Historic Fact and Fiction
George Washington, Tall Tales, and Tough Rules of Behavior
Cherry-tree chopping and pitching coins aside, today’s social climate could take heed
George Washington, America’s first President, did a lot of noteworthy things. However, he didn’t chop down the often-cited cherry tree. If that’s tough to deal with, consider that he absolutely didn’t pitch a silver dollar across the Potomac River — it’s a mile wide, for goodness sake. If it pains you to think of that as a myth, rest assured that his grandson said Grandpa George actually did hurl a chunk of rock all the way across the Rappahannock River.
However, history is often full of tall tales, and it should be noted that old George also did not write the often-quoted Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior commonly attributed to the old boy. You could say George Washington wrote those hundred and ten rules in a way, but he certainly didn’t compose them.
Where the heck did they come from?
Research turns up the firm fact that Georgie copied out the long list of rules as a school exercise before he was 16 years old. Apparently, he shared them and adapted them to the rest of his life, something youngsters of any generation could consider…
