The Cherry Tree

When George Washington was 6 years old, he received a hatchet as a gift and damaged his father’s cherry tree with it. When his father discovered what George had done, he became angry. Young George bravely said, “I cannot tell a lie…I did cut it with my hatchet.” Washington’s father embraced him and declared that his son’s honesty was worth more than a thousand trees. Young George lost his father when he was 11 years old, and he was  to become a Founding Father and the first President of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797.