Why George Washington Had Two Birthdays | Footnote to History
Can you imagine having two birthdays every year? Learn more about the curious case of George Washington’s double birthdays.
By Judson D. Hale|Feb 22 2021|
Coffee By Design | Portland, Maine
Photo Credit : Katherine KeenanThat’s right. Birthdays with an “s”…
Can you imagine having two birthdays every year? Well, for 47 of his 67 years, George Washington did. The first was the date on which he was born in 1732, February 11th. But wait—wasn’t his birthday always on February 22nd? Not always. In 1752, you see, when George Washington was twenty, Great Britain adopted the new, improved calendar instituted by Pope Gregory the 13th late in the 16th century and proceeded to impose it on us as we were then colonies of Great Britain. This newly imposed Gregorian calendar, as it became known, fixed the length of the solar year at 365 days, to which was added one day every four years if said year was divisible by four (i.e. Leap Year).
The switch to the Gregorian calendar from the old Julian calendar (named for Julius Caesar) was because the old calendar had become out of whack relative to the sun’s and earth’s cycles by ten whole days. By 1752, it was off by eleven whole days. So those eleven days were simply dropped that year. The day following February 1, for instance, was not February 2nd. It was February 11th. So George Washington’s old birthday on February 11th jumped all the way to February 22nd.
Although at first many colonial communities refused to go along with this, George Washington apparently took the change in stride and, from 1752 on, accepted February 22nd as his birthday. On the other hand, he didn’t completely ignore his old February 11th birthday. For instance in 1799 he attended a gala birthday party in his honor in Alexandria, Virginia, on February 11th, writing in his diary that night that he “went up to Alexandria for the celebration of my birthday.”
Eleven days later, on February 22nd, 1799, he celebrated his second birthday of that year which turned out to be the last of his life. He died ten months later, on the evening of December 14, 1799.
I think it’s ironic that today we don’t really celebrate either one of George Washington’s two February birthdays. The closest we come is our celebration of Presidents’ Day on the 3rd Monday in February.
Incidentally, Abraham Lincoln’s birthday is on February 12th this year. Actually, it’s always on February 12th. I like it better that way. And one birthday a year is probably enough.
Listen to Jud tell the tale:
One spring vacation from school we went to Washington and were too late for the cherry blossoms because it was very hot there that spring! We took a side trip to Mt. Vernon, which I just loved. I remember every aspect of being there and I have always been a real history buff! I remember reading this article previously. We had lunch in the restaurant at Mt. Vernon, too. That was really fun. The waitresses were dressed in period clothing and the food was really good (all authentic recipes!).
Please note that GW was born in 1731, also due to Julian calendar!
Judson Hale left out a bit. The Calendar Act of 1750 not only lopped 11 days out of the year in 1752, it also changed the START of the New Year. This change was done first, in 1751. Prior to this Act of Parliament the year started March 25th; starting the year in the spring was the old practice; there are articles on-line that explain when various countries adopted January 1 for New Year’s Day. So Washington WAS actually born February 11, 1731. Now by the Act there were to be TWO short years: (1) 1751 began March 25th and ended December 31st. (2) 1752 began January 1st but eleven days were dropped in September. Provisions were made in the act about what to do about 90-day notes and such things. Yes, there were riots (the Calender Act Riots) in London about this an the windows of the Houses of Parliament smashed by the rioters who screamed “Give us back our eleven days!” I find it interesting to learn Washington for many years celebrated TWO birthdays. If the Calendar Act hadn’t been passed his last birthdays would have been celebrated in February 1798 while he would have died in December 1799 only ten months later. The Old State House in Boston had on display the bill for cleaning the Royal portraits in the Council Chamber. The King’s portrait was taken down in September 1741, brought back and re-installed on March 4, 1741–and the bill submitted for payment on March 28, 1742. On slow days I would show this display to visitors.
Don’t even ask about the coming of Standard (Railroad) Time! Except the government had NOTHING to do with it and the Attorney General of the US even issued a formal opinion in 1883 saying Standard Time was illegal. The railroads did it anyways on Sunday November 18, 1883 and over 90% of the country changed with them.
Wikipedia on “give us back our eleven days”:
Some history books report rioting in reaction to the calendar change, with people demanding that their ‘eleven days’ be returned. However, this is very likely a myth, based on just two primary sources—The World, a satirical journal of Lord Chesterfield, and An Election Entertainment, a painting by the satirist William Hogarth. There are no contemporary records of any such events in the riot depositions at the Public Record Office.
The author wrote: “[The] Gregorian calendar, as it became known, fixed the length of the solar year at 365 days, to which was added one day every four years if said year was divisible by four (i.e. Leap Year).”
This isn’t correct. It was the OLD calendar (the Julian calendar) which added a leap day every four years. The new, Gregorian calendar adjusted that slightly: it added an extra day on MOST 4-year intervals, but it skipped 3 out of 4 years ending with “00”. So, while the Julian calendar would have counted the years 1400 and 1500 as leap years, the Gregorian calendar would not.
When I was a kid, we got school holidays for both Lincoln’s & Washington’s birthdays. Probably just a simpler explanation for kids than the whole calendar change confusion. These days, kids get ripped off of 2nd president’s day. Trust me,Kids, you’ve gained much more than you lost.
It appears that the Mayan calendar is more accurate than any of the old world calendars. How come? What did ancient Americans know that Europeans did not?
It may be a question of politics and finance, not knowledge; IIUC, simply fixing the year at a standard length (plus leap day as needed) was a major reform over the year’s end being frequently moved to change (e.g.) term lengths in the Roman Republic. OTOH, it’s not clear the Maya calendar was in fact more accurate — it’s the subject of a lot of … mysticism.
I’m in favor of George Washington’s Birthday as Feb 22, but I’m biased. That’s my birthday and I got so excited when I found out as a child that it was Washington’s. I believe it’s what sparked my interest/slight obsession with American history.
A few corrections/clarifications:
1). This article fails to explain why the Julian calendar lagged behind – it treated every fourth year as a leap year whereas the Gregorian calendar treated every fourth year as a leap year except if said year was divisible by 100, but not 400. Thus, in a 400 year cycle, exactly 303 years were common years and the remaining 97 were leap years.
2). George Washington (likely) considered his birthdate to be February 11, 1731 since the Julian calendar treated March as the first month (hence the reason September-December are derived for the Latin words for 7-10, not 9-12).
3). The change in 1752 (inexplicably) took place after September 2 (which was followed by September 14), not in February. And the Gregorian calendar had already been adopted by Catholic nations as early as 1582 (and was therefore not that new).