ons of 1800. He served two terms as President. Jefferson was succeeded as president in 1809 by James Madison. Jefferson's last great public service was the founding of the University of Virginia in 1819. He died at Monticello on July 4, 1826 on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Washington, GeorgeGeorge Washington was Born in Westmoreland County, Virginia On February 22 1732.By 1753 the growing rivalry between the British and French over control of the Ohio Valley, soon to become the French and Indian War, created new opportunities for young Washington. In April 1754, on his way to establish a post at the Forks of the Ohio, Washington learned that the French had already made a fort there. Warned that the French were coming, he quickly threw up defenses at Great Meadows, Pa., fittingly naming the fort, Fort Necessity, and marched to cut off advancing French troops. In the resulting battle the French commander the sieur de Jumonville was killed and most of his men were captured. Washington pulled his small force back into Fort Necessity, where he was overwhelmed by the French in an all-day battle fought in a drenching rain. The French and Indian war was won with the last battles being fought in the Ohio valley. Confident that the Virginia boundary was safe from French attack, Washington left the army in 1758 and returned to Mount Vernon. In January 1759 he married Martha Custis, a wealthy and attractive young widow with two small children. It was to be a happy and satisfying marriage. Washington took command of the troops surrounding British-occupied Boston on July 3. He was General For the American Revolution. When the British surrendered a Yorktown returned to Mount Vernon. He avoided involvement in Virginia politics. n May 1787, Washington headed the Virginia delegation to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and was unanimously elected presiding officer. After the new Constitution was submitted to ...
