Why did george washington cut down the cherry tree

Question

Why did george washington cut down the cherry tree

Answer 1

that is a myth

made by Americans who wanted to make their 1st president

look like a hero

Answer 2

To make room for his special herb plants, lol.

Answer 3

That never actually happened.

Answer 4

He did not.  It is a story that was started by who knows.  It has been around for more than a century.

Answer 5

He didn't.  It's a myth.

Answer 6

I'd say George was caught up in the impetuosity of youth...or maybe he was testing the sharpness of his axe...

George was a very smart man...maybe as a boy he was experimenting...I can attest to trees and getting in trouble as a youth!

When I was 10 or 11, we had an apple orchard on our farm, right next to the house...and there was this tree that was mostly dead, and a colony of carpenter ants lived in and under the tree...and the ants had turned most of the inside of the tree into sawdust...so, I got to wondering how many ants it wold take to make all that sawdust...so I smuggled a book of matches from the kitchen drawer, and set the sawdust on fire...it just smoldered and created a bunch of smoke, which was my intent...I "smoked" 'em out, so to speak.

My mother was furious and said I would be punished when my dad got home...but my father and I were kindred spirits...he asked me WHY I had done it, and I explained that it had been a scientific experiment...I could see him trying not to laugh while he was lecturing...and I was so relieved!

I think George and I were both up to mischief in the name of science!

(Research tells us that the cherry tree tale was relayed by the Washington family's former pastor, Mason Locke Weems, and its veracity is in doubt.  Some say he was a shrewd businessman, who wove the tale to sell books about the man after Washington became president.)