American Symbolism and Mythology

Many myths surround some of the founding fathers and important presidents. Some well-known myths are about George Washington, the father of America. Even in elementary schools children are told of the cherry tree, and how Washington admitted saying “Father, I Can Not Tell a Lie; I Cut the Tree."(23) In the story George is a young boy who has a hatchet and starts using it in the garden, eventually cutting down a small cherry tree; and when his father asks about it he admits what he has done wrong instead of lying about it. Washington is extremely glorified in his character, people saw him as a hero and he was portrayed as a hero through many paintings and myths just like in the cherry tree. Washington was not daring, he wasn’t an exciting bold hero; making a lot of his stories untrue. (23) Another myth that glorified Washington is the myth of the silver dollar. The myth says George took a silver dollar and threw it across the Potomac River. This story is obviously only a myth of course as there were no silver dollars when George was a child, and even if he did the Potomac River is miles wide. Though it is said that as a boy Washington and his friends probably threw stones across the Rappahannock River, as people have been able to do that in modern times.(24) This shows how glorified Washington is, almost god-like in a sense, in the eyes of the American people.

Another glorified American leader is Lincoln. The biggest myth surround him as President of the United States is being the “Great Emancipator”, freeing the slaves. While Lincoln did lead to the movement of slaves being freed he did not actually free any African Americans with the Emancipation Proclamation; only in states that were still in rebellion by January 1, 1863 wou...

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