George Washington was pretty Rad!

In Honor of President's Day here are some interesting facts about George Washington

He was a man of many firsts

Naturally, as the first president Washington had many firsts in office. But a few of his accomplishments were things none of his successors ever did.
    •    Washington was the only president to have been unanimously elected by the Electoral College, receiving all 69 votes in both the 1789 and 1792 elections. At the time, there was no popular vote for the presidency.
    •    He was the only president who did not live in Washington, D.C. during his presidency. Instead, he was located first in New York and then spent the lion’s share of his presidency in Philadelphia, which served as the temporary national capital for 10 years, while the District of Columbia was under construction.
    •    He was the only one of America’s founding fathers to free his slaves. He freed all 124 of his slaves in his will, and he left enough money in his estate to care for all of them decades after his death.
    •    Washington was also the only president who did not represent a political party.

He was to the point

At 135 words, Washington’s second inaugural address was the shortest ever given by an incoming president. Here is the full text of his speech, which he delivered in the Senate Chamber of Congress Hall in Philadelphia on March 4, 1793.
“Fellow 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.”

He was tough

In the years leading up to his presidency, Washington's life was peppered with dangerous experiences. He suffered from malaria, smallpox, pleurisy and dysentery, all before he was 30. On his way back from the famous expedition to the French Fort le Boeuf during the French and Indian War, he fell off his raft in an icy river and nearly drowned. Later in the same trip an Indian standing less than 50 feet away shot at him and missed. Later in 1755, four bullets punctured Washington's coat and two horses were shot down from underneath him. Somehow, the young officer survived the experience, though, and emerged unscathed.