George Washington. George Washington

3 G. W. takes command, at Cambridge, Mass., of 16,000 armed men

       1776

      March 17 British evacuate Boston

      July 4 Declaration of Independence

      August 27 Battle of Long Island; Americans retreat, ultimately across Delaware River

      December 25-26 G. W. recrosses Delaware, surprises British Hessians, takes 1,000 prisoners

       1777

      January 3 Battle of Trenton; British defeated

      September 11 Americans defeated at Brandywine Creek

      October 4 Americans defeated at Germantown

      October 17 Surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga

      November 14 Articles of Confederation sent to states

       1778

      June 18 British evacuate Philadelphia

      June 28 Battle of Monmouth; British defeated

       1779

      August 19 British driven from New Jersey

      October 19 Battle for Savannah; Count Pulaski slain

       1780

      May 25 Mutiny at Morristown following winter of supply shortages and no pay for troops

       1781

      March 1 Articles of Confederation ratified

      September 8 Battle of Eutaw Springs; British retreat to Charleston

      October 19 Battle of Yorktown; Cornwallis surrenders with 7,000 men

       1783

      March 15 Newburgh Address

      May 19 G. W. announces peace agreement, still pending ratification, to army

      June 8 “Circular Address to the Governors of the Thirteen States”

      September 3 Peace Treaty signed in Paris; the report reaches America in late October

      November 2 G. W. bids farewell to the army

      December 4 G. W. bids farewell to his officers

      December 23 G. W. resigns as Commander-in-Chief before Congress at Annapolis

       1785

      March 28 Mount Vernon Conference on navigation of Potomac and Chesapeake

       1786

      September 14 Annapolis Convention; call for Constitutional Convention

      October 16 G. W. appointed to Virginia delegation to Constitutional Convention

       1787

      January-February Shays’ Rebellion in Massachusetts

      February 21 Confederation Congress approves call for Convention

      May 25 Constitutional Convention opens with quorum of seven states represented; G. W. unanimously elected Convention President

       1788

      June 21 New Hampshire becomes ninth state to ratify Constitution, making it effective

       1789

      January 7 Presidential electors appointed

      February 4 G. W. unanimously chosen President

      April 30 G. W. inaugurated as first President

       1791

      December 15 Bill of Rights ratified

       1792

      December 5 G. W. re-elected to presidency

       1793

      March 4 Second Inaugural

       1794

      November 19 G. W. declares suppression of Whiskey Rebellion

       1795

      August 14 G. W. signs Jay Treaty

       1796

      September 19 G. W. publishes his “Farewell Address” in the American Daily Advertiser

       1797

      March 4 G. W. retires

       1799

      December 14 G. W. dies at Mount Vernon

      George

      Washington

      A COLLECTION

Prologue

       During the final years of the war for American independence, no one was trusted more profoundly than George Washington. In its conduct of the war, the Continental Congress seemed little more than a government in name only, and so it was that Washington proved “in the absence of any real government,” as Woodrow Wilson phrased it, “almost the only prop of authority