While most of us take the extraordinary career of George Washington for granted, it was hard-won through effort, discipline, and lifelong learning. While young Washington knew head-turning success, later crushing failure incinerated his dream of a military career. In his “wilderness years,” he remade himself as a savvy political leader in Fairfax County and the Virginia House of Burgesses, overcoming a weak education and his earlier stumbles. As the essential leader of what became the world’s longest-lived constitutional republic, Washington committed himself to self-government and used many tools to survive political tests and steer the nation through repeated crises.
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