George Washington (b. 1732 Virginia – d. Mt. Vernon, NY 1799) took his first Oath of Office (as president) in 1789, standing on the Balcony of Federal Hall. General and President, Washington was a gentleman farmer from Virginia. At 16, he helped survey Shenandoah lands for Thomas, Lord Fairfax. Commissioned a lieutenant colonel in 1754, he fought the first skirmishes of what grew into the French and Indian War. The next year, as an aide to Gen. Edward Braddock, he escaped injury, although four bullets ripped his coat and two horses were shot from under him.

When the Second Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia in May 1775, Washington, one of the Virginia delegates, was elected commander in chief of the Continental Army. He spent six years at war. Washington fought a guerilla campaign, and with the help of the French, defeated Cornwallis at Yorktown. He was a slave owner who grew angry when the British would not turn over escaped slaves when they departed New York. (The British granted freedom to any slave who fought with them against Washington and the colonists.) He kept the U.S. neutral during the French Revolution when France and Germany went to war. He urged his countrymen to forswear excessive party spirit and geographical distinctions. In foreign affairs, he warned against long-term alliances. His last banquet as general, at the end of the war, was in Fraunces Tavern and it was celebrated with 13 toasts. He lived only three years in retirement before his death from a throat infection. On his death Washington freed his slaves.

The painting is by John Trumbull, an aide-de-camp to Washington who knew what most of the Revolutionary War politicians and military men looked like. Washington is shown here entering New York with the British retreating in the background. The painting was made in 1790.