CABINET.

PRESIDENT:

GEORGE WASHINGTON, Virginia.

VICE-PRESIDENT:

JOHN ADAMS, Massachusetts.

SECRETARIES OF STATE:

THOMAS JEFFERSON, Virginia.
EDMUND RANDOLPH, Virginia.

1789.

1794.

TIMOTHY PICKERING, Massachusetts. 1795.

SECRETARIES OF THE TREASURY:
ALEXANDER HAMILTON, New York. 1789.
OLIVER WOLCOTT, Connecticut.

1795.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

The twenty-second day of February 1732, will ever be memorable, as the birthday of that great and good man who has been justly styled the "Father of his country." Descended

from English ancestors, who emigrated to this country, and settled in Virginia as early as 1657, he was born in a plain farm-house upon the banks of the Potomac, in the County of Westmoreland, Va., on the day above mentioned.

His father, Augustine Washington, died in 1743, when George -who was his eldest son by his second wife, Mary Ball-was but ten years of age. He was blessed with a kind, affectionate and intelligent mother, by whom he was instructed in sound principles and correct habits.

At the early age of fifteen, an opportunity was afforded him

of entering the British Navy as a midshipman, which position he strongly desired as a path to honorable distinction, but the evident reluctance of his mother to the separation induced him to abandon the project.

He received a good English, but not a thorough literary or scientific education. Having a mind naturally philosophical and mathematical, his attention was given to surveying, and to the science of arms; and of athletic exercises he was passionately fond. At the age of nineteen, he was appointed one of the Adjutant-Generals of Virginia with the rank of Major. In October 1753, he was commissioned by Governor Dinwidde of Virginia to convey important dispatches to the French on the Ohio, which hazardous undertaking, after suffering great hardships and escaping many dangers, he accomplished to the great satisfaction of the Governor. Subsequently, in 1754, he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel, and under Colonel Fry was sent with a regiment of troops against the French, and having received permission to march with two companies in advance, on the dark and rainy night of May 24th, 1754, he surrounded and surprised a detachment of French troops, who were compelled to surrender.

This was the commencement of his glorious military career, the history of which is familiar to every American citizen.. After his return from the successful expedition against the French in 1758, and the close of the Campaign, he left the army, and was married to a Mrs. Martha Custis, a widow lady of Virginia, who was highly esteemed for her amiable disposition and womanly virtues.

During the subsequent sixteen years, he devoted his time principally in the cultivation of his estate, and in the enjoyment of domestic life at Mount Vernon. In 1774, he represented Virginia as a delegate in the Continental Congress, and on the 15th of June, 1775, was unanimously appointed Commander-in-Chief of the American forces, which position he held till the close of the war.

In May 1787, he was a delegate to the Convention which met at Philadelphia, and was appointed to preside over the same, and exerted his influence to cause the adoption of the Constitution.

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GEORGE WASHINGTON.

Having been unanimously elected the first President of the United States, the inauguration ceremonies took place on the 30th of April, 1789, in the City Hall in the city of New York. The first session of the first Congress, held at New York, occupied a period of six months, the adjournment taking place on the 29th of September 1789. In 1793, he was unanimously re-elected to the presidency for another term by the two great political parties, who united only on the name of Washington. Having determined to retire from office, he issued in 1796 his farewell address to the people of the United States, so full of love, and wisdom, and anxiety for the future welfare of his country, and in 1797, after witnessing the inauguration of his successor, he retired to Mount Vernon to spend the rest of his days in retirement.

His administration was a wise and successful one; all disputes with foreign nations had been adjusted, excepting those of France. Ample provision had been made for the security and ultimate payment of the public debt; public and private credit had been restored, and the affairs of the country were prosperous.

On Thursday, the 12th of December, 1799, he was seized with an inflammation in his throat, and on the 14th of the same month, he died, in the sixty-eighth year of his age,