After leaving the military, Washington had a new position, a new fiancé, and a new home that demanded his attention. He won election to the Virginia House of Burgesses and took his sea… See more

Despite the Washingtons’ wealth, they found themselves in debt to British merchants due to the mercantilist system which governed the British Empire. The British government forced … See more

Washington sent his best general, Nathanael Greene, to conduct a guerilla-style campaign against General Charles Cornwallis in the South. While Cornwallis won many of the skirmishes, Greene extracted a heavy cost and … See more

In 1786, Congress’s impotency came to a head when a group of farmers, led by Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays, shut down the courts in western Massachusetts to prevent the seizure of local farms for overdue tax … See more

On June 14, the Second Continental Congress created the Continental Army. The next day, Thomas Johnson of Maryland nominated Washington as the first Commander-in-Chief. The delegates supported Washington’s no… See more

The United States declared itself independent in July 1776, but the Treaty of Paris transformed that imagined independence into a reality… See more

Many leaders understood that Washington’s participation was essential to the convention’s success, and the Virginia state legislature agreed and included his name on the sl… See more