Former President George Washington paved the way for America's future, and each year, on the third Monday of February, the nation marks his birthday with a federal holiday.
Before he became president, Washington served in the Army and became the only six-star general in U.S. history. Once he became president, he established the tradition of the executive officer having a Cabinet of advisers and signed the first copyright bill into law. While he's arguably the most well-known American president, he's also the only one to have never lived in the White House. Washington resided in Philadelphia instead.
Once he stepped down from the presidency, Washington moved back to Mount Vernon, in Virginia, where he spent most of his time working on the property, which had been neglected, according to the Miller Center, a nonpartisan affiliate of the University of Virginia that specializes in presidential scholarship, public policy and history. Washington lived for about two more years after his time as president ended, dying on December 14, 1799.
During the course of his time as a general and then as president, Washington wrote more than one notable sentiment.
George Washington Quotes
"We should never despair, our Situation before has been unpromising and has changed for the better, so I trust, it will again. If new difficulties arise, we must only put forth New Exertions and proportion our Efforts to the exigency of the times."–Washington in a letter to Major General Philip Schuyler
"Tis well."—Washington's last words as recorded by his personal secretary, Tobias Lear
"Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness."–—Washington's first annual address
"Love is a mighty pretty thing; but like all other delicious things, it is cloying; and when the first transports of the passion begins to subside, which it assuredly will do, and yield, oftentimes too late, to more sober reflections, it serves to evince, that love is too dainty a food to live upon alone, and ought not to be considered farther than as a necessary ingredient for that matrimonial happiness which results from a combination of causes."–—Washington to his step-granddaughter Eliza Parke Custis
"Happiness depends more upon the internal frame of a person's own mind than on the externals in the world."—Washington to his mother, Mary Ball Washington
"I retain an unalterable affection for you, which neither time or distance can change."—Washington to his wife, Martha Washington
"Truth will ultimately prevail where pains is taken to bring it to light."—Washington in a letter to Charles M. Thruston
"Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth."—Washington in a letter to James Madison
"Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder."—Washington in a letter to Major General Robert Howe
"There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet an enemy."—Washington in a letter to Elbridge Gerry
Uncommon Knowledge
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Jenni Fink is a senior editor at Newsweek, based in New York. She leads the National News team, reporting on ... Read more
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