Changes

}}

}}

'''George Washington''' '''(February 22, 1732 - December 14, 1799)''' was born to Augustin and Mary Washington and was the unanimously elected 1st [[President of the United States of America]] and the Commander-in-Chief in the [[Revolutionary War]].<ref>http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/gw1.html</ref>

'''George Washington''' (1732-1799) was the first [[President of the United States]] (1789-1797) and commander in chief of the [[Continental Army]].  He was the dominant military and political leader of the new [[United States of America]] from 1775-1797, leading the American victory over the [[Great Britain]] in the [[American Revolution]] and the unanimous choice to serve as president. Along with [[Abraham Lincoln]], he has become the foremost icon of American nationalism and a model of ideal [[Republicanism|republican]] political and military leadership.

Washington endeared himself Americans by fighting to destroy monarchy, aristocracy and rule by military elites. He emulated the model of the citizen-soldier set by the Roman leader [[Cincinnatus]], a comparison drew worldwide attention and acclaim, even in Britain, the nation he defeated.<ref>For Lord Byron's poem on the subject, hailing Washington as "the first, the last, the best, the Cincinnatus of the West," see http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/2001/byron0101.html.</ref>  The archetype of Washington as the citizen-soldier has become part of America's collective idealization of citizenship, and is immortalized in [[New York City| New York City]]'s [[Washington Square Arch]], which depicts Washington the soldier on the left, and Washington the statesman on the right.<ref>For photographic images, see http://www.nyc-architecture.com/GV/GV046WashingtonSquareArch.htm</ref> Washington is perhaps the only person other than [[Jesus]] who declined enormous worldly power, in Washington's case by voluntarily stepping aside as the ruler of a prosperous nation.

Washington endeared himself Americans by fighting to destroy monarchy, aristocracy and rule by military elites. He emulated the model of the citizen-soldier set by the Roman leader [[Cincinnatus]], a comparison drew worldwide attention and acclaim, even in Britain, the nation he defeated.<ref>For Lord Byron's poem on the subject, hailing Washington as "the first, the last, the best, the Cincinnatus of the West," see http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/2001/byron0101.html.</ref>  The archetype of Washington as the citizen-soldier has become part of America's collective idealization of citizenship, and is immortalized in New York City's [[Washington Square Arch]], which depicts Washington the soldier on the left, and Washington the statesman on the right.<ref>For photographic images, see http://www.nyc-architecture.com/GV/GV046WashingtonSquareArch.htm</ref>  

[[Image:Georgewashington.jpg|right|President George Washington]]

[[Image:Georgewashington.jpg|right|President George Washington]]