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The Founder of a New Nation There are few figures as large in American history as George Washington. His powerful leadership, determination, and endless patriotism was essential for winning the Revolutionary War, the creation of the United States Constitution, and the establishment of a new government. There are three defining events that happened to George during his life in colonial America. His proper childhood upbringing, his military leadership in the revolutionary war, and his election as the First President of the United States were the 3 most powerful events that took place in his life. As time passed, his legend has continually grown. He was made up of honesty, strength, and humbleness. We are told he could never tell a lie. We are told he could throw a coin across the Potomac. He was offered an American crown, but turned it down for democracy. Time may have turned great myths out of small truths, but the contributions this one man gave to the creation of the American nation is denied by no one. George Washington was born into a prosperous and strict family that owned a plantation in Virginia. George was 11 when his father died. George's mother, Mary, a tough and driven woman, struggled to keep their home together. George never received more than an elementary school education. Young George held a gift for mathematics. This skill for numbers combined with his confidence and ambition caught the attention of Lord Fairfax who was head of one of the most powerful families in Virginia. George started to work as a surveyor for Lord Fairfax at the age of 16, which required him to travel deep into the American wilderness for weeks at a time. Tragedy hit him with the death of his half brother Lawrence, who had taught and mentored George after his father's death. George inherited Mount Vernon from his brother where he lived for the rest of his life.

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