Portrait by Gilbert Stuart, 1755-1828
George Washington, the first president of the United States, was born on February 22, 1732.
How do we really know when George Washington was born? Tobias Lear, Washington's secretary and close friend, gave the world a clue.
Lear lived with George and Martha Washington at Mt. Vernon, and he helped the Revolutionary War general organize his papers. On February 14, 1790, Lear wrote that the President's "birth day" was on the 11th of February Old Style, referring to the Julian Calendar.
Washington was born 20 years prior to the 1752 introduction of the modern Gregorian Calendar, which was intended to more accurately reflect a solar year. When the Julian Calendar was "corrected" to the Gregorian Calendar by dropping 10 days, February 11th became February 22nd.
George Washington would have been 276 today.
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