Statue of George Washington Tetra Images / Getty Images The dawn of American democracy didn’t take place in 1776, with the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

George Washington served as the first president of the United States from age 57 in 1789 to age 65 in 1797, but before that, he was known for his military leadership during the French and Indian ...

Like the other Founding Fathers, George Washington was uneasy about the idea of publicly celebrating his life. He was the first leader of a new republic, not a king.

Washington was born in Virginia on Feb. 11, 1731, according to the then-used Julian calendar. In 1752, however, Britain and all its colonies adopted the Gregorian calendar which moved his birthday ...

The United States began celebrating its first president when he was still a general. Nearly 300 years since George Washington’s birth, the holiday has morphed into a celebration of the presidency.

Washington’s Birthday was the first federal holiday to honor an individual's birth date, the National Archives said. In 1885, Congress designated Feb. 22 as a holiday for all federal workers.