HistoryFacts: Washington Chopped Down the Cherry Tree

 

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Myth: Washington Chopped Down His Father’s Cherry Tree

Washington telling his father, “I cannot tell a lie… I did cut it with my hatchet,” is coincidentally one of the biggest lies about this larger-than-life figure. Legend says that George Washington received a hatchet as a gift when he was 6 years old, and  took the ax to one of his father’s beloved cherry trees. During the subsequent confrontation with his father, he came clean, unable to tell a lie. The encounter was recreated in artist John C. McRae’s 1867 engraving “Father, I Can Not Tell a Lie: I Cut the Tree.” There’s just one problem: None of this ever happened. The famous legend was devised by biographer Mason Locke Weems in the 1806 edition of his book “The Life of Washington.” Published shortly after Washington’s death, the book immortalized the founding father as a national hero with a steadfast moral compass despite his faults, including the ownership of hundreds of enslaved people at his Mount Vernon estate.
Note:  The above comes directly from their website.

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