George Washington
On April 30, 1789, George Washington, standing on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York, took his oath of office as the first P resident of the United States. \thing, in our situation will serve to establish a P recedent,\Madison, \（虔诚 地） wished on my part, that these p recedents may be fixed on true p rinc ipl es.\Born in 1732 into a Virginia p lanter family, he learned the morals, manners, and body of knowledge requisite （必备的）for an 18th century Virginia gentleman.
He pu rsued two intertwined （互相交 织
的）interests: military arts and western
exp ansion. At 16 he helped survey Shenan doah （谢南多尼河， 弗吉尼亚州河流）lands for
Thomas, Lord Fairfax. Commissioned （受任
命的） lieutenant colonel （陆军中校）
in 1754, he fought the first skirmishes
（小规模战斗）of what grew into the
French and Indian War.（法国印第安 人战
争（1754-1760 ），在北美大陆 进行的法英战争，以法国失败而告 终，英国获得法属北美殖民地）The next year, as an
aide （助手，畐U官） to Gen. Edward Braddock, he
esca ped injury although four bullets ripped his coat and two horses were shot from under him.
From 1759 to the outbreak of the American Revolution, Washington managed his lands around Mount Vernon （芒特弗农，地名）and served in the Virginia House of Burgesses.
（下议院，殖民地时期弗吉尼亚及马 里兰州的民选政府）Married to a widow,
Martha Dandridge Custis, he devoted himself to a busy and happy life. But like his fellow p lanters, Washington felt himself exploited （剥削）by British merchants and hamp ered
（受阻碍
的） by British regulations. As the
quarrel with the mother country
grew acute, he moderately but firmly voiced his resistance to the restrictions. When the Second Continental Congress （大
陆会议）assembled in P hiladel phia in May 仃 75, Washington, one of the Virginia
delegates, was elected Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. On July 3, 1775, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, he took command of his ill-trained troops and embarked upon （着手，开始）a war that was to last six grueling
（累垮人
的，折磨人的）years.
He realized early that the best strategy was to harass （反复袭击） the British. He rep orted to Congress,
\Action, or put anything to the Risque （伤
风败俗的，指英国人）, unless comp
elled by a necessity, into which we ought never to be draw n.\（接着发生
的） battles saw him fall back （后退）
slowly, then strike unex pectedly. Fin ally in 1781 with the aid of French allies--he forced the surrender of Cornwallis （将军名）at Yorktown.（约克城，地名）
Washington longed to retire to his fields at Mount Vernon. But he soon realized that the Nation under its Articles of Confederation
州邦
联宪法，美国第一部宪法）was not
functioning well, so he became a
prime mover （发起者）in the steps leading to the Constitutional Convention
（1787年美国制宪会议） at P hiladel
phia in 1787. Whe n the new Constitution was ratified（ 批准）, the Electoral College（选举团） unanimously （全体一
致地）elected Washington P resident.
He did not infringe upon （侵犯，侵 害） the policy making powers that he felt the Constitution gave Congress. But the determination of foreign p olicy became prepo nderantly （占优 势的，多数的）a Presidential concern. When the French Revolution led to a major war between France and England, Washington refused to
acce pt entirely the recommendations of either his
Secretary of State （国务卿）Thomas Jefferson, who was pro-French （亲 法
的），or his Secretary of the
Treasury （财政部长）Alexander Hamilton, who was p ro-British. Rather, he insisted upon a neutral course until the United States could grow stronger.
To his disa ppo intment, two p arties were devel oping by the end of his first term. Wearied of p olitics, feeling old, he retired at the end of his second. In his Farewell Address, he urged his countrymen to forswear （发誓抛弃） party spirit （贬义，指对
excessive
本党派的热
情）and geographical distinctions. In
foreign affairs, he warned against long-term alliances.
Washington enjoyed less than three years of retirement at Mount Vernon, for he died of a throat infection December 14, 1799. For months the Nation mourned him.
人物介绍--乔治华盛顿(英文)
