After much cajoling by James Madison, John Jay, and others, George Washington agrees to attend the Convention in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation. The final result was the creation of the United States Constitution. Continue Reading
Mary Endress, the young daughter of a Philadelphia brewer, writes to President Washington to thank him for loaning her five dollars two years earlier and to offer her wish that by “restoring the Mony, your Excellency will let my boldness, sink to oblivion.”Continue Reading
Having just been elected as one of the Virginia delegates to the Continental Congress, George Washington writes to his younger brother John about the proceedings, his love for the family, and to pledge “my full intention to devote my Life & Fortune in the cause we are engagd in.”Continue Reading
George Washington appoints Prussian volunteer Friedrich, Baron von Steuben, to train and drill his troops at Valley Forge. This will have far-reaching consequences for Washington’s army in future battles.Continue Reading
Sixteen-year-old George Washington, on a surveying expedition with his friend and neighbor George William Fairfax, records in his diary his exciting encounter with Indian warriors.Continue Reading
In a display of his high character, Washington returns an “exceedingly handsome and good horse” to “an avow’d Enemy to the American Cause."Continue Reading
Thomas Jefferson, having recently returned from France, reports for duty as President Washington’s and the nation’s first Secretary of State.Continue Reading
George Washington attends the Virginia Convention meeting at St. John’s Church in Richmond, at which Patrick Henry introduced his audacious resolves and uttered his famous line, “give me liberty or give me death!”Continue Reading
Six months after Nathan Hale was hanged by the British for being a patriot spy, a captain in an American Loyalist Regiment named Moses Dunbar was executed by Connecticut authorities on the charge of treason.Continue Reading
