George opposed the taxes that England forced the colonists to pay.  In 1774, he was sent to the First Continental Congress.  This group met to decide what to do about how Britain was treating the colonies.  Washington also went to the Second Continental Congress in 1775.  In 1776, our forefathers drafted the Declaration of Independence .

During the Second Continental Congress, Washington was elected Commander in Chief of the Continental Army.  He led the colonists in their fight for freedom during the American Revolution.  The two sides fought until peace was declared in 1783 and America had won its independence.  Washington then went home to Mount Vernon.

But he wasn't through helping the new country just yet.  In 1787, he attended the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, where he helped to write the Constitution .  In 1789 he was elected the first President of the United States.  He was then re-elected to another term in 1792, (continued.)