Washington served as a delegate from his home state of Virginia at the First Continental Congress, held in Philadelphia in 1774. He also served as a delegate for the Second Continental Congress the next year.

More importantly, Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention of 1787 when leaders from various states met to “revise” the existing governmental charter—the Articles of Confederation. The Articles failed to provide for a powerful central government with the net result that states acted out of their own self-interest. The members of the Philadelphia Convention went far beyond their stated task of revising the Articles of Confederation. Instead, they created an entirely new government through the United States Constitution. Washington did not participate in the debates, but his presence gave the proceeding much more legitimacy.