George Washington

George Washington led the Continental Army through the American Revolutionary War, presided over the 1787 Constitutional Convention and served as the first President of the United States from 1789 to 1797. He set many precedents for the office, including the cabinet and the two-term tradition. Politically he sided with those who wanted a stronger national government than the Articles of Confederation provided, and in office he often supported the financial program of his Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton. He was also a large landowner who held hundreds of people in slavery.

Washington is widely regarded in the United States as the central figure of the founding era. Admirers point to his refusal to seek greater power, his voluntary retirement and his role in holding the new union together, and he is often ranked among the most influential presidents. Critics and historians also stress that he owned hundreds of enslaved people and that his wealth, produced by slavery, made his public career possible. The Miller Center calls his ownership of enslaved people the most challenging part of his legacy. His views on slavery evolved, and his will provided for the freeing of the people he owned after his wife's death. Jeffersonian opponents in the 1790s accused his administration of favoring commercial and creditor interests, and debates over his Federalist-leaning policies shaped the first party system.