First President
GEORGE WASHINGTON
The Father of our Country was born in
Westmorland Co., Va., Feb. 22, 1732. His parents were Augustine and
Mary (Ball) Washington. The family to which he belonged has not been satisfactorily traced
in England. His great-grandfather, John Washington, emigrated to Virginia about 1657, and became
a prosperous planter. He had two sons, Lawrence and John. The former married Mildred Warner and had three
children, John, Augustine and Mildred. Augustine, the father of George, first married Jane Butler, who
born him four children, two of whom, Lawrence and Augustine, reached maturity. Of six children by his second
marriage, George was the eldest, the others being Betty, Samuel, John, Augustine, Charles and Mildred.
Augustine Washington, the
father of George, died in 1743, leaving a large landed property. To his eldest son,
Lawrence, he bequeathed an estate on the Patomac [sic], afterwards known as Mount Vernon, and to George he left
the parental residence. George received only such education as the neighborhood schools afforded, save for a
short time after he left school, when he received private instruction in mathematics. His spelling was rather defective.
Remarkable stories are told of his great physical strength and development at an early age. He was an acknowledge
leader among his companions, and was early noted for that nobleness of character, fairness and veracity which
characterized his whole life.
When George was 14 years old he had a desire
to go to sea, and a midshipman's warrant was secured for him, but
through the opposition of his mother the idea was abandoned. Two years later he was appointed surveyor to
the immense estate of Lord Fairfax. In this business he spent three years in a rough frontier life, gaining
experience which afterwards proved very essential to him. In 1751, though only 19 years of age, he was
appointed adjutant with the rank of major in the Virginia militia, then being trained for active service
against the French and Indians. Soon after this he sailed to the West Indies with his brother Lawrence,
who went there to restore his health. They soon returned, and in the summer of 1752 Lawrence died,
leaving a large fortune to an infant daughter who did not long survive him. On her demise the estate
of Mount Vernon was given to George.
Upon the arrival of Robert Dinwiddie, as
Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia, in 1752, the militia was
reorganized, and the province divided into four military districts, of which the northern was assigned
to Washington as adjutant general. Shortly after this a very perilous mission was assigned him
and accepted, which others had refused. This was to proceed to the French post near Lake Erie in
Northwestern Pennsylvania. The distance to be traversed was between 500 and 600 miles. Winter was
at hand, and the journey was to be made without military escort, through a territory occupied by Indians. The
trip was a perilous one, and several times he came near losing his life, yet he returned in safety and furnished
a full and useful report of his expedition. A regiment of 300 men was raised in Virginia and put in command
of Col. Joshua Fry, and Major Washington was commissioned lieutenant-colonel. Action
was then begun against the French and Indians, in which Washington took a most important part. In
the memorable event of July 9, 1755, known as Braddock's defeat, Washington was
almost the only officer of distinction who escaped from the calamities of the day with life and honor. The
other aids of Braddock were disabled early in the action, and Washington alone was left in that
capacity on the field. In a letter to his brothers he says "I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses
shot under me, yet I escaped unhurt, though death was leveling my companions on every side." An Indian
sharpshooter said he was not born to be killed by a bullet, for he had taken direct aim at him seventeen
times, and failed to hit him.
When the British Parliament had closed the
port of Boston, the cry went up throughout the provinces that
the cause of Boston is the cause of us all. It was then, at the suggestion of Virginia, that a Congress of all
the colonies was called to meet at Philadelphia, Sept. 5, 1774, to secure their common liberties, peaceably
if possible. To this Congress Col. Washington was sent as a delegate. On May 10, 1775, the
Congress re-assembled, when the hostile intentions of England were plainly apparent. The battles of
Concord and Lexington had been fought. Among the first acts of this Congress was the election of a
commander-in-chief of the colonial forces. This high and responsible office was conferred upon Washington,
who was still a member of the Congress. He accepted it on June 19, but upon the express condition that
he receive no
In February, 1789, Washington was unanimously,
elected President. In his presidential career he was
subject to the peculiar trials incidental to a new government; trails from want of harmony between the different
sections of our own country; trials from the impoverished condition of the country, owing to the war and want
of credit; trials from the beginnings of party strife. He was no partisan. His clear judgment could discern the
golden mean; and whilce perhaps this alone kept our government from sinking at the very outset, it left him
exposed to attacks from both sides, which were often bitter and very annoying.
At the expiration of his first term he was unanimously
re-elected. At the end of this term many were anxious
that he be re-elected, but he absolutely refused a third nomination. On the fourth of March, 1797, at the
expiration of his second term as president, he returned to his home, hoping to pass there his few remaining
years free from the annoyances of public life. Later in the years, however, his repose seemed likely to be
interrupted by war with France. At the prospect of such a war he was again urged to take command of the
armies. He chose his subordinate officers and left them the charge of matters in the field, which he
superintended from his home. In accepting the command he made the reservation that he was not to be
in the field until it was necessary. In the midst of these preparations his life was suddenly cut off.
December 12, he took a severe cold from a ride in the rain, which, settling in his throat, produced inflammation,
and terminated fatally on the night of the fourteenth. On the eighteenth his body was born with military
honors to its final resting place, and interred in the family vault at Mount Vernon.
Of the character of Washington it is impossible
to speak but in terms of the highest respect and admiration. The
more we see of the operations of our government, and the more deeply we feel the difficulty of uniting all
opinions in a common interest, the more highly we must estimate the force of his talent and character,
which have been able to challenge the reverence of all parties, and principles, and nations, and to win a
fame as extended as the limits of the globe, and which we cannot but believe will be as lasting as the
existence of man.
The person of Washington was unusually tan,
erect and well proportioned. His muscular strength
was great. His features were of a beautiful symmetry. He commanded respect without any appearance of
haughtiness, and ever serious without being dull.
salary. He would keep an exact account of expenses and expect Congress to pay them and
nothing more. It is not the object of this sketch to trace the military acts of Washington, to whom
the fortunes and liberties of the people of this country were so long confided. The war was conducted by
him under every possible disadvantage, and while his forces often met with reverses, yet he overcame every
obstacle, and after seven years of heroic devotion and matchless skill he gained liberty for the greatest
nation of earth. On Dec. 23, 1783, Washington, in a parting address of surpassing beauty, resigned
his commission as commander-in-chief of the army to the Continental Congress sitting at Annapolis. He
retired immediately to Mount Vernon and resumed his occupation as a farmer and planter, shunning all
connection with public life.After having been five years in the military
service, and vainly sought promotion in the royal army, he took
advantage of the fall of Fort Duquesne and the expulsion of the French from the valley of the Ohio, to resign
his commission. Soon after he entered the Legislature, where, although not a leader, he took an active and
important part. January 17, 1759, he married Mrs. Martha (Dandridge) Custis, the wealthy
widow of John Parke Custis. 
Second President
JOHN ADAMS
John Adams, the second President and the first
Vice-President of the United States, was born in Braintree
(now Quincy), Mass., and about ten miles from Boston, Oct., 19, 1735. His great-grandfather, Henry Adams,
emigrated from England about 1640, with a family of eight sons, and settled at Braintree. The parents of John were
John and Susannah (Boylston) Adams. His father was a father of limited means, to which he
added the business of shoemaking. He gave his eldest son, John, a classical education at Harvard College. John
graduated in 1755, and at once took charge of the school in Worcester, Mass. This he found but a school of
affliction, from which he endeavored to gain relief by devoting himself, in addition, to the study of law. For
this purpose he placed himself under the tuition of the only lawyer in the town. He had thought seriously
of the clerical profession but seems to have been turned from this by what he termed "the frightful engines
of ecclesiastical councils, of diabolical malice, and Calvanistic good nature," of the operations of which he
had been a witness in his native town. He was well fitted for the legal profession, possessing a clear, sonorous
voice, being ready and fluent of speech, and having quick perceptive powers. He gradually gained practice,
and in 1764 married Abigail Smith, a daughter of a minister, and a lady of superior intelligence.
Shortly after his marriage, (1765), the attempt of Parliamentary taxation turned him from law to politics. He
took initial steps toward holding a town meeting, and the resolutions he offered on the subject became very
popular throughout the Province, and were adopted word for word by over forty different towns. He moved to
Boston in 1768, and became one of the most courageous and prominent advocates of the popular cause, and was
chosen a member of the General Court (the Legislature) in 1770.
Mr. Adams was chosen one of the first
delegates from Massachusetts to the first Continental Congress,
which met in 1774. Here he distinguished himself by his capacity for business and for debate, and advocated the
movement for independence against the majority of the members. In May, 1776, he moved and carried a
resolution in Congress that the Colonies should assume the duties of self-government. He was a prominent
member of the committee of five appointed June 11, to prepare a declaration of independence. This article was
drawn by Jefferson, but on Adams devolved the task of battling it through Congress in a three days debate.
On the day after the Declaration of Independence
was passed, while his soul was yet warm with the glow of
excited feeling, he wrote a letter to his wife, which, as we read it now, seems to have been dictated by the spirit
of prophecy. "Yesterday," he says, "the greatest question was decided that ever was debated in America; and
greater, perhaps, never was or will be decided among men. A resolution was passed without one dissenting
colon, that these United States are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states. The day is passed.
The fourth of July, 1776, will be a memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe it will be
celebrated by succeeding generations, as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the
day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to Almighty God. It ought to be solemnized with pomp, shows,
games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations
from one end of the continent to the other, from this time
forward for ever. You will think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil, and
blood and treasure, that it will cost to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these States; yet,
through all the gloom, I can see the rays of light and glory.
I can see that the end is worth more than all the means;
and that posterity will triumph, although you and I may rue, which I hope we shall not."
In November, 1777, Mr. Adams was appointed a
delegate to France, and to co-operate with Bemjamin
[sic] Franklin and Arthur Lee, who were then in Paris, in the endeavor to obtain assistance
in arms and money from the French government. This was a severe trail to his patriotism, as it separated him
from his home, compelled him to cross the ocean in winter, and exposed him to great peril of capture by the
British cruisers, who were seeking him. He left France June 17, 1779. In September of the same year he was
again chosen to go to Paris, and there hold himself in readiness to negotiate a treaty of peace and of commerce
with Great Britain, as soon as the British Cabinet might be found willing to listen to such proposals. He sailed
for France in November, from there he went to Holland, where he negotiated important loans and formed
important commercial treaties.
Finally a treaty of peace with England was signed
Jan. 21, 1783. The re-action from the excitement, toil and anxiety
through which Mr. Adams had passed threw him into a fever. After suffering from a continued fever
and becoming feeble and emaciated he was advised to go to England to drink the waters of Bath. While in England,
still drooping and desponding, he received dispatches from his own government urging the necessity of his going
to Amsterdam to negotiate another loan. It was winter, his health was delicate, yet he immediately set out, and
through storm, on sea, on horseback and foot, he made the trip.
February 24, 1785, Congress appointed Mr. Adams envoy
to the Court of St. James. Here he met face to
face the King of England, who had so long regarded him as a traitor. As England did not condescend to appoint a
minister to the United States, and as Mr. Adams felt that he was accomplishing but little, he sought
permission to return to his own country, where he arrived in June, 1788.
When Washington was first chosen President,
John Adams, rendered illustrious by his signal
services at home and abroad, was chosen Vice President. Again at the second election of Washington as
President, Adams was chosen Vice President. In 1796, Washington retired from public life, and
Mr. Adams was elected President, though not without much opposition. Serving in this office four
years, he was succeeded by Mr. Jefferson, his opponent in politics.
While Mr. Adams was Vice President the great
French Revolution shook the continent of Europe, and
it was upon this point which he was at issue with the majority of his countrymen led by Mr. Jefferson.
Mr. Adams felt no sympathy with the French people in their struggle, for he had no confidence in their
power of self-government, and he utterly abhored the class of atheist philosophers who he claimed caused it.
On the other hand Jefferson's sympathies were strongly enlisted in behalf of the French people.
Hence originated the alienation between these distinguished men, and two powerful parties were thus soon
organized, Adams at the head of the one whose sympathies were with England and Jefferson led the
other in sympathy with France.
The world has seldom seen a spectacle of more moral beauty
and grandeur, that was presented by the old age of
Mr. Adams. The violence of party feeling had died away, and he had begun to receive that just
appreciation which, to most men, is not accorded till after death. No one could look upon his venerable form,
and think of what he had done and suffered, and how he had given up all the prime and strength of his life to
the public good, without the deepest emotion of gratitude and respect. It was his peculiar good fortune to
witness the complete success of this institution which he had been so active in creating and supporting. In
1824, his cup of happiness was filled to the brim, by seeing his son elevated to the highest station in the gift
of the people.
The fourth of July, 1826, which completed the half century
since the signing of the Declaration of Independence,
arrived, and there were but three of the signers of that immortal instrument left upon the earth to hail its
morning light. And, as it is well known, on that day two of these finished their earthly pilgrimage, a coincidence
so remarkable as to seem miraculous. For a few days before Mr. Adams had been rapidly failing,
and on the morning of the fourth he found himself too weak to rise from his bed. On being requested to name
a toast for the customary celebration of the day, he exclaimed "INDEPENDENCE FOREVER." When the day
was ushered in, by the ringing of the bells and the firing of cannons, he was asked by one of his attendants if
he knew what day it was? He replied, "O yes; it is the glorious fourth of July-God bless it-God bless you all." In
the course of the day he said, "It is a great and glorious day." The last words he uttered were, "Jefferson
survives." But he had, at one o'clock, resigned his spirit into the hands of his God.
The personal appearance and manners of Mr. Adams
were not particularly prepossessing. His face, as
his portrait manifests, was intellectual and expressive, but his figure was low and ungraceful, and his manners
were frequently abrupt and uncourteous. He had neither the lofty dignity of Washington, nor the
engaging elegance and gracefulness which marked the manners and address of Jefferson.
Third President
THOMAS JEFFERSON
Thomas Jefferson was born April 2,1743, at
Shadwell, Albermarle couny, Va. His parents were Peter and
Jan (Randolph) Jefferson, the former a native of Wales, and the latter born in London. To them
were born six daughters and two sons, of whom Thomas was the elder. When 14 years of age his father died. He
received a most liberal education, having been kept diligently at school from the time he was five years of age. In 1760
he entered William and Mary College. Williamsburg was then the seat of the Colonial Court, and it was the obode [sic] of
fashion and splendor. Young Jefferson, who was then 17 years old, lived somewhat expensively, keeping fine
horses, and much caressed by gay society, yet he was earnestly devoted to his studies, and irreproachable in his
morals. It is strange, however, under such influences, that he was not ruined. In the second years of his college
course, moved by some unexplained inward impulse, he discarded his horses, society, and even his favorite
violin, to which he had previously given much time. He often devoted fifteen hours a day to hard study, allowing
himself for exercise only a run in the evening twilight of a mile out of the city and back again. He thus attained
very high intellectual culture, alike excellence in philosophy and the languages. The most difficult Latin and
Greek authors he read with facility. A more finished scholar has seldom gone forth from college halls: and there
was not to be found, perhaps, in all Virginia, a more pureminded, upright, gentlemanly young man.
Immediately upon leaving college he began the study
of law. For the short time he continued in the practice of his
profession he rose rapidly and distinguished himself by his energy and acuteness as a lawyer. But the times
called for greater action. The policy of England had awakened the spirit of resistance of the American Colonies,
and the enlarged views which Jefferson had ever entertained, soon led him into active political life. In 1769 he
was chosen a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. In 1772 he married Mrs. Martha Skelton, a
very beautiful, wealthy and highly accomplished young widow.
Upon Mr. Jefferson's large estate at Shadwell,
there was a majestic swell of land, called Monticello,
which commanded a prospect of wonderful extent and beauty. This spot Mr. Jefferson selected for his
new home; and here he reared a mansion of modest yet elegant architecture, which, next to Mount Vernon,
became the most distinguished resort in our land.
In 1775 he was sent to the Colonial Congress, where,
though a silent member, his abilities as a writer and a
reasoner soon became known, and he was placed upon a number of important committees, and was chairman
of the one appointed for the drawing up of a declaration of independence. This committee consisted of
Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and
Robert R. Livingston. Jefferson, as chairman, was appointed to draw up the paper. Franklin
and Adams suggested a few verbal changes before it was submitted to Congress. On June 28, a few
slight changes were made in it by Congress, and it was passed and signed July 4, 1776. What must have
been the feelings of that man-what the emotions that swelled his breast-who was
charged with the preparation of that Declaration, which,
while it made known the wrongs of America, was also to publish her to the world, free, soverign and independent. It
is one of the most remarkable papers ever written; and did no other effort of the mind of its author exist, that
alone would be sufficient to stamp his name with immortality.
In 1779 Mr. Jefferson was elected successor to
Patrick Henry, as governor of Virginia. At one time the
British officer, Tarleton, sent a secret expedition to Monticello, to capture the Governor. Scarcely five
minutes elapsed after the hurried escape of Mr. Jefferson and his family, ere his mansion was in
possession of the British troops. His wife's health, never very good, was much injured by this excitement, and
in the summer of 1782 she died.
Mr. Jefferson was elected to Congress in 1783. Two
years later he was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary
to France. Returning to the United States in September, 1789, he became Secretary of State in Washington's
cabinet. This position he resigned Jan. 1, 1794. In 1797, he was chosen Vice President, and four years later
was elected President over Mr. Adams, with Aaron Burr as Vice President. In 1804, he was
re-elected with wonderful unanimity, and George Clinton, Vice President.
The early part of Mr. Jefferson's second
administration was disturbed by an event which threatened the
tranquility and peach of the Union; this was the conspiracy of Aaron Burr. Defeated in the late election
to the Vice Presidency, and led on by an unprincipled ambition, this extraordinary man formed the plan of a
military expedition into the Spanish territories on our southwestern frontier, for the purpose of forming
there a new republic. This has been generally supposed was a mere pretext; and although it has not been
generally known what his real plans were, there is no doubt that they were of a far more dangerous character.
In 1809, at the expiration of the second term for which
Mr. Jefferson had been elected, he determined to
retire from political life. For a period of nearly forty years, he had been continually before the public, and all
that time had been employed in offices of the greatest trust and responsibility. Having thus devoted the best part
of his life to the service of his country, he now felt desirous of that rest which his declining years required, and
upon the organization of the new administration, in March, 1809, he bid farewell forever to public life, and
retired to Monticello.
Mr. Jefferson was profuse in his hospitality. Whole
families came in their coaches with their horses, fathers
and mothers, boys and girls, babies and nurses, and remained three and even six months. Life at Monticello, for
years resembled that at a fashionable watering-place.
The fourth of July, 1826, being the fiftieth anniversary
of the Declaration of American Independence, great
preparations were made in every part of the Union for its celebration, as the nation's jubilee, and the citizens
of Washington, to add to the solemnity of the occasion, invited Mr. Jefferson, as the framer and one
of the few surviving signers of the Declaration, to participate in their festivities. But an illness, which had
been of several weeks duration, and had been continually increasing, compelled him to decline the invitation.
On the second of July, the disease under which he
was laboring left him, but in such a reduced state that his
medical attendants, entertained no hope of his recovery. From this time he was perfectly sensible that his
last hour was at hand. On the next day, which was Monday, he asked of those around him, the day of the
month, and on being told it was the third of July, he expressed the earnest wish that he might be permitted
to breathe the air of the fiftieth anniversary. His prayer was heard that day, whose dawn was hailed with
such rapture through our land, burst upon his eyes, and then they were closed forever. And what a noble
consummation of a noble life! To die on that day,--the birthday of a nation,--the day which his own name
and his own act had rendered glorious; to die amidst the rejoicings and festivities of a whole nation, who
looked up to him, as the author, under God, of their greatest blessings, was all that was wanting to fill
up the record his life.
Almost at the same house of his death, the kindred
spirit of the venerable Adams, as if to bear
him company, left the scene of his earthly honors. Hand in hand they had stood forth, the champions of
freedom; hand in hand, during the dark and desperate struggle of the Revolution, they had cheered and
animated their desponding countrymen; for half a century they had labored together for the good of the
country; and now hand in hand they depart. In their lives they had been united in the same great cause of
liberty, and in their deaths they were not divided.
In person Mr. Jefferson was tall and thin,
rather above six feet in height, but well formed; his
eyes were light, his hair originally red, in after life became white and silvery; his complexion was fair,
his forehead broad, and his whole countenance intelligent and thoughtful. He possessed great fortitude
of mind as well as personal courage; and his command of temper was such that his oldest and most
intimate friends never recollected to have seen him in a passion. His manners, though dignified, were
simple and unaffected, and his hospitality was so unbounded that all found at his house a ready welcome. In
conversation he was fluent, eloquent and enthusiastic; and his language was remarkably pure and
correct. He was a finished classical scholar, and in his writings is discernable the care with which he
formed his style upon the best models of antiquity.
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