Post-presidency of George Washington

George Washington was the first U.S. president under the U.S. Constitution. He served two consecutive terms in office from 1789 to 1797. He returned to his beloved home, Mount Vernon, on March 15, 1797. Immediately, he began months of repair because of neglect and mismanagement. In time, he was able to restore the Mount Vernon mansion house. The salvaging of his farms proved to be problematic. Throughout his retirement, Washington entertained local friends, former official associates, and strangers who wished to converse and see the first president, the Revolutionary War hero, and founder of the nation.

Washington closely followed affairs of state, including the growing tension between France and the United States, which, by the spring of 1798, had developed into the Quasi-War. Attacked politically by anti-Federalists, Washington was careful to preserve his personal legacy. He was appointed by his successor as president, John Adams, on July 2, 1798, as Lieutenant General and Commander of America's newly-augmented army. Washington insisted for active command to be vested in Alexander Hamilton, whom Adams appointed Major General and Inspector of the Armies. Washington performed his duties, but Adams was jealous of Hamilton and was a proponent of naval power. Adams, however, was able to end the Quasi-War through diplomacy.

In the summer of 1799, Washington drafted a new will that left most of his estate to his wife, Martha. Unexpectedly, he set free all of the slaves that he owned outright, a legal order to be fulfilled after his wife's death. Washington's will was meant to be an act of atonement for a lifetime spent in human exploitation, and he hoped it would serve as an example to other slaveholders and hasten the end of American slavery. His post-presidency lasted less than three years until his sudden illness and death, which were caused by a severe throat infection, on December 14, 1799. Washington had planned a library to preserve his war and presidential papers, but he died before it could be built. In January 1801, Martha freed his slaves.

The Washington Monument was completed in 1885. Mount Rushmore, completed in 1941, has a gigantic Washington stone portrait sculpture to honor his presidency. In 2013, the Washington presidential library was completed and opened to the public.