華盛頓22歲時,無意間成為英法北美戰爭的導火線之一。這場殖民地所參加的第一場戰爭起源於1753年,法国人開始在當時屬於維吉尼亞州領土的俄亥俄谷地(Ohio County)建立許多堡壘,這是法國人的戰略之一。法國人得到當地原住民的支持,試圖阻止英國人繼續向西擴張,侵略其在美洲的殖民地,並阻擋殖民地內的英國軍隊。維吉尼亞州的總督是羅伯特·丁威迪(英语:Robert Dinwiddie),當時擔任少校的華盛頓替他向法國指揮官遞交最後通牒書,要求法國人離開。華盛頓將過程透露給當地的報紙,而他也因此成為傳奇人物。但法國人拒絕撤離,因此在1754年,丁威迪派遣剛升遷中校的華盛頓,率領維吉尼亞第一軍團,前往俄亥俄谷地攻擊法國人。華盛頓率領軍隊伏擊一支由法裔加拿大人組成的偵查隊,在短暫的戰鬥後,華盛頓的印第安人盟友塔纳洽里森族人(英语:Tanacharison)殺害法國指揮官朱蒙维拉(英语:Joseph Coulon de Jumonville),接著華盛頓在那裡建立一座名為“必需堡(英语:Fort Necessity)”的堡壘,但在數量更多的法軍和其他印地安人部隊進攻下,這座堡壘很快便被攻陷,他也被迫投降。投降時,華盛頓簽下一份承認他"刺殺"法軍指揮官朱蒙维拉的文書(因為這份文書用法文寫成,華盛頓看不懂),而這份文書導致國際間的事變,成為法國印地安人戰爭的起因之一。這場戰爭也是七年战争的一部分。
在同意一年之內不返回俄亥俄谷地後,華盛頓稍後被法國人釋放。
華盛頓一直渴望加入英國軍隊,但當時殖民地的居民都對此不感興趣。他在1755年終於等到機會,當時英軍發動遠征,試著重新奪回俄亥俄谷地。遠征行動在莫農加希拉戰役(Battle of the Monongahela)中遭受災難性結果。相當不可思議地,華盛頓的外衣被四發子彈擊穿,但他仍毫髮無傷,同時在炮火中冷靜地組織軍隊撤退。在維吉尼亞州,華盛頓成英雄人物,雖然戰爭的重心已經轉移到別處,他繼續領導維吉尼亞第一軍團好幾年。在1758年,他隨著John Forbes將軍展開另一次遠征,成功將法軍驅離杜根堡(英语:Fort Duquesne)堡壘。
華盛頓在1789年經過選舉團投票無異議的(獲得全部的選舉人票)當選總統,他是歷史上唯一一個無異議投票當選的總統(並在1792年再次達成)。第二名獲得34票的约翰·亚当斯則當選副總統。第一屆美國国会代表會議(First United States Congress)投票將付給華盛頓25,000美元的年薪—這在1789年是個很大的數目。當時,華盛頓大概是全美國最富有的人了,他在西部的土地有非常大的潛在價值—不過在那時都是空地一片。他婉拒他的總統薪水,這也是他被視為古羅馬公民英雄辛辛納圖斯的形象的一部分—將承擔政務看作公民義務的市民。但在国会的要求下,他最终接受薪水,为了不开创一个"总统是经济独立的,应该无偿服务的先例。"在總統就任的儀式中,華盛頓非常謹慎地確保儀式場面的規模和裝飾儉樸得符合共和國的標準,而不會超過當時歐洲各國的王室。
^The earliest known image in which Washington is identified as such is on the cover of the circa 1778 Pennsylvania German almanac (Lancaster: Gedruckt bey Francis Bailey). This identifies Washington as "Landes Vater" or Father of the Land.
^The Smithsonian Institution states in "The Portrait—George Washington: A National Treasure" that:
Stuart admired the sculpture of Washington by French artist Jean-Antoine Houdon, probably because it was based on a life mask and therefore extremely accurate. Stuart explained, "When I painted him, he had just had a set of false teeth inserted, which accounts for the constrained expression so noticeable about the mouth and lower part of the face. Houdon's bust does not suffer from this defect. I wanted him as he looked at that time." Stuart preferred the Athenaeum pose and, except for the gaze, used the same pose for the Lansdowne painting.[21]
^Homans, Charles. Taking a New Look at George Washington. The Papers of George Washington: Washington in the News. Alderman Library, University of Virginia. 2004-10-06 [2007-09-28]. (原始内容存档于2006-09-01).
^Slave raffle linked to Washington's reassessment of slavery: Wiencek (2003,第135–36, 178–88頁) harvtxt error: no target: CITEREFWiencek2003 (help). Washington's decision to stop selling slaves: Hirschfeld (1997,第16頁) harvtxt error: no target: CITEREFHirschfeld1997 (help). Influence of war and Wheatley: Wiencek (2003,ch. 6) harvtxt error: no target: CITEREFWiencek2003 (help). Dilemma of selling slaves: Wiencek (2003,第230頁) harvtxt error: no target: CITEREFWiencek2003 (help); Ellis (2004,第164–167頁) harvtxt error: no target: CITEREFEllis2004 (help); Hirschfeld (1997,第27–29頁) harvtxt error: no target: CITEREFHirschfeld1997 (help).
^Washington, George. Letter to Robert Morris. The Papers of George Washington: The Confederation Series, Volume 4. University of Virginia. 1786-04-12 [2011-11-14]. (原始内容存档于2006-05-03).
^Nash, Gary B. For Whom will the Liberty Bell Toll? From Controversy to Cooperation. James Oliver Horton & Lois E. Horton (编). Slavery and Public History: The Tough Stuff of American Memory. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 2006: 93–94. ISBN 978-0-8078-5916-2.
^Ferling (2009,第364頁) harvtxt error: no target: CITEREFFerling2009 (help)
^Martha Washington and Slavery. www.mountvernon.org. George Washington's Mount Vernon/Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. [2015-03-26]. (原始内容存档于2015-09-05).
^Thompson, Mary. In The Hands of a Good Providence. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press. 2008: 40. ISBN 978-0-8139-2763-3.
^Gregg L. Frazer, The Religious Beliefs of America's Founders: Reason, Revelation, and Revolution (University Press of Kansas, 2012)
^Chernow (2010,第27, 704頁) harvtxt error: no target: CITEREFChernow2010 (help)
^Harris, R. W. Claude. Washington and Freemasonry(PDF). Lodge Anecdotes. Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22, A.F. & A.M. 2000-08-25 [2011-12-28]. (原始内容存档(PDF)于2012-01-07).
Burton I. Kaufman, ed., Washington's Farewell Address: The View from the 20th Century (1969); Paul A. Varg, Foreign Policies of the Founding Fathers (1963); Alexander De Conde, Entangling Alliances (1958).
Comora, Madeleine & Deborah Chandra. George Washington's Teeth. Illustrated by Brock Cole. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003; ISBN 978-0-374-32534-3. A lighthearted chronicle of his dental struggles, aimed at children and adults.
Deconde, Alexander. Entangling Alliance: Politics & Diplomacy under George Washington (1958)
Ellis, Joseph J.His Excellency: George Washington. New York: Knopf, 2004. ISBN 14000403owerful interpretation of Washington's career.
Elkins, Stanley M. and Eric McKitrick, The Age of Federalism. (1994) the leading scholarly history of the 1790s.
Ferling, John E. The First of Men: A Life of George Washington (1989), solid and scholarly.
Fischer, David Hackett. Washington's Crossing. (2004), prize-winning military history focused on 1775-1776.
Flexner, James Thomas. Washington: The Indispensable Man. Boston: Little, Brown, 1974. ISBN 978-0-316-28616-9 (1994 reissue). Single-volume condensation of Flexner's popular four-volume biography.
George Washington: the Forge of Experience, 1732-1775 (1965)
Freeman, Douglas. S. Washington: An abridgement in one volume by Richard Harwell of the seven-volume George Washington by Douglas Southall Freeman (1968), the standard scholarly biography.
Freeman, Douglas. S. George Washington vol 1 (1948)
Grizzard, Frank E., Jr. George! A Guide to All Things Washington. Buena Vista and Charlottesville, VA: Mariner Publishing. 2005. ISBN 978-0-9768238-0-3. Grizzard is a leading scholar of Washington.
Grizzard, Frank E., Jr. The Ways of Providence: Religion and George Washington. Buena Vista and Charlottesville, VA: Mariner Publishing. 2005. ISBN 978-0-9768238-1-0.
Higginbotham, Don, ed. George Washington Reconsidered (2001).
Lengel, Edward G. General George Washington: A Military Life. New York: Random House, 2005. ISBN 978-1-4000-6081-8.
Lodge, Henry Cabot. George Washington (vol 2, 1899 covers 1783-99) online at Project Gutenberg old but generally accurate. Freeman and Flexner are much better.
McDonald, Forrest . The Presidency of George Washington. (1988), Intellectual history showing Washington as exemplar of republicanism.
Peterson, Barbara Bennett. "George Washington: America's Moral Exemplar", (2005).
Washington, George and Kitman, Marvin, George Washington's Expense Account. Grove Press. (2001) ISBN 978-0-8021-3773-9 Account pages, with added humor.
Wiencek, Henry. An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America. (2003).