American History Series: From Revolutionary War Hero to President

March 14, 2013

Making of a Nation

From VOA Learning English, welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in Special English. I’m Steve Ember.

This week in our series, we tell the story of America’s first president, George Washington. The United States declared its independence from Britain on July 4, 1776. At first the new nation was a loosely formed alliance governed under the Articles of Confederation. As we described in previous programs, all this changed when a new plan of government, the Constitution, went into effect on March 4, 1789. There was much to be done to make it work. The machinery of government was untested. Strong leadership was needed, and Washington was the man chosen to provide it.

Many historians believe there would never have been a United States without George Washington. He led the American people to victory in the war for independence from Britain. He kept the new nation united in the dangerous first years.

Dorothy Moss is the assistant curator of painting and sculpture at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington. She says the painting known as the “Landsdowne Portrait” shows the way many people thought of Washington.

It was painted in 1796, as Washington was finishing his presidency. In it, he is standing with one arm extended, as if he is speaking to a large group of people. His hair is gray, and he is beginning to go bald. The former general wears formal clothes, but not the uniform of a soldier. Washington was tall but thin. In the portrait, he looks bigger than he was in real life.