11 Bizzare Facts About George Washington’s Private Life

The first President of the United States of America was a weird guy.

Sal
Lessons from History
7 min readFeb 14, 2021

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George Washington is amongst the most notables individuals in the United States’ history. Surprisingly, people know a little about him other than his achievements in the War of Independence and his role as the country’s first president. There is not much interest in his interesting yet controversial personal life. So who is the man on our dollar bill?

George Washington lived a busy and accomplished life. He was a successful military leader, entrepreneur, and assuming responsibility as the first president of the United States. Nevertheless, he has faced several challenges on his journey ranging from difficulties in his marriage, sickness, and an unsuccessful love affair.

1. He owned many child slaves

It is not a connection one usually makes. However, slavery was quite common at that time. Like many of their wealthy contemporaries, the Washington family forcefully extracted labor out of their slaves. George Washington’s father was a wealthy immigrant from England with a significant amount of land under his name. Following his father’s death, the former president began helping his mother with the plantations. He even gained 84 slaves on his…

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Sal
Lessons from History

I am a History Educator and a Lifelong Learner with a Masters in Global History.