ASIDE: A Few Interesting Facts to Wrap-up Washington

• The American mule, a cross between a male donkey and a female horse, can trace its roots back to Mount Vernon where Washington pioneered the breeding of them in America.

• Washington was mostly deaf by the end of his presidency. William Maclay wrote of a dinner with the president that, “he seemed more in good humor than ever I saw him, tho he was so deaf that I believe he heard little of the conversation.”

•  Washington instituted our Thanksgiving holiday to thank God for the “tranquility, union, and plenty” of the country.

• Middle Eastern terrorism was not just a twenty-first century issue. North African pirates disrupted Mediterranean trade and would demand bribes under the threat of forced conversion to Islam. Washington once paid a bribe to secure the release of 11 American merchant ships and 100 prisoners, an act that led to the creation of the first US warships inaugurating the US Navy.

• While the Whiskey Rebellion wasn’t a highlight of Washington’s presidency, it did allow for the only time in US history where the sitting president supervised troops in a combat situation. Washington was 62 years old at the time.

• To highlight how unusual Washington’s behavior in relinquishing his leadership roles seemed to European onlookers, King George III said that by giving up his military and political power Washington proved himself to be “the greatest character of the age.”

• A fitting quote to wrap up Washington comes in a letter he wrote at the end of his second term to John Trumbull. Many were imploring Washington to stand for a third term, but he had made up his mind to retire: “I trust that the good sense of our countrymen will guard the public weal against this and every other innovation, and that, although we may be a little wrong now and then, we shall return to the right path with more avidity.”