George Washington Thesis Statement: George Washington is a hero because he defended his ideal that America should be free from England and create a new form of government that was just and fair. Even in the darkest times, he never gave up and managed to maintain social and political order within the colonies. Preliminary Outline Introduction English-American Relationship The Acts of Townsend Continental Congress Washington is named Commander in Chief of the Continental Army Revolutionary War Valley Forge Constitutional Convention Washington is elected first president of the United States coloniesSlaveryWashington freed all his slavesConclusionThere are many ways to define a hero. Robert Kennedy defined a hero as someone who “defends an ideal, or the lot of others, or stands up to injustice.” Every time someone does this, they “emit a wave of hope.” This definition could also describe George Washington. George Washington is a hero because he stood up for his ideal that America should be free from England and create a new form of government that was just and fair. Even in the darkest moments, he never gave up and managed to maintain social and political order within the colonies. Until the mid-1760s, England maintained a friendly relationship with the colonies (Ferling, The First of Men 88). During the French and Indian War, colonial militias had even helped England defeat the English (Brookhiser 23). But the war caused England to fall into enormous debt. “According to the ancient precepts of mercantilism, colonies were to exist for the benefit of the parent state” (Ferling, The First of Men 89). In 1767, England imposed the Tow... middle of paper... without sending those colonies into a spiral of political chaos and social disorder” (Selensky). And, for all these reasons, George Washington is a hero. Works Cited Brookhiser, Richard. Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington. New York: Free, 1996. Print.Ferling, John E. The Rise of George Washington: The Hidden Political Genius of an American Icon. New York, NY: Bloomsbury, 2009. Print.Ferling, John E. The First of Men: A Life of George Washington. Knoxville: U of Tennessee, 1988. Print.Henriques, Peter R. Realistic Visionary: A Portrait of George Washington. Charlottesville: U of Virginia, 2006. Print.Selesky, Harold. "George Washington." Encyclopedia of the American Revolution: Military History Library. Ed. Harold E. Selesky. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. Page no. Biography in context. Network. May 11 2014.