George Washington: First Annual Message to Congress

About the Author

George Washington was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, in 1732. His father, a middle-gentry planter, died when Washington was only eleven years old, and Washington's older stepbrother Lawrence became a father figure. When Lawrence married into the wealthy Fairfax family, it opened opportunities for the younger Washington. Through the influence of Lord Fairfax, Washington was appointed surveyor of Culpeper County on the Virginia frontier when he was only seventeen years old. The appointment served him well as he made many wealthy contacts and adapted to life in the wilderness among the Native Americans.

Washington chose a military career as opposed to the civilian life of a Virginia planter. As a special emissary from Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie to the French forces moving into territory claimed by Virginia, Washington helped instigate the French and Indian War. At the age of twenty-two he was appointed commander in chief of the Virginia militia, and he later emerged as one of only a few American heroes from that war. Unsuccessful at obtaining an officer's commission in the British army, Washington retired to Mount Vernon, which he had acquired after the deaths of his stepbrother Lawrence and Lawrence's widow. In 1759 Washington married Martha Dandridge Custis, a wealthy widow with two children. Martha's and the children's estates, now under the guardianship of Washington, made him one of the wealthiest planters in Virginia.

Washington joined the colonial opposition to Britain's new imperial policy instituted at the end of the French and Indian War in 1763. Serving in the Virginia House of Burgesses, elected first from Frederick County and then from his home of Fairfax County, Washington advocated protesting to Britain first by petition and then by economic boycotts. Only after these peaceful means failed did Washington consider military measures.

The House of Burgesses elected Washington to both the First and Second Continental Congresses. He arrived at the latter wearing the uniform of a Virginia militia colonel, the only delegate so attired. On June 15, 1775, Congress unanimously elected Washington commander in chief—a position he held for the remaining eight years of the Revolution.

Washington surrendered his commission to Congress on December 23, 1783. In his last circular letter to the states in June 1783, Washington had promised to retire from the army when the hostilities ended and not serve again in public office. He also offered advice that he believed would help make America a great nation.

Washington enjoyed the private life of a Virginia planter. When the country went into a severe economic depression in 1784, a convention was called to strengthen Congress along the lines that Washington had recommended in his June 1783 circular. The Virginia legislature appointed Washington to the convention, but he steadfastly refused the appointment. He eventually relented because of the persistent pleadings of several prominent Virginia leaders.

Washington was among the handful of delegates who wanted a radical change, not merely amendments to the Articles of Confederation. On March 31, 1787, two months before the convention assembled, Washington wrote to his fellow Virginia delegate James Madison, saying that it was his wish “that the Convention may adopt no temporising expedient, but probe the defects of the Constitution [i.e., the Articles of Confederation] to the bottom, and provide radical cures” (Washington to Madison, March 31, 1787; Abbot and Twohig, vol. 5, p. 116). Washington was elected president of the convention and signed the new Constitution on September 17, 1787.

Everyone hoped that Washington would serve as the country's first president. He reluctantly accepted the unanimous election and was sworn in on April 30, 1789, delivering at that time his First Inaugural Address to a joint session of Congress. Congress and the president worked hard to implement the government under the new Constitution. When Congress recessed, Washington toured the eastern states (except for Rhode Island, which had not yet ratified the Constitution) and was delighted to see the recovery from wartime damages, the prosperity of agriculture and commerce, the expansion of manufacturing, and the American people's devotion to the new Constitution and its federal government.

Washington happily reported his findings in his First Annual Message to a joint session of Congress on January 8, 1790. He recommended congressional action on a number of matters and asked for Congress's cooperation in creating a peacetime military establishment and providing for America's foreign diplomatic corps. He also sought to cooperate with Congress in the treaty negotiations taking place with hostile Native American tribes in the South and West.

The First Annual Message probably marked the high point in congeniality between Congress and the president. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton's economic policies, costly and deadly military expeditions against Native Americans primarily in the old Northwest Territory, and the divisiveness of foreign affairs—mainly the unfolding events of the French Revolution—caused friction throughout the country that was reflected in disagreements within the government.

Washington wanted to retire after only one term as president. His advisers convinced him, however, that he alone could keep the country unified and guide it through the difficult circumstances. Washington accepted a second term, during which partisanship increased significantly. In mid-September 1796 he announced his retirement in his Farewell Address. He left the presidency on March 4, 1797, and died almost two years later on December 14, 1799, at Mount Vernon.