When Weems published A History of the Life and Death, Virtues and Exploits of General George Washington in 1800, it was a commercial venture. He wrote what people wanted to read. And it worked. Far more sensationalist than truthful, the book sold well, going through some eighty editions.10 Weems expanded the initially small pamphlet in those subsequent editions. One addition is the book’s most well-known story—that Washington couldn’t tell a lie about a cherry tree. Ironically, given its moral, the story is untrue.
