Editing Article Page
Title
Content
<div id='article-page'><div id='article-content' data-media-url='//news-app-staging.s3.amazonaws.com' data-base-url='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/545/gw_audio.m4a' data-capture-url='//staging.analytics.lingraphica.com/events/capture_news' data-article-title='George Washington: President, Man, Myth' data-article-id='881'><script src='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com/javascripts/getscripts.js'></script><link rel='stylesheet' href='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com/stylesheets/article.css' type='text/css' /><div class='article'><p><span data-start-time='0' data-end-time='5375'>Americans call George Washington “the father of our country.”</span> </p><p><span data-start-time='5375' data-end-time='16417'>Most people know him best as the first president of the United States, from 1789 to 1797. </span> <span data-start-time='16417' data-end-time='20750'>But the list of his accomplishments is long. </span> <span data-start-time='20750' data-end-time='26792'>Washington commanded the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War.</span> <span data-start-time='26792' data-end-time='32146'>He led the American colonists to freedom from British rule.</span> <span data-start-time='32146' data-end-time='38313'>He was also president of the convention that created the U.S. Constitution.</span> </p><p><span data-start-time='38313' data-end-time='47792'>In his private life, Washington owned a large whiskey distillery and thousands of acres of land. </span> <span data-start-time='47792' data-end-time='52208'>He operated a large and successful farm. </span> <span data-start-time='52208' data-end-time='62250'>When the Revolutionary War was over, General Washington wanted to go home to his Virginia estate, called Mount Vernon.</span> </p><p><span data-start-time='62250' data-end-time='72688'>Joseph Ellis is a historian and prize-winning author who wrote a book called “His Excellency: George Washington.”</span> </p><p><span data-start-time='72688' data-end-time='74583'>“He didn’t want to be president. </span> <span data-start-time='74583' data-end-time='80229'>No president in American history did not want to be president more than George Washington.”</span> </p><p><span data-start-time='80229' data-end-time='87292'>But other leaders asked him to become the first president under the Constitution. </span> <span data-start-time='87292' data-end-time='90188'>Every elector voted for him. </span> <span data-start-time='90188' data-end-time='95479'>Washington accepted the job as his duty.</span> </p><p><span data-start-time='95479' data-end-time='108479'>When George Washington was sworn in as president in 1789, the idea of a truly united states was still just an idea. </span> <span data-start-time='108479' data-end-time='115396'>Americans were unconnected social, economic and ethnic groups.</span> <span data-start-time='115396' data-end-time='123792'>For example, a quarter of the people in the state of Pennsylvania spoke only German. </span> <span data-start-time='123792' data-end-time='132833'>The new president would have to establish a social and political union under the Constitution.</span> </p><p><span data-start-time='132833' data-end-time='140313'>But the Constitution did not say in detail how the president could do that. </span> <span data-start-time='140313' data-end-time='152438'>Doug Bradburn, founding director of the Washington Library at Mount Vernon, says George Washington invented the job of president.</span> </p><p><span data-start-time='152438' data-end-time='168083'>“I think that what people don’t estimate in their scale of judging his skill as a political figure is just how fragile the country was, that the chances it would even survive were probably very, very slim.”</span> </p><p><span data-start-time='168083' data-end-time='177271'>Mr. Bradburn says President Washington set many important precedents for all the presidents who followed him. </span> <span data-start-time='177271' data-end-time='184146'>First, he was not just a figurehead but a decision maker.</span> </p><p><span data-start-time='184146' data-end-time='189042'>He established a group of advisors, the cabinet. </span> <span data-start-time='189042' data-end-time='196021'>They became a very important part of the presidency, or executive branch. </span> <span data-start-time='196021' data-end-time='201958'>Washington chose strong people to lead the departments. </span> <span data-start-time='201958' data-end-time='210771'>Sometimes those cabinet members disagreed strongly, but Washington managed them well.</span> </p><p><span data-start-time='210771' data-end-time='222292'>President Washington also established the nation’s official currency and the Department of Foreign Affairs, now called the State Department. </span> <span data-start-time='222292' data-end-time='226750'>He created a six-member Supreme Court.</span> <span data-start-time='226750' data-end-time='233542'>And, Washington said the president should set foreign policy. </span> <span data-start-time='233542' data-end-time='239208'>That responsibility was not clear in the Constitution.</span> </p><p><span data-start-time='239208' data-end-time='250292'>Mr. Bradburn says Washington took his job very seriously and always used the Constitution as his guide.</span> </p><p><span data-start-time='250292' data-end-time='257625'>“He wasn’t just trying to establish an office and then figure out a way to justify it, he was trying to work with his Constitution.”</span> </p><p><span data-start-time='257625' data-end-time='262063'>As president, George Washington travelled around the country. </span> </p></div><div class='control-buttons-sticky' style='display:none;'><div class='control-buttons'><button title='Back' class='back' disabled='disabled'></button><button title='Play' class='play' disabled='disabled'></button><button title='Pause' class='pause' style='display:none;'></button><button title='Forward' class='forward' disabled='disabled'></button><button class='finished-reading' style='display:none;'>Done</button></div></div></div><div id='article-media'><div id='media-image'><img src='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/545/gw_image.jpg'/></div></div><div id='question-content' style='display:none;'><div class='vocabulary_question question-container' data-question-id=4211 data-hint-location='16417' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/545/what_does_accomplishment_mean.m4a'>What does accomplishment mean?</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='something done or achieved successfully'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/545/very_easy_to_see.m4a'><span>very easy to see</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/545/something_done_or_achieved_successfully.m4a'><span>something done or achieved successfully</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/545/a_set_of_artificial_teeth.m4a'><span>a set of artificial teeth</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/545/a_similar_action.m4a'><span>a similar action</span></div></div></div><div class='multiple_choice_question question-container' data-question-id=4212 data-hint-location='184146' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/545/what_group_of_officials_did_washington_establish.m4a'>What group of officials did Washington establish?</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='the cabinet'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/545/the_cabinet.m4a'><span>the cabinet</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/545/the_senate.m4a'><span>the Senate</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/545/the_fbi.m4a'><span>the FBI</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/545/united_nations.m4a'><span>United Nations</span></div></div></div><div class='sentence_completion_question question-container' data-question-id=4213 data-hint-location='0' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/545/americans_call_george_washington_the__blank__of_our_country.m4a'>Americans call George Washington the <span class='blank'>father</span> of our country.</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='father'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/545/warrior.m4a'><span>warrior</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/545/starter.m4a'><span>starter</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/545/father.m4a'><span>father</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/545/creator.m4a'><span>creator</span></div></div></div><div class='question-buttons'><button class='skip-button'></button><button class='hint-button'></button><button class='speak-button'></button></div></div></div>
Sound name
https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/545/gw_audio.m4a
Show
|
Back