Even those Americans ignorant of their country’s history will immediately recognize the name of George Washington.
Washington’s portrait has appeared on the one-dollar bill since 1869. Our nation’s capital and one of our states are named after him, as well as 31 towns, 263 townships, 31 counties, and five universities. At least two famous Americans—millionaire and builder of Asheville’s Biltmore Estate, George Washington Vanderbilt II; and agricultural scientist George Washington Carver—carried his name. He is the most prominent of the four American presidents on Mount Rushmore, and over 200 other statues and memorials around the country honor him. His Mount Vernon home averages one million visitors every year.
And let’s not forget that we still celebrate the man’s birthday.
The Backstory to Presidents’ Day
This Feb. 17 brings us another Presidents’ Day, when government buildings, schools, and some businesses close up shop, and retailers offer some of the year’s biggest sales. Yet the federal government designates this holiday as “Washington’s Birthday.”
A poster letting people know that no business will be conducted on Washington's Birthday (then celebrated on Feb. 22). Library of Congress. Public Domain
Here’s the reason for this discrepancy. Until 1968, the nation recognized Feb. 22, Washington’s Birthday, as a legal holiday. In that year, however, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which created our current system of three-day weekends and which also designated the third Monday in February as Washington’s “birthday.” Not only did this change ensure that the holiday would never occur on Feb. 22, but it also meant that the movable date would always fall between Washington’s birthday and Lincoln’s, which is Feb. 12.
Consequently, advertising and popular usage titled the holiday “Presidents’ Day,” which first referred to Washington and Lincoln, but was then extended to honor and celebrate all presidents. So, while the federal government still officially recognizes “Washington’s Birthday,” most of the country has abandoned that honorific for the fuzzier notion that all of our presidents deserve their share of the spotlight.
Bygone Celebrations
Here’s another little-known fact about the birthday of the man who was “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.” Technically, Washington wasn’t born on Feb. 22, 1732, but rather a year earlier on Feb. 11, 1731. Great Britain’s move from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar reset the date of his birth to the one we know and recognize today.
As Washington won renown as commander of the American Army during the Revolutionary War and then as the first president under the brand-new Constitution, friends and admirers organized parties centered on his birthday. The first of these public celebrations took place in 1778 during the bleak winter encampment at Valley Forge, when a fife and drum band serenaded the general. The following year, “very elegant entertainment” was held at Williamsburg’s Raleigh Tavern to honor “the saviour of his country, and the brave asserter of the rights and liberties of mankind.”
These parties, toasts, and felicitations became more widespread and elaborate during and after his presidency. In 1799, for instance, Washington recorded his attendance at a Birthnight Ball, where “Many Manoeuvres were performed by the Uniform Corps and an elegant Ball & Supper at Night.”
George Washington escorting Nelly Custis at Mount Vernon on her wedding day, Feb. 22, 1799. This was also his last year celebrating his birthday. Wellcome Collection/CC BY 4.0 International
Following his death later that year, Americans continued to pay tribute to Washington with unofficial birthday commemorations. In 1832, to honor the centennial of Washington’s birthday, Congress voted to adjourn all business for the day. In 1862, on the 130th anniversary of Washington’s birth and to bolster morale for the Union cause during the Civil War, the Senate had “Washington’s Farewell Address” read before a joint session of Congress. Revived in 1896, this practice of a senator reading Washington’s address aloud in chambers on his birthday has continued to the present day.
In 1879, Congress made Washington’s birthday one of the official holidays for federal employees in the District of Columbia. Six years later, all federal employees were included in this arrangement, and Washington’s Birthday became a full federal holiday.
An Abundance of Accomplishments
Thomas Jefferson was the chief designer of the Declaration of Independence, but his birthday passes unnoticed except by Jefferson aficionados. James Madison is “the Father of the Constitution,” but no one lights any candles on a cake for him.
So, why George Washington?
Certainly, his dual role in the founding of our country accounts for his special place in history. From start to finish of the war against the British, Washington commanded the army, and though he lost more battles than he won, his persistence and ever-improving wartime strategy brought victory to his forces and acclaim both at home and abroad.
His two-term presidency served as an example and set a number of precedents for future holders of that office. It greatly benefited the new republic that as president of the Constitutional Convention, Washington witnessed first-hand the debates and compromises that had gone into the making of the Constitution. When he became president of the United States, he brought those insights with him into office. He also instituted the inaugural address and the cabinet system, neither of which were a part of the Constitution. His “Farewell Address” is still read and studied today for its wisdom, and by restricting himself to two terms in office, he set a precedent that is now the law of the land.
Broadside of George Washington's Farewell Address Part 1, 1796. Public Domain
Such deeds certainly won the hearts of his countrymen. And deeds, as the saying goes, speak louder than words.
But in Washington’s case, character speaks even louder than deeds.
Character Made the Man
In his 1,200-page book “George Washington’s Sacred Fire,” in which he labors to refute modern claims that Washington was a Deist and not a Christian, Peter Lillback writes: “A careful study of Washington’s use of the word ‘character’ shows that it was profoundly important to his view of human conduct. The word itself appears almost fifteen hundred times in his writings.”
From an early age, Washington demonstrated a fascination with character and the virtues, and believed that these played an immense role in the affairs of mankind. At age 14, he copied out “110 Rules of Civility” and then proceeded to try and live by them. Most of these rules have to do with the etiquette of the time, but others, like “Labour to keep alive in your Breast that Little Spark of Ce[les]tial fire called Conscience,” are very much aimed at character development.
In an Appendix to “Sacred Fire,” Lillback includes 47 reflections on George Washington written between 1774 and 1821 by Americans and international figures, most of whom personally knew him. Again and again in their descriptions, words like integrity, virtue, honesty, sound judgment, patience, and humility appear. Few of these commentators flatter Washington’s reputation by praising his battlefield exploits—though several praise his bravery—or his actions as president; all are clearly far more impressed by his character.
An engraving by John C. McRae titled "Father, I Can Not Tell a Lie: I Cut the Tree," shows a 6-year-old George Washington confessing to his father that it was indeed he who had damaged the cherry tree. Public Domain
One of the commentators selected by Lillback is then-President John Adams, who said of Washington immediately after his death: “His example is now complete, and it will teach wisdom and virtue to magistrates, citizens, and men, not only in the present age, but in future generations, as long as our history shall be read.”
For this year’s holiday, we can read and learn some of that history—and have some fun—by paying a visit to Mount Vernon’s online site. Here are virtual tours, articles, activities for kids and adults alike, and even a cookbook’s worth of recipes for the cooks in the family.
Happy Washington’s Birthday to all!
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Jeff Minick
Author
Jeff Minick has four children and a growing platoon of grandchildren. For 20 years, he taught history, literature, and Latin to seminars of homeschooling students in Asheville, N.C. He is the author of two novels, “Amanda Bell” and “Dust on Their Wings,” and two works of nonfiction, “Learning as I Go” and “Movies Make the Man.” Today, he lives and writes in Front Royal, Va.
