Let’s discover five great George Washington facts for kids.
During his time as a General in the American army, Washington made a lot of big decisions. He decided how soldiers should act, how they should relate to the government, and how they should be organised. All these decisions changed how the American army was run forever. He was given the title of lieutenant general by the time he died. The American people wanted to make sure his contributions to the army were recognised so he was given a new title. His new title is ‘General of the Armies of the United States’, a title that will be given to no one else so that he can never be outranked.
George Washington was not given a formal education beyond age 11 as his family could not afford to send him to a college. Despite this he was an academic man who enjoyed writing and reading. His library at his home in Mount Vernon contained over 1200 books. He also wrote books such as ‘Rules of Civility & Decent Behaviour’, which is a book about how people should behave. He followed a lot of rules about being polite.
George Washington also wrote a lot of letters, these letters can give us interesting insights into the life of the first American president and to the ideas of the time.
Dancing was a very big part of socialising in George Washington’s time and he would attend balls where there were lots of dances. Lots of people who met Washington and wrote about him talked about his skills at dancing. He was especially good at a French style of dancing called a ‘minuet’, this was an important skill as it was often the first dance people did at events. Being able to dance was a good way to make a good impression.
George Washington enjoyed being active and being out in the countryside hunting. He not only had dogs but also bred a new kind of dog. The American Foxhounds, which he bred, were his favourite as they were perfect for hunting trips. He gave his dogs cute names like ‘TruLove’ and ‘Madame Moose’. Over his lifetime George Washington had over 50 pet dogs and they were a variety of breeds including dalmatians, American foxhounds, and greyhounds.
The French played a part in the American Revolution, helping the Americans defeat the British. The French cared a lot about serving liberty and that is why they honoured George Washington and many others who fought in the revolution with honorary citizenship of France. Despite this citizenship George Washington never visited France and couldn’t speak French.
We hope you enjoyed learning more things about George Washington as much as we loved teaching you about them. Now that you know how majestic this person is, you can move on to learn about famous people like: Barack Obama, Roald Dahl and David Attenborough.
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