Home at Last!

After resigning his military command and taking his leave of Congress in Annapolis, George Washington returned to his Virginia home, Mount Vernon. He arrived there on December 24, 1783, to resume life as a farmer. Soon after his resignation, Washington wrote to his close friend, the Marquis de Lafayette: "At length...I am become a private citizen on the banks of the Potomac, & under the shadow of my own Vine & my own Fig tree, free from the bustle of a camp & the busy scenes of public life."

Washington's retirement did not last long. In 1787, he presided over the United States Constitutional Convention and served as the nation’s first president from 1789 – 1797.