PATREON:   / generalistpapers  

When George Washington was six years old, his father gave him a hatchet as a gift. When his father was away, young George went outside into the yard of his family's estate. And chopped down one of his father's prized cherry trees. When his father returned from business, he found the tree chopped down. He was angry and immediately went to his son and asked.
“George, did you chop down this cherry tree?”
And George replied honestly, “Yes father, I cannot tell a lie.”
At least, that's how the story goes. But is it true?

Sources:
https://www.mountvernon.org/library/d...
Inventing George Washington: America’s Founder, in Myth and Memory by Edward G. Lengel
https://www.nps.gov/articles/georgew...
An Analysis of the Scholarly Consensus Regarding George Washington and the Cherry Tree “Myth” by James Bish & Richard Gardiner, Ph.D.

Music:
Painting the World by Raymond Grouse
Music provided by Epidemic Sound.