This is an I-Heart podcast.

And we're back with our American stories.

George Washington's service to our country can't be overstated. He's a man who's

immortalized in our nation's history books, our nation's capital, and in the values that we still

hold dear to this day. But Washington's service is both president and general was the result

of personal growth, something we're far more familiar with than monuments.

Here's Woody Holton to tell us the story of how our nation's founding father became the

man we remember him as today.

Before Washington could become a better general, he had to become a better person.

So that means talking about some things that make us feel a little bit uncomfortable about his early years,

when if there was one word that defined him, it was greed.

So, you heard me saying how greedy was as a young man.

Don't give out my address.

Because to me, the before picture makes the after picture even more interesting.

But I'm worried about people only hearing the before picture and saying,

what the heck is this guy talking about?

He married the wealthiest widow in Virginia,

Martha Dandridge Custis in January of 1759, and you know, you'd think that's enough.

But he was determined to go out and increase his wealth.

And one way he did that was by speculating in Western land.

And of course, that land was being taken from Native Americans.

So, but Washington actually, again, only as a young man, he did worse than that because he not only stole land from Native Americans, but his fellow soldiers who had fought with him in this war against Native Americans that we call the

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