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Welcome to Fascinating Facts and Tantalizing Trivia

A Hartson Dowd Column

 Feb 19, 2007

February 19 -- George Washington's Birthday (observed)

George Washington's birthday was celebrated as a holiday on February 22 for many years, even though he was actually born on February 11, 1731. Why the difference? During Washington's lifetime, people in Great Britain and America switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar (something most of Europe had done in 1582).

As a result of this calendar reform, people born before 1752 were told to add 11 days to their birth dates. Those born between January 1 and March 25, as Washington was, also had to add one year to be in sync with the new calendar. By the time Washington became president in 1789, he celebrated his birthday on February 22 and listed his year of birth as 1732.

On April 30, 1789, George Washington, standing on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York, took his oath of office as the first President of the United States. "As the first of every thing, in our situation will serve to establish a Precedent," he wrote James Madison, "it is devoutly wished on my part, that these precedents may be fixed on true principles."

Born in 1732 into a Virginia planter family, he learned the morals, manners, and body of knowledge requisite for an 18th century Virginia gentleman.   He pursued two intertwined interests: military arts and western expansion. At 16 he helped survey Shenandoah lands for Thomas, Lord Fairfax. Commissioned a lieutenant colonel in 1754, he fought the first skirmishes of what grew into the French and Indian War. The next year, as an aide to Gen. Edward Braddock, he escaped injury although four bullets ripped his coat and two horses were shot from under him.

From 1759 to the outbreak of the American Revolution, Washington managed his lands around Mount Vernon and served in the Virginia House of Burgesses. Married to a widow, Martha Dandridge Custis, he devoted himself to a busy and happy life. But like his fellow planters, Washington felt himself exploited by British merchants and hampered by British regulations. As the quarrel with the mother country grew acute, he moderately but firmly voiced his resistance to the restrictions.

When the Second Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia in May 1775, Washington, one of the Virginia delegates, was elected Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. On July 3, 1775, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, he took command of his ill-trained troops and embarked upon a war that was to last six grueling years.

He realized early that the best strategy was to harass the British. He reported to Congress, "we should on all Occasions avoid a general Action, or put anything to the Risque, unless compelled by a necessity, into which we ought never to be drawn." Ensuing battles saw him fall back slowly, then strike unexpectedly. Finally in 1781 with the aid of French allies--he forced the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.

Washington longed to retire to his fields at Mount Vernon. But he soon realized that the Nation under its Articles of Confederation was not functioning well, 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 President.

He did not infringe upon the policy making powers that he felt the Constitution gave Congress. But the determination of foreign policy became preponderantly a Presidential concern. When the French Revolution led to a major war between France and England, Washington refused to accept entirely the recommendations of either his Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, who was pro-French, or his Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, who was pro-British. Rather, he insisted upon a neutral course until the United States could grow stronger.

To his disappointment, two parties were developing by the end of his first term. Wearied of politics, feeling old, he retired at the end of his second. In his Farewell Address, he urged his countrymen to forswear excessive party spirit and geographical distinctions. In foreign affairs, he warned against long-term alliances.

Washington enjoyed less than three years of retirement at Mount Vernon, for he died of a throat infection December 14, 1799. For months the Nation mourned him.

George Washington Quiz

Answer True or False to the following:

1. George Washington wore a white wig -- to hide his receding hairline.

True / False

2. The story about young George, the hatchet, and the cherry tree is pure fiction.

True / False

3. Very little is known about his childhood--which is the way he wanted it.

True / False

4. He was only a fair military tactician and a terrible speller.

True / False

5. He wanted to abolish lotteries, card games, and horse races.

True / False

6. He had a terrible temper.

True / False

7. He lived frugally.

True / False

8. He became surveyor of Culpeper County at the age of 23.

True / False

9. He and Martha had 12 children.

True / False

10. He was 6 feet 3 and weighed more than 200 pounds.

True / False

11. He was born to great wealth.

True / False

12. His name is given to the nation's capital, one state, 33 counties, seven mountains, nine colleges, and 121 post offices.

True / False

Results of the quiz

1. False is CORRECT: He kept his own dark brown hair lightly powdered.

2. True is CORRECT: The story of the cherry tree was dreamed up by a biographer who never met him.

3. False is INCORRECT: Very little is known about George's childhood because he kept the details of his childhood to himself.

4. False is INCORRECT: His great strengths were in his qualities of leadership, endurance, and the ability to inspire those around him. He had painstakingly taught himself to read and was always self-conscious about his limited schooling.

5. True is INCORRECT: He did not want to abolish lotteries, card games, and horses races. Along with dancing, those were a few of his favorite things.

6. False is INCORRECT: George had a terrible temper. Those who witnessed it said it was like a volcano erupting.

7. True is INCORRECT: He was not frugal - he enjoyed living lavishly, and spent every cent of his $25,000 annual salary as President

8. True is INCORRECT: He was surveyor of Culpeper County by the age of 17 (not 23)!

9. True is INCORRECT: George and Martha did not have 12 children. They raised two children from her previous marriage but had no offspring of their own.

10. True is CORRECT: George stood 6 feet 3 inches high and weighed 200 pounds, and at 50, he could throw a cannonball farther than any of his young officers.

11. True is INCORRECT: He was not born to great wealth, he grew wealthy through fortunate inheritance and a good marriage.

12. True is CORRECT: Apart from the nation's capital, 33 counties, seven mountains, nine colleges and 121 post offices, his image is on zillions of quarters and dollar bills!

Hartson  S. Dowd

hsdowd@telus.net