George Washington Biography Essay Example for Free

George Washington Biography Essay George Washington (1732 1799), the First President of the United States, is a prominent individual of the American history. He was commander in chief of the victorious Continental army of the American Revolution and won many important battles that helped the Americans defeat the British. During his presidential terms, he set many important precedents for the following Presidents, such as having Presidential Cabinet Members. He was nicknamed for his accomplishments as the Father of His Country. George Washington was born on Feb. 22, 1732 in Westmoreland County, Virginia on an estate along the Potomac River. He was the oldest son of Augustine Washington and his second wife, Mary Ball Washington. When Washington was eleven, his father died and left only himself, his mother and his five other brothers and sisters. After the his fathers death, Washington could not go to school because he needed to help at the family farm to acquire enough money for his family to live. In his free time he practiced land surveying for fun with his fathers tools. Later, Washington started his occupation as a surveyor. When Washington turned 16, he surveyed lands of the Shenandoah for Thomas, Lord Fairfax. After his half-brother, Lawrence, had died, Washington inherited the farm and large amount of land at Mount Vernon, Virginia. Also, Lawrence was adjutant of the colony so Washington took over this responsibility. As district adjutant, he was referred to as Major Washington and was had trained the militia in the quarter he was assigned to. He first gained public awareness by being adjutant of Virginia and was sent off to warn the French to stop additional intrusion on the land of the northern colonies. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1754 to carry out this task and he departed to the North. Washington found out that the French already had a set up a fort and had a large number of soldiers camped, so he quickly built Fort Necessity. However, the French surrounded and attacked Fort Necessity. The French captured Washington in this attack. Luckily, Washington was released based on the earlier agreements of the British and French. These first several battles fought were the beginnings of the French and Indian War. The next  year, Washington volunteered to be the aide of General Edward Braddock because he was discouraged and angered by the defeat. At that time, Washington tried to convince Braddock to use the style of fighting of the Native Americans, but Braddock disagreed and used the regular fighting technique. Braddock was mortally wounded in this battle and Washington was nearly injured because of four bullets that ripped his coat and two horses that were shot from under him. After the French and Indian War, Washington was 26 years old and fell in love with Martha Dandridge Custis. She was a wealthy widow with her two children, Martha Patsy and John Parke. They married and moved to Mount Vernon where Lawrence once lived. Washington was very successful in farming there. While they lived in Mount Vernon, Washington was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1759 to 1774 and he strongly against the British Stamp Act and the Townsend Act which set taxes on many products. Washington like many others did not buy these taxed products and boycotted them. In the middle of 1774, Washington thought that the many British laws were striving to stop self-government within the colonies and were attempting to have tyrannical rule over the colonies as the King had over England. Washington was one of the few that proposed of a continental congress to be held to govern the colonies. He was elected to be a delegate of Virginia for the First Continental Congress. The Congress created a new government devoted to overthrow unfair rule of Britain. The Second Continental Congress joined together on May 10, 1775, after the fighting of Lexington and Concord had took place. Surrounded by almost 14,000 of Massachusettss soldiers, the British army was trapped in Boston. The British government announced that Massachusetts had committed treason after this rebellion, and were trying to take over MA. Washington appeared at the Second Congress in full uniform conveying the message that he was in support of Massachusetts. Congress created the Continental Army for this reason to fight the British. Washington was unanimously elected as general and commander in chief of the army. As commander of the Continental Army, Washingtons actions were left to him because the Congress could not provide laws to help. Washington was given  full power to do anything with authority to improve the service. As General, Washington lost many battles such as the Battle of Long Island but Washington learned from his many experiences and he began to have many successes such as the Battle of Saratoga which was the turning point of the Revolutionary War. The colonies in this war had a great number of help from other countries, such as France, and Washington became good friends with Marquis de Lafayette. This war was won by the help of the French and Washingtons expertise. After the war, Washington left the power of general and returned back to Mount Vernon to be with his wife. Washington became President on April 30, 1789. Washington did not have any examples to follow of previous Presidents since he was the first. One of the first precedents that Washington set was to have only two terms in office. This precedent was followed until 1940. Another was to have the Cabinet contain two leaders of different ideas to balance the Cabinet. Washington appointed John Jay as the Chief Justice because Washington felt he was most suitable. In the Whiskey Rebellion, Washington sent many soldiers to stop the farmers from revolting and the farmers instantly stopped. Washington also pardoned the farmers for their actions because the governments strength was already shown. This event is very similar to Shays Rebellion, but the swift ending of the Whiskey Rebellion showed that the Constitution worked well and strong. In the Spirit of Cincinnatus, Washington left his power after being the General of the Continental Army, and after the Presidency to go back to his farm at Mount Vernon. Each morning he rode his large farm on horseback. Sometimes he rode fifteen miles north of Mount Vernon to watch the building of a new city. The city would be the capital of the United States, named after him, as Washington D.C. Washington died at Mount Vernon of a throat infection in December 14, 1799, after he made his last tour of his property on horseback in the winter weather. It has been said that George Washington was, First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.

Goals for English Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Henry David Thoreau once said, â€Å"In the long run, men hit only that they aim at, therefore they had better aim at something high.† I agree with Thoreau completely. When you have goals in life, you’re going to do anything and everything to accomplish those goals. Therefore why not set higher goals that you will endeavor just with diminutive amount of more effort? One semester of English has gone by and there's another semester to go. Even though I have done fairly well in English the first semester, I would like to do even better the second semester. I can only do better if I have a plan and this plan is the different types of goals I am going to set for myself. You can’t be a good student by just doing well in one aspect of any subject. You need to become better in all aspects of the subject and become a better student overall. Writing:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Even though my writing has progressed since the beginning of the school year, there are still a few parts that I need to improve in my writing to become a better writer. My vocabulary isn’t that strong and for the second semester, I would like to start to build my vocabulary and use better words in my writing. I think I can accomplish this goal by memorizing a useful, common word everyday and using it somehow in my daily life. I can also use better words by using the thesaurus while I’m writing. I don’t mean to use the thesaurus and translate every word I’m using but change a few wo...

A Critique of “Don’t Blame the Eater”

â€Å"I couldn't open up a magazine, you couldn't read a newspaper, you couldn't turn on the TV without hearing about the obesity epidemic in America. † is a quote by Morgan Spurlock, that acutely describes the obesity problem going on in America. Any way one can want to talk about the problem, it will always be a huge dilemma throughout the United States. For a long time now, people have been discussing who is to blame for the obesity crisis going on.Some people prefer to blame the government, several blame the restaurants, others the parents and even the schools receive criticism for obesity. People should develop their own ideas on the obesity crisis and to figure out who is to blame and how to fix the problem. The main article I want to focus on is â€Å"Don’t Blame the Eater† by David Zinczenko. Throughout this article, he refers to the few kids suing McDonalds and other fast food restaurants.According to the book, They Say, I Say, there are two major parts of an article, the They Say, and the I Say. From Zinczenko’s point of view, he was biased towards the side saying that the food restaurants is responsible for the obesity crisis, while the others he is writing against, are writing about personal responsibility and how to teach the world how to be self-empowered and control what they eat. Others write about the government flailing around, not doing anything to stop and fix the obesity crisis.Zinczenko focuses on the fast food restaurants are causing all of the problems, because their advertisements are focused to children, (The Happy Meal by McDonalds) and teenagers, by having cheap carb filled food for the average poor teenager and college student. Throughout his article, he made many valid points as to why the restaurants are to blame for obesity. The restaurants create a very difficult way to tell exactly what you are eating, mainly because there are no calorie information on the food you get in these eateries.This is mainl y because the FDA does not cover prepared found in all restaurants, especially fast food restaurants, where it is needed the most. An example he gives is that is that a website says a chicken salad contains 150 calories, the almonds and noodles it comes with is an additional 190 calories, a 280 calorie dressing, but the dressing is 2. 5 servings. That total is 1,400 but that excludes anything else you might get, like a coke or fries. (Zinczenko 393) He also gives statistics that show how Type 2 diabetes has increased 25% since 1994. (Zinczenko 392) After all of the points he has shown, he came up with a solution to solve this risis, â€Å"And I’d say the industry is vulnerable. Fast-companies are marketing to children a product with proven health hazards and no warning labels. They would do well to protect themselves, and their customers, by providing the nutrition information people need† (Zinczenko 393) This is one way that we can start to work with the restaurants t o solve this problem. Although he brought up very good points, his argument was very biased against fast food restaurants. During the article he mentioned that we should be responsible for our actions, such as â€Å"Whatever happened to personal responsibility? (Zinczenko 391) and â€Å"Shouldn’t you know better than to eat two meals a day in fast-food restaurants? † (Zinczenko 392) He did not display both sides equally, or even bring up the other side, not contributing the â€Å"They Say† of his article. Other than those two quotes, he does not talk about others to blame or any other solutions to this crisis. Another part of the article that confused me was the part where Zinczenko told his story about how in high school, he was 210lbs. with a lanky 5’10’’ body frame. According to the article, he joined the Navy Reserve in college, lost all the weight by working out, and took responsibility for himself. Zinczenko 391)Even though he uses th is story in which he took responsibility for himself, he still blames the fast food restaurants and barely scratches the surface of self-responsibility. Another article about obesity is â€Å"What You Eat is Your Business† by Radley Balko, but it has a different approach then the way Zinczenko had used. Balko believes that the government needs to leave the public be, and promote personal responsibility. He says that politicians are joining the fight, â€Å"President Bush earmarked $200 million in his budget for anti-obesity measures. (Balko 396) Those two hundred million dollars could have been spent on much more important things, like helping people with more serious problems. Throughout Balko’s article he supports the idea the people need to take responsibility for their own actions, such as becoming obese. Balko says â€Å"It only becomes a public matter when we force the public to pay for the consequences of those choices. † (Balko 397) When the people who stay fit and control their own weight have to pay for those who do not stay fit and become obese is when this becomes a large debate.He continues on to discuss how easy it is to get health benefits while obese, such as not having an extra fee for people over a certain weight and â€Å"Your heart attack drives up the cost of my premiums and office visits. And if the government is paying for my anti-cholesterol medication, what incentive is there for me to put down the cheeseburger? † (Balko 396-7) The United States do not give any sort of privilege for being in shape, so why not just get fat and enjoy life. A third author who has written about the obesity crisis is Judith Warner, with her article â€Å"Junking Junk Food. All through her article, she pokes fun at the government giving different stories about how individual people are trying to fight the ways that the government is trying to deal with the obesity crisis. She starts the article off by telling a story about Sarah Palin bring a bunch of cookies to the schoolchildren to try to stop the â€Å"high-minded anti-sugar edict. † She made a few mistakes about the whole set up, such as Pennsylvania was not in a debate against sugar in their public schools, and the school she showed up to with her cookies was a private Christian Academy. Warner 400) despite the miscommunications that happened there, Palin’s message traveled straight to the American heart, â€Å"she had come up with new and vivid imagery to make the case that the Obama ‘nanny state’ is, essentially, snatching cookies – i. e. , the pursuit of happiness – from the mouths of babes. † Suddenly, any kind of attack on sugar or some sort of healthy sweet became an attack on the American way of life. (Warner 401) Glenn Beck is also fighting the government’s intentions, by creating a compendium that includes, â€Å"Reports of government health inspectors shutting down a 7-year-old’s lemonade stand. According to Warner, the â€Å"choice architects† of the Obama Administration believe that â€Å"you’re incapable of making decisions †¦. Left to your own devices, you’re going to eat too much, you’re going to be a big fatty. † (Warner 401) According to Beck and Warner, the government has no faith in us, so it views itself as needing to intervene. My own ideas of this topic lean towards Balko’s point of view, that we must become responsible for our own bodies. I do agree with Zinczenko up to a point that the fast food restaurants are partly to blame, but not all of the blame can be sent to them.And I do agree with Warner up to a point as well, we cannot leave ourselves in the government’s hands, we have to take responsibility. We, as a country, must work together with the fast food restaurants and the government to stop obesity right in its tracks. There are other ways to stop this crisis that are not mentioned a nywhere in the article, such as teaching children to cook healthy foods and exercise using such things as a nutrition class to teach the students to be responsible for themselves.We have to try to distract the children away from computer games and television to get them to play outside and get their daily amount of exercise. Others would point blame to the parents, for if the parents put in the effort with their children, and kept an eye on what they eat, and how often they go outside to play, can make a large difference throughout a child’s life. Zinczenko argued that as a teenager, he only had four or five places for him to eat around his house, but where were his parents at the time.No parent would ever want their son or daughter to be obese, so we need to let the parents know how bad fast food can be if that is all you eat. My goal here was to help you decide which group of people do you blame for the crisis, and how do you think it can be stopped. My answer is that we mu st influence ourselves to become responsible for ourselves, to help us want to stay physically fit and healthy. We cannot rely on any power, such as the government, or lay blame on the restaurants, such as McDonald’s, but take responsibility into our own hands. Which choice would you pick, and do you think you can make a difference?Works Cited Balko, Radley. â€Å"What You Eat Is Your Business† They Say/ I Say with Readings. 2nd. Ed. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein and Russel Durst. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 395- 8. Warner, Judith. â€Å"Junking Junk Foods. † They Say/ I Say with Readings. 2nd ed. Ed. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein and Russel Durst. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 400-4. Zinczenko, David. â€Å"Don’t Blame the Eater. † They Say/ I Say with Readings. 2nd ed. Ed. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein and Russel Durst. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 391-3.

Climate Change Throughout The World - 1121 Words

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According to NASA, â€Å"Certain gases in the atmospher e block heat from escaping.† We live in what scientist like to refer to as a â€Å"†¦greenhouse effect, or the warming that happens when the atmosphere traps heat radiating from Earth toward space.† (http://climate.nasa.gov/) When thinking about it in this way, it makes the most sense to me that although we are not the only reason for climate change, we are a great factor. We cause the natural evolution of earth to progress quicker than what itShow MoreRelatedSocial Issues Plaguing Our Planet Today Is Climate Change1301 Words   |  6 Pagesstigmatizing social issues plaguing our planet today is climate change. It is causing fluctuation in temperatures all around the world, which is resulting in other major issues like the death of many animals, and a struggle to use land for agriculture, along with much more. While many are on board with solving this ongoing environmental destruction, some are not in agreement. 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