George Washington Proposes Legislation to Create a Canal to Make the Potomac River Navigable Almost All the Way to the Ohio Country

Virginia Capitol Building at Williamsburg, Virginia

Carriage at Colonial Williamsburg

Governor’s Palace at Colonial Williamsburg

After returning from the First Continental Congress, Washington continued with his efforts to boh secure western land grants for himself and his fellow soldiers who served with him during the French and Indian War as well as to get legislation passed by the Virginia House of Burgesses to approve of the building of a canal around the various falls on the Potomac River so as to make it navigable and a waterway almost all the way to the Ohio River.  Washington also continued with his efforts to improve his Mount Vernon plantation.  With the battles of Lexington and Concord and increased conflict between the American colonies and Great Britain, however, soon something else was to demand Washington’s attention. 

~ by americanpresidents on March 13, 2010.