The story of Washington and the Cherry Tree

John McRae, "Father, I Can Not Tell a Lie; I Cut the Tree," 1867 engraving after a painting by G.G. White

George Washington's reputation as a man of moral fortitude reveals more about America's view of morality than it does about the man himself. Washington was an exceedingly bland heroic leader, embodying an eighteenth-century ideal of republican virtue that emphasized duty, sacrifice and honorable disinterest. Flamboyance and daring were emphatically not required. Washington's virtue was admirable, but not overly interesting.

Perhaps this is why the most famous example of his fortitude of character is, in fact, just fiction. The story of Washington and the Cherry Tree, a tale which still lingers through probably every grammar school in the U.S., was invented by a parson named Mason Locke Weems in a biography of Washington published directly after his death. Saturated with tales of Washington's selflessness and honesty, A History of the Life and Death, Virtues and Exploits, of General George Washington(1800) and The Life of George Washington, with Curious Anecdotes Laudable to Himself and Exemplary to his Countrymen(1806) supplied the American people with flattering (and often rhyming) renditions of the events that shaped their hero. Weems imagined everthing from Washington's childhood transgression and repentence to his apotheosis when "at the sight of him, even those blessed spirits seem[ed] to feel new raptures" (Weems, 60). According to historian Karal Ann Marling, Weems was struggling to "flesh out a believable and interesting figure ... to humanize Washington" who had been painted as "cold and colorless" in an earlier, poorly-selling biography. While it is likely that some readers of the time questioned the authenticity of the tales, Weems' portraits soared in popularity in the early 1800s.

More than a century later, Weems would be vigorously debunked by a new corps of biographers intent on resurrecting the real truth of Washington's life. Some favored dismantling the myth wholesale and dismissing it from the record. Others, however, intended to portray the story as apocryphal, but commend its inspirational value anyway. As Marling quotes from a woman who remembered every verse of the story from her days as school, "If the tale isn't true, it should be. It is too pretty to be classified with the myths" (Marling, 310).

Did George Washington really throw a silver dollar across the Potomac River?


First, a bit of history about our first President, this won‘t take long, so take the time to read these interesting facts.

George Washington was born in Westmoreland County, Va. on February 22, 1732 into a Virginia planters family. Growing up here, he learned the morals, manners, and body of knowledge requisite for an 18th century Virginia gentleman.

In 1748, Lord Thomas Fairfax hired George at 16 years of age to survey his lands lying west of the Blue Ridge of Shenandoah. Commissioned a lieutenant colonel in 1754, George fought in the first skirmishes of what grew into the French and Indian War. The next year, as an aide to Gen. Edward Braddock, Lt.George Washington saw action and escaped injury. During subsequent battles, four bullets had ripped through his coat and two of his horses were shot from underneath him.

From about 1759 to the outbreak of the American Revolution, Washington managed his inherited lands in and around Mount Vernon and also served in the Virginia House of Burgesses.

When the Second Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia in May of 1775, Washington, who was one of the Virginia delegates, was quickly elected Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. On July 3, 1775, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, he took command of his ill-trained troops and set out on a war that was to last for six grueling years. After many bitter battles and with the aid of French allies, George forced the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown in 1781.

Washington soon realized that this Nation under its Articles of Confederation was not functioning as planned, so he became a prime mover in the steps leading to the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia in 1787. When the new Constitution was ratified, the Electoral College unanimously elected Washington as it's first President. George served as that President from April 30, 1789, until the end of his second term on March 4, 1797

By 1793 and much to Washington’s disappointment, two parties were developing at the very close of his first term. Wearied of politics and feeling a bit old, George retired at the end of his second term in 1797.

Washington enjoyed less than three years of retirement at Mount Vernon, dieing at age 67 from a throat infection on December 14, 1799.

Washington did have a final set of instructions: “I am just going; Have me decently buried; and do not let my body be put into the vault in less than three days after I am dead”. At the dying Presidents bedside, long term friend and secretary Tobias Lear stood speechless. “Do you understand?” Washington demanded. Lear responded he would do as Washington asked. Then Washington, seemingly content, said. “Tis well”.
 

Now, back to the question at hand?

Did George Washington really throw a silver dollar across the Potomac River?

Being quite capable of doing a feat of significant strength, George Washington was a large and powerful man. He stood 6 feet, 2 inches tall and in later life weighed more than 200 pounds. He wore large shoes (size 13), and stood with an erect military bearing. His face was long with high cheekbones, and he had a large, straight nose, a firm chin, and blue eyes beneath heavy brows.

But alas, his famous coin toss is apparently not the whole truth. This popular myth is often told to illustrate his strength, but the river was not the Potomac (about a mile wide) nor was it the Delaware. Looking at his childhood homestead, perhaps it was the Rappahannock River near Fredericksburg, Virginia. According to myth, Washington threw a piece of slate, about the size and shape of a dollar, not a actual silver dollar. This account took place according to Martha Washington's grandson, George Washington Parke Custis. While the story has never been verified, historians concede that the feat is a possibility. At the site of the Washington family homestead, the Rappahannock measures only 250 feet across, an impressive but not impossible throwing distance.

Moreover, there were no US silver dollars available when Washington was a young man.

The first US Silver dollar wasn’t minted until 1794 five years before Washington’s death.