George Washington’s birthday (February 22nd) has been celebrated in the U.S. since the 1800’s. Gifting a 3-day weekend to federal employees in 1968, the Uniform Monday Holiday Act moved the celebration to the 3rd Monday in February and added Abraham Lincoln’s February birthday (February 12th) to the recognition. While there are several half-baked myths about each man, two myths stand out.
Myths are part of every culture. They filter down through generations as “truth” while crisscrossing psychological and sociological issues with embellished narratives. Myths often promote a protagonist (hero) as well as some perceived antagonist. In the past a moral accompanied myth storying. However, amoral and malicious myths also exist.
Washington’s cherry tree chopping is a favorite moral myth and still is passed along to school children. Historians have discounted its truthfulness despite its message of honesty! The myth was invented by one of Washington’s first biographers, traveling minister Mason Locke Weems. The first edition of Pastor Weems’ The Life of Washington was published in 1800, a year after Washington died, but the cherry tree fable did not surface until the book’s 5th edition in 1806.
The cherry tree myth is about both parental love and truth-telling. As told by Pastor Weems, when young George was 6 years old, he was given a hatchet and exercised his strength on his father’s cherry tree. When Augustine Washington discovered that George was the culprit, he was angry with his son. George admitted the deed, saying, “I cannot tell a lie.” His father forgave him and said that his son’s honesty was worth more than 1000 trees. George was only 11 when his father died.
As self-educated lawyer Lincoln was enroute to inauguration in Washington, D.C. in 1861, he gave a speech in the New Jersey Senate. He named books that he read in childhood that gave him lessons for life – Pilgrim’s Progress, Aesop’s Fables, Lessons in Elocution and The Life of George Washington. He also stopped at Independence Hall in Philadelphia on Washington’s birthday, delivering these sentiments: “I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence.”
With such moral convictions tucked under Lincoln’s hat — who said in his Second Inaugural Address, “…with malice toward none, with charity for all” – it is disturbing that the following myth about him was malicious with political intent. The myth stated that Lincoln owned slaves, although neither he nor his father owned slaves. While his wife’s relatives in Kentucky owned slaves, this was not Lincoln’s practice.
Fake news myths are rampant today with the deliberate intent to misinform people. When any narrative is a myth but simply repeated frequently, people tend to believe it is true. The children are listening.
Bake a cherry pie in honor of presidents with truth stories! Throw in some blueberries as I did to honor both Republican and Democratic Presidents.
Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz
265. What myths influenced your childhood?
266. What books have taught you moral lessons for life?
Pearls of Peace: A Family Psychologist’s Circle-of-Life Blog 