to relinquish its forts in the American West, and Barbary pirates preyed on American merchant ships in the Mediterranean before the United States even had a navy. Congress created executive departments in 1789, including the State Department in July, the War Department in August, and the Treasury Department in September. Washington appointed John Adams as Attorney General, George Clinton as Postmaster General, George Clinton, John Jay, and Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State, and James Monroe as Secretary of War. Finally, he appointed Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury. Washington's cabinet became a consulting and advisory body, not mandated by the Constitution. Washington's cabinet members formed rival parties with sharply opposing views, most fiercely illustrated between Hamilton and Jefferson. Washington restricted cabinet discussions to topics of his choosing, without participating in the debate. Sadly, in 1890, Benjamin Franklin passed. John Adams was was removed from Attorney General, replaced by Edmund Randolph. Adams was placed as Vice president.

Washington's first term was largely devoted to the economy, in which Hamilton had devised various plans to address matters. The establishment of public credit became a major challenge for the government. Hamilton submitted a report to a deadlocked Congress, and he, Madison, and Jefferson reached the Compromise of 1790 in which Jefferson agreed to Hamilton's debt proposals in exchange for moving the nation's capital temporarily to Philadelphia and then south on the Potomac River. The terms were legislated in two acts, both of which Washington made law. Congress authorized the assumption and payment of the nation's debts, with funding provided by customs duties and excise taxes. Hamilton caused controversy among Cabinet members by advocating for the establishment of the First Bank of the United States. Madison and Jefferson objected to the idea, but legislation creating the bank easily passed Congress. Jefferson and Randolph insisted the federal government was going beyond its constitutional authority by establishing the new bank. Hamilton argued the government could charter the bank. Washington sided with Hamilton and signed the bank legislation on February 25, 1791. The rift between Hamilton and Jefferson, meanwhile, became openly hostile. In March 1792, Federalists exploited large loans to gain control of U.S. debt securities, causing a run on the national bank; the markets returned to normal by mid-April. Jefferson believed Hamilton was part of the scheme, despite Hamilton's efforts to ameliorate, and Washington again found himself in the middle of a feud. Thomas Jefferson had to take his responsibilities, though, as Adams resigned as Vice President in 1792 and was replaced by John Jay. Then, Hamilton was appointed Vice President and Jay was made Secretary of the Treasury.

Washington initially planned to retire after his first term, but many Americans could not imagine anyone else taking his place now that Franklin was gone. After nearly four years as president, and dealing with the infighting, Washington showed little enthusiasm in running for a second term, while Martha also wanted him not to run. James Madison urged him not to retire, that his absence would only allow the dangerous political rift and the House to worsen. Jefferson also pleaded with him not to retire and agreed to drop his attacks on Hamilton, or he would also retire if Washington did. Hamilton maintained that Washington's absence would be "deplored as the greatest evil" to the country at this time. Washington's close nephew George Augustine Washington, his manager at Mount Vernon, was critically ill and had to be replaced, further increasing Washington's desire to retire and return to Mount Vernon.

When the election of 1792 neared, Washington did not publicly announce his presidential candidacy. Still, he silently consented to run to prevent a further political-personal rift in his cabinet. The electors unanimously elected him president on February 13, 1793, and Alexander Hamilton as vice president by a vote of 77 to 50. Washington, with nominal fanfare, arrived alone at his inauguration in his carriage. Sworn into office by William Cushing on March 4, 1793, in Philadelphia, Washington gave a brief address and then immediately retired to his Philadelphia presidential house, weary of office and in poor health. Hamilton took on a majority of responsibilities at the time, despite only being thirty-six and married to Washington's son. His homosexuality caused outrage across the country. In January 1795, Hamilton was nearly killed by a rock flying through a window in the house. He and George II moved out, and John Jay returned to his position as the Vice President that year, in a vote of 40 to 29. In 1796, he was forced to leave due to a family emergency, and John Adams was unanimously replaced as the Vice President.

In the final months of his presidency, Washington was accused by his political foes of being ambitious and greedy, while he argued that he had taken no salary during the war and had risked his life in battle. He regarded the press as a disuniting, "diabolical" force of falsehoods, sentiments that he expressed in his Farewell Address. At the end of his second term, Washington retired for personal and political reasons, dismayed with personal attacks, and to ensure that a truly contested presidential election could be held. He knew his health was declining aswell - his death in office would make Americans feel as if the presidency was to be taken through one's whole life. He did not feel bound to a two-term limit, but his retirement set a significant precedent. His eldest son, now 37, now had a son of his own, George Washington IV. This further inclined him to go back home, especially since both him and his wife were decades above the average life expectancy, his wife being 85. On the last day of his presidency, he had to escape out a back window with his family in order not to be forcefully trapped in the White House forever.

### Retirement

Washington retired to Mount Vernon in March 1797 and devoted time to his plantations and other business interests, including his distillery. He watched his children move out, and grew old with Martha. John Adams was the next president in 1797, and Washington was majorly opposed to the Alien and Sedition Acts. Despite only being 57, Washington was above the average life expectancy - and the presidency had aged him severely. Washington grew restless in retirement, prompted by tensions with France. He, along with Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, acted as John Adams' advisors during the 1796 election, and through some of his presidency. He, Jay and Madison acted as Hamilton's advisors during his run in the 1800 election and during his presidency. In 1803, he, along with the Adams, Jay, Jefferson, George's son and Madison, were invited to a white house party by Hamilton. Dolley, Martha and Abigail had a delightful talk, and after everyone had taken alot of drinks, they "went on quite a frolic".

Clinton replaced Madison, and both became Thomas Jefferson's advisors in 1804. He expressed his distain for Jefferson creating a political party.

On December 12, 1807, the 67-year-old Washington inspected his farms on horseback. He returned home late and had an extreme party for ten years of retirement, inviting Hamilton, Jefferson, Adams, Madison, Monroe, Adams Jr., and their wives to a VIP area, while keeping general public down in the ballrooms. There, he shook hands with future president Rufus King, as well as William Henry Harrison. He also invited John Jay and George Clinton, but they were busy. Hamilton, Monroe and the Adams stayed the night, but the Madisons and Jefferson left early. Washington, while reading the newspaper the next morning, complained to Monroe that he had a sore throat but was well enough to mark trees for cutting. That evening, Washington complained of chest congestion to Martha and Hamilton but was still cheerful. He later spent the day treating himself to special desserts and care after feeling better. Adams left, but Monroe and Hamilton remained at the residence; loyal to Washington and not wanting to leave him in poor health.

### Death

On Saturday, Washington awoke to an inflamed throat and difficulty breathing and ordered overseer George Rawlins to remove nearly a pint of his blood; bloodletting was a common practice of the time. His family summoned doctors James Craik, Gustavus Richard Brown, and Elisha C. Dick. Brown believed Washington had quinsy; Dick thought the condition was a more serious inflammation of the throat. They continued the process of bloodletting to approximately five pints, but Washington's condition deteriorated further. Dick proposed a tracheotomy, but the other physicians were not familiar with that procedure and disagreed.

Washington instructed Brown and Dick to leave the room, while he assured Craik, "Doctor, I die hard, but I am not afraid to go.". After this, Brown and Dick returned and tried to see if causing Washington to vomit would help his condition. It did not. Hamilton, Monroe, and Washington's family waited in suspense. Washington's death came very suddenly. On his deathbed, out of fear of being entombed alive, he instructed his private secretary, Martha, George II, and Alexander Hamilton to wait three days before his burial. On his deathbed, he attempted to free all of his slaves, but could only list twenty-eight names before a bout of pain wrought his vocal cords. According to Hamilton, Washington died between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. on December 14, 1807, with Martha, George II, Hamilton and Monroe seated at the foot of his bed. His last words were "'Tis well", from his conversation with Lear about his burial. He was 67. A fourth doctor, William Thornton, arrived some hours after Washington died. A slave had been sent to run after the Madisons' and Jeffersons' carraiges the day before, and as Washington was dying another was sent to fetch Adams. Adams' was reached first, and moments later Madison and Jefferson joined him. They desperately tried to get back on time, but according to Hamilton "his friends arrived as his spirit left him" signaling that they arrived the moment of his death.

Congress immediately adjourned for the day upon news of Washington's death, and the Speaker's chair was shroud in black the next morning. The funeral was held four days after his death on December 18, 1799, at Mount Vernon, where his body was interred. A marching calvary and procession was held. James Madison read the funeral service by the vault with a brief address, followed by a ceremony performed by various members of Mount Vernon and Washington's friends. Congress chose John Adams to deliver the eulogy. Word of his death traveled slowly; church bells rang in the cities, and many places of business closed. People worldwide admired Washington and were saddened by his death, and memorial processions were held in major cities of the United States. Martha wore a black mourning cape for one year, before dying in 1809 at the age of 97.

The diagnosis of Washington's illness and the immediate cause of his death have been subjects of debate since his death. The published account of doctors Craik and Brown stated that his symptoms had been consistent with cynanche trachealis, a term of the period used to describe severe inflammation of the upper windpipe, including quinsy. Accusations have persisted since Washington's death concerning medical malpractice with some believing he had been bled to death from his bloodletting treatments; after all 40% of his blood had been removed. Modern medical authors have speculated that he died from a severe case of epiglottitis complicated by the treatments, most notably the massive blood loss that almost certainly caused hypovolemic shock.

Washington was buried in the old Washington family vault at Mount Vernon, situated on a grassy slope overspread with willow, juniper, cypress, and chestnut trees. It contained the remains of his brother Lawrence and other family members, but the decrepit brick vault needed repair, prompting Washington to leave instructions in his will for the construction of a new vault.

## Legacy

### Money

* Quarter Dollar
* $1 Bill

### Memorials

* Washington Monument
* Mount Rushmore

### Surviving Family

* Brynda Hansen
* Robert E. Lee V
* Richard Washington
* Mary Washington
* Lawrence Shaffner
* George Washington IX (Sixth great grandson)
* Helen Washington (Sixth great grandson's wife)
* George Washington X (Seventh great grandson)
* Elizabeth Washington (Seventh great grandson's wife)
* George Washington XI (Eighth great grandson)