• CASE 1—GETTING TO KNOW THE MAN BEHIND THE IMAGE

• CASE 2—VIRGINIA ENVIRONMENT,PART I

• CASE 3—VIRGINIA ENVIRONMENT, PART II

• CASE 4—THE NORTHERN NECK

• CASE 5—FAMILY BACKGROUND, PART I

• CASE 6—FAMILY BACKGROUND, PART II

• CASE 7—THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR, PART I

• CASE 8—THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR, PART II

• CASE 9—PLANTER, POLITICIAN, AND PATRIOT

• CASE 10—THE MAN, PART I

• CASE 11—THE MAN, PART II

• CASE 12—THE MAN, PART III

• CASE 13—THE MAN, PART IV

• CASE 14—THE MAN, PART V

• CASE 15—DEATH AND APOTHEOSIS

• CASE 16—PRESERVING THE MEMORY

• CLEMENTS LIBRARY

George Washington: getting to know the man behind the image.

This website is a record of the exhibit, as it appeared in the display cases of the William L. Clements Library. Each page features an image of a single display case and its contents, with details of the artifacts and the accompanying text below. Please click on the images to view enlargements and use the "back" button on your browser to return.

Copyrights to the contents of this exhibit, both text and images, are held by the Clements Library. Permission for use and reproduction must be obtained in advance from the director of the Clements Library.

Case 3 —Virginia Environment—Part II
The one real urban and political center of colonial Virginia was Williamsburg. It was the capitol city, housing the Governor, the legislature, and the provincial courts. It was the site of the College of William and Mary, and it was home to the colony's only printing press.
When the House of Burgesses and the courts were in session, a significant percentage of Virginia' s leading citizens came to town, often with their families, to shop and socialize. It was a place any young man with expectations needed to visit and where be needed to be seen and "sized up." If you made a good impression on the governor and the politically and socially powerful families, doors of preferment could open quickly.

 
Williamsburg played a primary role in George Washington's career. Washington's brother, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had all served in the Virginia legislature. The close relationship between the Fairfax and Washington families gave George an initial advantage. He was tall, athletic and handsome in a very rugged sort of way -comparable, perhaps to a young John Wayne or Mel Gibson--that was equally attractive to men and women. He was someone everyone noticed when he came into a room. People liked him, and he gave the immediate impression of credibility and competence. He was ambitious, politic, and he knew how to make the best of his opportunities.
   
In 1749, at age seventeen, Washington was examined at the College of William and Mary and given a commission as official Surveyor of Culpepper County. It was to Williamsburg that Washington traveled to secure the military commissions of the 1750s and the place where he published the account of his expedition to Pennsylvania in 1754. He served as a member of the House of Burgesses from 1759 until 1774 and was there appointed member of Continental Congress in 1774 and 1775—the briefly held position that brought about his appointment as Commander in Chief of the army.