Americans are preparing to mark the 200th anniversary of the death of George Washington, the first president of the United States.

Across the country flags will be lowered to half-mast, church bells rung, and ships will fire their cannon in honour of the man who led America to independence from the British.

The main focus of commemorations will be on Mount Vernon, the home on the outskirts of Washington DC that the first president shared with his wife, Martha, until his death on 14 December 1799.

On Saturday, after three days of ceremonial lying in state, the hill top mansion looking across the Potomac River will play host to a lavish re-enactment of Washington's funeral.

Included in the procession will be a riderless white horse as well as descendants of many of the original pall-bearers, soldiers and other mourners marking their ancestors' presence at America's first presidential funeral.

Washington's legacy is also entering the digital age with the release of the CD-ROM "George Washington: First of Men" - an interactive portrayal of the first president's life and the early days of the United States.

Father figure

In the two centuries since Washington's death the United States of America has become the richest and most powerful country in the world - for many Americans the name Washington is synonymous with the title Father of the Nation.

To those who live outside the US he is perhaps most famous for giving his name to America's capital (which he helped to design), and as the face of the one dollar bill, the world's most widely recognised unit of currency.

Today the first president is looked back upon as a man of integrity and a model to which his successors should aspire to follow - or at least try to.

Washington first entered pro-independence political life as a plantation owner, fed up with what he saw as exploitation by British merchants and the restrictive regulations imposed by British colonial rule.

In 1775, at the outbreak of the War of Independence, he was elected Commander in Chief of the Continental Army and led a bitter six-year long war of attrition against the British forces.

Realising his troops were ill-equipped and poorly trained, General Washington adopted a strategy of harassment, slowly wearing down the morale of what, at the time, was the world's most powerful army.

Reluctant president

Following the British surrender in 1781, Washington returned to Mount Vernon saying he would not be seeking any role in government.

But the fledgling nation he had helped to create was beginning to crumble and in 1786 he began gathering support for a federation of the 13 states.

The following year in Philadelphia, under a new constitution, Washington was unanimously - and reluctantly - elected the first president of the United States.

During his two terms in office, he laid the groundwork for the modern US, enshrining policies and constitutional amendments that remain in force today.

He also began to speak out against slavery - a practice he found increasingly incompatible with the principles of freedom that underpinned the new nation, although he himself continued to own a number of slaves on the Mount Vernon plantations.

Washington eventually retired in 1797, refusing calls to stand for a third term.

After less than 3 years in retirement he died aged 67 from a throat infection caught whilst out horse riding in the bitter winter air.