In both the first and second election for President (1789 and 1792) after the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, General George Washington received only 69 votes. But at that time, it was a landslide.

Since there was no popular vote for president by citizens at the time, only members of the elected electoral college cast votes, making Washington the only president to win 100 percent of the vote. 

Congress set the president’s salary at $25,000, (worth about $500,000 in 1789), a sum that remained unchanged until after the Civil War.  Their thought was that the office should be available to any man, not just the wealthy who could afford to work for little or no pay.

Washington, as the president of a new nation and a new democracy, wanted his title to be less formal and to avoid resembling any of the titles that might be used on European royalty. Suggestion as to how to address the president ranged from "His Exalted High Mightiness", to "His Highness the President of the United States and Protector of their Liberties. He preferred simply "Mr. President".

Surveyor, farmer, revolutionary, soldier, statesman, president, whiskey maker, and finally country gentleman, Washington set the standard for future presidents.

His image is on the U.S. quarter and $1 bill, he’s honored on Mt. Rushmore, and the nation’s capitol city is named after him. 

In the DC area, there are several major monuments to George Washington; the Washington Monument, the George Washington Masonic Memorial Temple in Alexandria, along with many places in Virginia he visited (creating the classic "George Washington slept here" line). But none are more notable than his home and estate in Mt. Vernon.

George Washington’s Mt. Vernon Estate is one of the most well maintained historical homes in America.  I recently took a tour of the renovated museum and education center and it is a must-see site. Besides the house and grounds, the museum completes the story of George Washington, from young man to his death.  With a large collection of personal possessions and images of the president, it is a learning experience for kids and adults alike.

The center includes 23 galleries, ten original videos, and over 500 historical artifacts. There are also three life-size wax models of Washington as a 19-year-old surveyor, a 45-year-old general, and lastly as a 57-year-old president, taking the oath of office.

George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens
3200 Mount Vernon Memorial Highway
Mount Vernon, VA, 22121 (map it)

Dates and Times – Daily

• November through February, 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
• April through August, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. 
• March, September, and October, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Admission - Adults – $13.00, Seniors – $12.00, kids 6-11 with an adult – $6.00, under 5 – free.  

Nearest Metro subway station – Huntington – Yellow line, the catch the Fairfax Connector bus to Mount Vernon.

You may also reach Mt. Vernon form Washington, DC via Gray Line Bus Tours or on a Tourmobile.

Parking – free parking is available.

Images – personal collection – © 2008 – Jon Rochetti 

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Post from: The DC Traveler

His place in history as one of our greatest presidents is memorialized with the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, DC.  And next year marks the 200th anniversary of his birth, and the memorial to his life will be rededicated in a major ceremony.

But one of the most notable moments in Lincoln’s life, and in American history, occurred in 1863 in a field in southern Pennsylvania, just 90 miles north of Washington, DC. 

The sixteenth U.S. President, Abraham Lincoln, gave a short speech, dedicating a battlefield where four months earlier saw the deadliest fighting of the Civil War.  The speech would become one of the most famous given by any U.S. President and a testament to the nation, its fallen warriors, equality and freedom.  The speech was the Gettysburg Address.

Just months before at Gettysburg, 8,000 soldiers from both sides had died, and more than 17,000 had been wounded in the bloodiest three day battle of the Civil War.

Timothy O’Sullivan, a photographer, took the now famous “The Harvest of Death” photo of the dead just after the battle.  For many Americans, after seeing the image in newspapers, it was their first exposure to the true horror,  devastation and mass death caused by the Civil War.

Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address helped calm some Northerners, who were starting to think that the South should be allowed to leave the Union after hearing of the massive amount of causalities.    

Other than the founding fathers, Lincoln is probably the most significant president in America’s history, as he preserved the nation when it was most at risk, ended slavery and ultimately died serving his country.  He was shot at Ford’s Theatre just 6 days after the Confederacy surrendered, ending the war.  He died the following morning at Petersen’s boarding house, across the street from the theater.

But Lincoln also impacted the country through legislation that was not directly related to the Civil War, including signing into law, The Homestead Act.  It is considered by many historians to be one of the most landmark pieces of legislation in American history.  The act made available 270 million acres of government land in the undeveloped American western frontier, roughly 10% of all land in the nation, to men willing to homestead. Offered in 160 acre parcels, any male over the age of 21, who could pay the the $18.00 processing fee, could buy a piece of land.  The only caveat, the owner had to live on the land for at least 5 years to maintain ownership.  The act started the massive westward land rush and expanded the nation into the Great Plains and Rockies.

For some interesting fact about Lincoln and a transcript of the 1863 Gettysburg Address, CLICK MORE —>

Here’s some interesting trivia and facts about our 16th President:

• As a boy, Abe Lincoln had a couple near brushes with death, having been kicked unconscious by a horse and later, he fell into a creek and had to be saved by a neighbor. 
• Lincoln was never affiliated with an organized church, and was somewhat of an outspoken nonbeliever. His position on religion became a campaign issue when he ran for President.
• While not be religious, he used scripture in his famous Divided Nation speech, quoting “If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand,” (Mark 3:25).
• He was the only U.S. President to obtain a patent, for a device for lifting ships in shallow waters.
• Lincoln was the 1st president to publicly support giving women the right to vote.
• After his son’s death, he attended several seances with his wife.
• During the election of 1860, Lincoln received exactly zero votes from the ten southern states.
• Abe was friendly with black abolitionist Frederick Douglas. At Lincoln’s 1865 inauguration, Douglass, an invited guest, was denied entrance and almost arrested. Douglass got the president’s attention and Lincoln exclaimed loudly enough for the security guards to hear “Here comes my friend Douglass.” He was then let in without incident.
• Lincoln was the first President to fully utilize the role as Commander-in-Chief, by making many military decisions as well as appointing and firing Union generals.
• He was shot on Good Friday and died on Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday.

Here’s the text of his brief but famous Gettysburg Address, delivered November 19th in 1863.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

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Post from: The DC Traveler

Abraham Lincoln’s birthday (February 12th) was also celebrated, but was never a legal national holiday. 

Various observances and parades are planned for Presidents’ Day – February 19th.

George Washington’s Mt. Vernon
An official wreath laying ceremony will be held at Washington’s tomb at 10:00 a.m.  Immediately afterwards, a Revolutionary War mock battle, as well as General Washington and a fife and drum corps. The grounds around of the tomb are small so getting close to the tomb to watch the ceremony may be difficult.

At 1:30 p.m., the fife and drum corps will march around the Mt. Vernon grounds with General Washington reviewing. 

Tickets for Mt. Vernon – Adults $13.00, Seniors $1.00 off,  Kids 6 -11 with an adult $6.00, 5 and under free.

Metro – Take the Metro subway on the Yellow line to the Huntington station and catch a Fairfax Connector bus to Mount Vernon.

Lincoln Memorial Ceremony
A reading of the Gettysburg Address and wreath laying ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial at noon.

Lincoln Memorial
23rd & Constitution Ave., NW
Washington, DC

Wreath Laying Ceremony at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the American Revolution in Old Town Alexandria
Colonial militia and Old Town Alexandria citizens honor Soldiers of the Revolutionary War at 11:00 a.m. at the courtyard behind the Old Presbyterian Meeting House.

Old Presbyterian Meeting House
321 South Fairfax St.
Alexandria, VA  22314

George Washington Birthday Parade in Alexandria
The nation’s largest George Washington birthday parade starts at 1:00 p.m. (until 3:00 p.m.).  The parade Route – South Saint Asaph Street to Queen Street, to Royal Street, to King Street to Fairfax Street, to Gibbon Street.

* Washington’s actual birthday was February 11th, 1731, but after the British changed from the Julian to the Gregorian calander in 1752, his birthday retroactively changed to February 22nd.
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Post from: The DC Traveler