Mason Weems was an American author who published a widely read biography of George Washington. Weems recognized that there would be demand for a book about the beloved George Washington and he was quick to jump on the opportunity, by publishing his book one year after Washington died in 1799. The book was enormously successful and very popular with the American public. However, as a historical work the book has little merit. Weems’ account of Washington’s life is not believable because he injects fiction into every page.
Washington the Saint
Mason Weems portrays Washington as a saint of the highest virtue. In his book he shows not one fault of Washington and glorifies and exaggerates his virtues. Weems invented many stories about Washington to achieve this end. Most of the stories are impossible to verify and have no grounding in fact.
A well know story about Washington that is widely recognized as false is the cherry tree story. In this story young Washington is gifted a hatchet, which he uses to cut down one of his father’s prized cherry trees. When his father confronts Washington about the matter, asking if Washington had cut down the cherry tree, Washington declares that he can not tell a lie, so he admits to cutting down the tree. Washington’s father then embraces him exclaiming how happy he is that his son is not a liar. This story is unprovable. Weems had no evidence for it. He made it up to overplay Washington’s honesty.
Another story glorifying Washington’s athletic virtues is the story of him throwing a stone across the Rappahannock River. In this story young Washington throws a stone across the Rappahannock River (a distance of 300 ft) to impress his friends. There is no way a boy could have done this. For example, a major league baseball pitcher tried to throw a stone across the Rappahannock to see if it was possible. He was able to do it on his 3rd try, just barely. Do you think Washington as a boy could have thrown like a grown major league baseball pitcher? It seems unlikely to me to say the least. Clearly, this is Weems, once again, making up a story to glorify Washington.
I could give more examples, but this gives you the idea. The book is full of unprovable stories. As a biography of Washington’s life this book does a very poor job. There is just as much fiction as there is fact. I wouldn’t take a word of the book as a good history of Washington’s life. The reader shouldn’t trust Weems to deliver the facts; he just wanted to glorify saint Washington.
The book is messianic. It puts George Washington in the place of Jesus and it declares the U.S.A the Holy Land. The book was popular with Americans for this reason. They liked to believe that there was something special about their country and that the man who is seen as it’s father was a saint. This theme goes all the way back to the John Winthrop and his “city on a hill” idea of America. (John Winthrop helped create the Massachusetts Bay colony during the original colonization of America.) Americans like to think they are special and this book reinforced that view.
Conclusion
Mason Weems was a terrible biographer, but he was an excellent author. He wrote this book to sell, not for history. He creates fictional stories about Washington that cannot be proven. Some of his stories have even persisted to this day. The book glorified Washington and America. It did not give an accurate depiction of his life. However, Americans like to think they are special, so Weems’ book sold and it sold well. Even so, the book should not be taken as fact.
Interesting read. I even remember hearing about Washington and the Cherry tree.