Open 365 days a year, Mount Vernon is located just 15 miles south of Washington DC.
From the mansion to lush gardens and grounds, intriguing museum galleries, immersive programs, and the distillery and gristmill. Spend the day with us!
Discover what made Washington "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen".
The Mount Vernon Ladies Association has been maintaining the Mount Vernon Estate since they acquired it from the Washington family in 1858.
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The Washington Library is open to all researchers and scholars, by appointment only.
On February 13, 1793, a joint session of Congress counted the Electoral College votes from the second presidential election and George Washington was unanimously elected, again.
He would spend a difficult second term desperately preserving the new nation in the face of rebellion and foreign wars. President Washington considered retirement after one term, preferring a return to the quiet comfort of Mount Vernon. He was bothered and disheartened by the emerging political divisions. However, Washington also feared that the country would irreparably pull and split apart, and was implored by his close associates to serve an additional four years.
As the United States looked to consolidate its borders and secure room for expansion in the Northwest Territory, the local American Indians had resisted fiercely, inflicting costly defeats on the poorly-trained and equipped military forces sent to pacify the region in 1792.
Washington despised partisanship and voiced his concerns regarding political disunity throughout his presidency. But by June of 1793, two societies had been formed in Philadelphia: The German Republican Society and the Democratic Society of Pennsylvania
In February 1793, France went to war with Great Britain and its allies. Washington resisted the inclination to support America's stalwart Revolutionary War ally. Instead, he set a precedent by insisting that the United States remain neutral when foreign nations went to war.
Differences of opinion didn't concern President Washington. They could even be useful, until he came to realize the very personal nature of the differences between two of his cabinet members: Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson.
Seeking American support, France sent an emissary, Edmond-Charles Genêt, to the United States. Genêt sought to undermine a neutrality agreement that Washington had signed earlier that year by exploiting political divisions between supporters and detractors of the French Revolution.
By spring of 1794, America appeared to be on the brink of war with England. President Washington chose to nominate Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay as a special envoy to negotiate disputes between the two nations.
Negotiated by Thomas Pinckney in Madrid on October 27, 1795, the treaty established intentions of friendship between the United States and Spain as well as guaranteed the United States navigation rights on the Mississippi River.
By the end of 1792, there was a recognizable opposition party, centered around disgruntled Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson; newspapers gave this party one of their strongest means of critiquing the Washington administration.
Did you know that George Washington vetoed only two bills as President? Learn more about how Washington shaped the role and function of the President of the United States.
Aware that he would be closely scrutinized, President Washington self-consciously chose clothing and household furnishings that would convey a particular message about his style and character.
Portrait by Charles Willson Peale c. 1795 (The New York Historical Society, New York)
On the advice of his cabinet, President Washington chose to make his Second inauguration far less public than his first, and set the record for the shortest given by any President: 135 words briefly acknowledging his reelection.
Learn MoreFellow Citizens:
I am again called upon by the voice of my country to execute the functions of its Chief Magistrate. When the occasion proper for it shall arrive, I shall endeavor to express the high sense I entertain of this distinguished honor, and of the confidence which has been reposed in me by the people of united America.
Previous to the execution of any official act of the President the Constitution requires an oath of office. This oath I am now about to take, and in your presence: That if it shall be found during my administration of the Government I have in any instance violated willingly or knowingly the injunctions thereof, I may (besides incurring constitutional punishment) be subject to the upbraidings of all who are now witnesses of the present solemn ceremony.
A video compilation of senators reading Washington's Farewell Address on his birthday over the years, a tradition still upheld today.
Tennessee, the 16th state, enters the Union on June 1, 1796.
