[ti:George Washington – the First President]
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[00:01.88]George Washington
[00:03.16]was the first president of the United States.
[00:05.88]He served from 1789 to 1797.
[00:12.24]He was a famous general
[00:14.16]who led the American colonists
[00:16.12]to freedom from British rule
[00:18.24]and he presided over the convention
[00:21.52]that created the U.S. Constitution.
[00:25.44]He wanted to retire
[00:27.16]from public service and return home.
[00:30.52]But the country's founders
[00:32.32]wanted him to move to New York
[00:34.44]and serve as the American president.
[00:38.64]Washington accepted the job as his duty.
[00:42.48]Washington was sworn in as president in 1789.
[00:48.28]He had to invent the job of being president
[00:51.36]for all future presidents.
[00:54.44]He established a group of advisors
[00:56.96]— called the cabinet
[00:58.36]— as well as the nation's official money.
[01:02.44]He appointed a six-member Supreme Court.
[01:06.08]And he created the Department of Foreign Affairs,
[01:10.04]now called the State Department.
[01:13.52]He hoped to act in such a way
[01:15.76]that future presidents could continue to build
[01:18.64]on what he began.
[01:21.68]From the beginning,
[01:22.76]George Washington was careful to establish
[01:25.44]a good working relationship with Congress.
[01:29.28]By his actions,
[01:30.72]he confirmed the separation of powers
[01:33.44]of the three branches of the government,
[01:35.84]as described in the Constitution.
[01:39.68]Historian Joseph Ellis says
[01:42.08]one of the best things about George Washington
[01:44.88]was his ability to give up power.
[01:48.64]At the end of the Revolutionary War,
[01:51.04]General Washington returned his sword.
[01:53.44]And at the end of his second term,
[01:56.60]President Washington simply returned home.
[02:01.32]Like many plantation owners,
[02:03.32]Washington was a slave holder.
[02:05.80]By the end of his life,
[02:07.84]Washington opposed slavery.
[02:11.80]He left a will ordering his survivors
[02:14.76]to free his slaves after his wife's death.
[02:19.00]Three years after he finished
[02:20.60]his second term as president,
[02:22.36]Washington fell ill.
[02:25.52]On December 14, 1799, he died in his bed,
[02:30.64]surrounded by his wife,
[02:32.80]enslaved maids, and friends.
[02:36.48]He was 67. 
[02:38.28]I'm Jill Robbins. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM