By Mary O’KEEFE

My original focus of this week’s column was Washington’s Birthday. A lot of us know it as President’s Day; however, the holiday is officially Washington’s Birthday. In 1951, Congress had proposed changing the name to encompass all the leaders of the United States, but they actually never got around to voting on it. Then in 1968 they did pass the Uniform Monday Holiday Act that moved the observance of several holidays. For example, Washington’s Birthday is celebrated on the third Monday of February, Memorial Day was moved to the last Monday of May and Veterans Day moved to the fourth Monday of October. George Washington’s Birthday is on Feb. 22. There is no federal holiday titled “Presidents Day,” which is a generic term in part created by retailers, and there was never a national holiday for President Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday, which is on Feb. 12. According to the Constitution Center, there had been several attempts in Congress to approve a holiday for Lincoln’s Birthday but it never happened. 

President’s Day – again, not an actual holiday – is more about sales than the recognition of former Presidents. 

So Monday was Washington’s Birthday, a national holiday, and that is why I wanted to learn more about the first President of the United States. 

There is a lot to know about George Washington. There are as many opinions of who this leader was as there are books and blogs about him. And there is a lot of misinformation about the President. First of all, it does not appear he chopped down a cherry tree and then stated he “could not tell a lie” and confessed to his father. Most historians have stated this is just a story. The story appears to be traced by to Washington’s first biographer Mason Locke Weems. After Washington’s death in 1799, people wanted to learn more about their former leader.

According to mountvernon.org, the tale of honesty was invented by Weems. As he explained to a publisher in January 1800: “Washington you know is gone! Millions are gaping to read something about him … My plan is to give his history sufficiently minute … I then go on to show that his unparalleled rise and elevation were due to his Great Virtues.” 

So alternative facts are not such a new thing after all. 

“The Life of Washington” was first published in 1800; however, the cherry tree myth didn’t get into the publication until the fifth edition in 1806.

Washington was just 11 years old when his father died. The family had just enough money to get by but a formal education was a luxury the family could not afford. Washington continued his studies with the help of tutors. 

He was born in 1732 during a time called The Age of Reason, which was between 1685 and 1815. It was when European politics, philosophy, science and communications were “radically reoriented,” according to history.com.

It was also known as a time of Enlightenment. It is stated this Enlightenment inspired the American and French Revolutions. 

In an essay written by German philosopher Immanuel Kant titled, “What is Enlightenment?” the philosopher summed up the era’s motto as “Dare to know! Have courage to use your own reason!”

“Its roots are usually traced to 1680s England where in the span of three years Issac Newton published his ‘Principia Mathematica’ (1686) and John Locke his ‘Essay Concerning Human Understanding’ (1689) – two works that provided the scientific, mathematical and philosophical toolkit for the Enlightenment’s major advances,” according to history.com.

This was the age the U.S. forefathers, and revolutionary men and women, were born into. 

Washington was part of a new generation of readers with multiple access to printed books, almanacs, lectures and newspapers like never before. He reportedly followed these conversations from scholars and philosophers to make him a better soldier, farmer and eventually President. 

Washington built a library that would consist of over 1,200 titles and by the end of his life he had come to see the advancement of knowledge as a national priority, according to the Mount Vernon website. 

He was a reluctant leader, according to some reports. He was happy to be part of the leadership but was a bit hesitant to take the reins. 

More than a few historians have described Washington as a bit player shunted to the wings by more dynamic actors like Hamilton and Jefferson – “a front for one, a foil for the other,” according to author Richard Norton Smith’s article “The Surprising George Washington” in the National Archives. 

The myth of his having bad teeth is half true. The legend goes that he had wooden false teeth but in fact he had teeth made of rhinoceros tusk. What does seem to be a fact was that he was in constant pain due to his teeth issues. 

Washington  was also a slave owner. He inherited 10 enslaved people when his father died. At the time, the economy and social structure of Virginia, like many other states, depended on the labor of enslaved Africans and their descendants to cultivate cash crops like tobacco. When he married Martha Dandridge Custis in 1759 she brought 84 enslaved people to Mount Vernon and by 1799 the number of slaves had grown to153, according to the Mount Vernon website. 

Washington’s views on slavery changed over time. Economic and oral concerns led him to question slavery after the Revolutionary War, though he never lobbied publicly for abolition. Unable to extricate himself from slavery during his lifetime, in his will Washington chose to free the 123 enslaved people he owned. He apparently publicly avoided the issue of slavery believing that bitter debates over slavery could tear apart the fragile nation, according to the Mount Vernon website. 

I know we have to think about the norm of the day and try to understand his decision to stay quiet about slavery, but it does seem odd to me that this person who honored enlightenment could turn his back on something he knew was so terribly wrong. 

People in the U.S. wanted to trust Washington even though they were still, according to reports, very nervous about moving into another monarchy. Washington was never offered to be king; he knew all too well what the public wanted and they did not want the type of government they just fought to get away from. Washington was a symbol of leadership – albeit a reluctant one at times.  

“Even during his lifetime, Washington was a figure deliberately set apart, wrapped in a paternal mystique until it became a psychological straightjacket. An observer writing in the spring of 1790 said that the President wore ‘a look of habitual gravity, sobriety that stopped short of sadness.’ It is not difficult to understand why. At the height of his fame, Washington was no longer at the peak of his form. His memory was failing, or so he claimed. His hearing was unreliable. Most of all, he dreaded the presidency’s inevitable toll on his popularity and selfless reputation. ‘I fear I must bid adieu to happiness,’ he blurted out to a close friend only days before his inaugural, ‘for I see nothing but clouds and darkness before me; and I call God to witness that the day which shall carry me again into public life will be a more distressing one than any I have ever yet known,’” according to the National Archives. 

So even when it was not officially on his head … heavy was the crown. 

The weather report, for the first time in a long time, is pretty calm. Today the high should be around 69 degrees Fahrenheit with winds of about 15 mph, gusts up to 25 mph. Friday will be in the mid 70s with gusts at 20 mph. The weekend is predicted to be calm with increasing temperatures in the high 70s.