Why Does George Washington Have Two Birthdays?

This Monday is the federal holiday Washington’s Birthday, better known as Presidents Day, celebrated on the third Monday of February. If you want to know the actual birth date of George Washington, you will find two dates: Feb. 22, 1732, and Feb. 11, 1731. Both dates are correct.

What accounts for the discrepancy? When Washington was born, Britain and its colonies were using the Julian calendar. Developed in first century B.C. under Julius Caesar, it had three too many leap days per 400-year period. The Catholic Church corrected the error in the 16th century by introducing a modified calendar (the Gregorian calendar) and skipping 10 days.

The Gregorian calendar was soon adopted by Catholic nations, but non-Catholic nations, such as Britain, were slower to change. The British calendar was also unique in the fact that it began its year on March 25 rather than January 1.

Britain amended its calendar in 1751 and 1752. First, it decreed that 1752 begin on Jan. 1 rather than March 25, meaning that the year 1751 lasted only nine months and 1752 lasted 15 months. It then adjusted to the Gregorian calendar by dropping 11 days in September 1752 (Sept. 3-13).

Historians usually adjust dates in the Julian calendar to correspond to the modern calendar, thereby creating a discrepancy in Washington’s birth date and other historical dates. In the most famous example, Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution of November 1919 is known as the October Revolution because Russia was still using the Julian calendar.

Find the best biographical and primary sources for George Washington in his findingDulcinea profile.

Learn about Abraham Lincoln, whose birthday is also celebrated in February.

Denis Cummings
Writer

Comments

[Steve Saluad]

The use of calendars that vary from country to country and then even within the country is something that can confuse even the most avid of history buffs. particularly when reading very old books or texts.. whose authors probably make no correction for the change in dates.. So when the crusades started in the first day of the new year.. was that which calendar .. and in a year with only 9 months are you younger or older. ??