Since Irving the thawing process has been carried on with growing success by such able biographers as Lodge and Scudder, Hapgood and Ford, Woodrow Wilson, Owen Wister, and Frederick Trevor Hill.

As yet this new idea of Washington’s essential humanity has seemed too novel and startling to make its way deep into the popular conviction.  I say “new idea.”  In reality it is a very old idea; only it has been smothered by the partisan writers of history and biography.  Certainly the accounts of the first celebrations of Washington’s Birthday do not sound as though our ancestors were trying to work up their enthusiasm over a steel-engraving hero.

“It was the most natural thing,” writes Walsh,[3] “for our forefathers to choose Washington’s Birthday as a time for general thanksgiving and rejoicing, and it is interesting to note that the observance was not delayed until after the death of Washington.  Washington had the satisfaction of receiving the congratulations of his fellow-citizens many times upon the return of his birthday, frequently being a guest at the banquets given in honor of the occasion.  In fact, after the Revolution, Washington’s Birthday practically took the place of the birthday of the various crowned heads of Great Britain, which had always been celebrated with enthusiasm during colonial times.  When independence was established, all these royal birthdays were cast aside, and the birthday of Washington naturally became one of the most conspicuous in the calendar of America’s holidays.

“It may be interesting at this time to look back upon those early days of the republic and see how the newly liberated citizens attested their admiration for their great general and the first President of their country.  But the people did not wait until Washington was raised to the highest position his country could give him before honoring his birthday.

“The first recorded mention of the celebration is said to be the one in The Virginia Gazette or The American Advertiser of Richmond:  ’Tuesday last being the birthday of his Excellency, General Washington, our illustrious Commander-in-Chief, the same was commemorated here with the utmost demonstrations of joy.’  The day thus celebrated was February 11, 1782, the Old Style in the calendar not having then been everywhere and for every purpose abandoned.  Indeed, the stone placed as late as in 1815 on the site of his birthplace in Westmoreland County, Virginia, had the following inscription:  ’Here, the 11th of February, 1732, George Washington was born.’

“Twelve months later the 11th was commemorated at Talbot Court-House in Maryland.  On the same day a number of gentlemen met in a tavern in New York.  One had written an ode.  Another brought a list of toasts.  All, before they went reeling and singing home, agreed to assemble in future on the same anniversary and make merry over the birth of Washington.

“Next year they had an ampler opportunity.  In the previous October the British troops had evacuated New York City, which was gradually recovering from the distresses of the long war.  The demonstrations were not very elaborate, but they were intensely patriotic.  In a newspaper of February 17, 1784, we find an interesting account of this first public celebration in New York: