CHERRYTREE PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS SERIES

Heth was seen as credible because she was telling stories that people already knew. The stories she told about Washington-including the cherry tree myth-were right out of Weems. (If true, this would have made her 161 years old.) Heth had many physical characteristics of extreme old age. He made her into a sideshow attraction, billing her as an enslaved woman who had raised George Washington. Heth was an elderly enslaved woman purchased by P.T. Follow-up questions at the end of McGuffey’s cherry tree story reinforce its message: “How did his father feel toward him when he made his confession? What may we expect by confessing our faults?” 5īy the 1830s, the cherry tree myth was firmly entrenched in American culture, as the case of Joice Heth clearly shows. Washington provided the perfect role model, and McGuffey turned the cherry tree myth into a story specifically aimed at children. Both men also believed that the best way to improve the moral fiber of society was to educate children. For example, when Washington’s father explains the sin of lying, McGuffey has young George respond tearfully, 'Father, do I ever tell lies?” 4Īs ministers concerned with moral and religious reform, McGuffey and Weems had similar motives for writing. In McGuffey's version of the story, Washington's language was formalized, and he showed more deference to his father’s authority. McGuffey's version of the cherry tree myth appeared in his Eclectic Second Reader for almost twenty years, including the German-language edition from 1854. First published in 1836, the readers remained in print for nearly a hundred years and sold over 120 million copies. His books, known as McGuffey’s Readers, gave him the perfect opportunity. McGuffey was a Presbyterian minister and a college professor who was passionate about teaching morality and religion to children.

CHERRYTREE PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS SERIES

Weems wrote his version of the cherry tree myth to appeal to a broad audience, but decades later William Holmes McGuffey composed a series of grammar school textbooks that recast the anecdote as a children's story. As one Pennsylvanian observed, “The facts and anecdotes collected by the author are well calculated to exhibit the character of that illustrious man, and Christian hero.” 3 Weems knew what the public wanted to read, and as a result of his success he is considered one of the fathers of popular history. Washington’s achievements as a general and president were familiar to people in the early nineteenth century, but little was known about his relationship with his father, who died when Washington was only eleven years old. The cherry tree myth and other stories showed readers that Washington’s public greatness was due to his private virtues. A Federalist admirer of order and self-discipline, Weems wanted to present Washington as the perfect role model, especially for young Americans. Weems was also able to counter the early tradition of deifying Washington by focusing on his private virtues, rather than his public accomplishments. Profit was certainly one of them he rightly assumed that if he wrote a popular history book about Washington it would sell. Weems had several motives when he wrote The Life of Washington and the cherry tree myth. However the cherry tree myth did not appear until the book’s fifth edition was published in 1806.Īlthough there were other myths about Washington in Weems’s book, the cherry tree myth became the most popular. As he explained to a publisher in January 1800, “Washington you know is gone! Millions are gaping to read something about him…My plan! I give his history, sufficiently minute…I then go on to show that his unparalleled rise and elevation were due to his Great Virtues.” 2 Weems’ biography, The Life of Washington, was first published in 1800 and was an instant bestseller. After Washington’s death in 1799 people were anxious to learn about him, and Weems was ready to supply the demand.

Ironically, this iconic story about the value of honesty was invented by one of Washington’s first biographers, an itinerant minister and bookseller named Mason Locke Weems. Young George bravely said, “I cannot tell a lie…I did cut it with my hatchet.” Washington’s father embraced him and rejoiced that his son’s honesty was worth more than a thousand trees. When his father discovered what he had done, he became angry and confronted him. In the original story, when Washington was six years old he received a hatchet as a gift and damaged his father’s cherry tree. The cherry tree myth is the most well-known and longest enduring legend about George Washington.

Cherrytree public school teachers