(Fac-simile of original signatures.) G John Adams. Jaun Alassion I, 2. Alams Andrew Jackson Iwan Binen John Tyler бальз х баска Zachary Taylor_ Franklin Perc Annew Johnson 2 Arthur, Col 1 Fillmore, Comptroller of N. Y. State; Lincoln, Postmaster; Johnson, Alderman; Cleveland, Assistant District Attorney and Sheriff of Erie Co., N. Y.; lector of the Port of New York. • Rejected. Justice of the Peace after retirement from the Presidency. 7 Also Secretary of War. Elected for term commencing March 4, 1881, but before taking his seat was elected Presi10 ad int. Secretary of War, 1867. dent. PRESIDENTIAL AND VICE-PRESIDENTIAL. HISTORICAL NOTES. Washington is the only President, in fact the only American, whose birthday anniversary is kept as a legal holiday by the entire country. He is the only human historical character who has a birthday permanently recognized by a nation anywhere in the world. The accepted date of the birth of Washington is February 22, 1732 (February 11, O.S., or February 22, N.S.). The following historic references note an uncertainty. Washington was initiated into a Masonic lodge at Fredericksburg, Va., November 4, 1752 ("Encyclopedia of Freemasonry," p. 869), and as twenty-one years is the minimum age requirement, this would evidence his year of birth as 1731. Edward Everett's "Life of Washington," p. 19, notes: "In the family record contained in a Bible which belonged to the mother of Washington, and which is now in the possession of George Washington Bassett, of Hanover County, Virginia, who married a grandniece of Washington, the following entry is found: "George Washington, son to Augustine and Mary his wife, born ye 11th day of February, 1781 1-2, about ten in the morning, and was baptized the 3rd of April following; Mr Beverly Whiting and Captain Christopher Brooks, godfathers, and Mrs Milfred Gregory, godmother." "The above is in the handwriting of Augustine Washington." The inscription over his grave declares him 68 years old December 14, 1799, the date of his death, which would make 1731 the year of his birth. The notation 1731 1-2 was the common way of writing "1731 or 1732," as the Gregorian calendar had not been adopted by Great Britain and her dependencies, the year beginning with March 25, so that the dates between January 1 and March 25 were stated alternately as "1731 or 1732," as the reckoning was from the respective date, i.e. from January 1 it would be 1732; if from March 25, the year would be 1781. (The new style adopted in 1751 (24 George II.) taking effect January 1, 1752.) There was no February in 1751, because it was made the second month of 1752, instead of, as it would have been, the eleventh month of 1751, evidencing Washington was under twenty-one November 4, 1752; the proper date of his majority being February 22, 1753, and aged 67 years, 9 months, and 22 days at his death. Lincoln's birthday, February 12, is a holiday in some States. Jefferson Davis, of the late Confederacy, has his birthday recognized in some of the Southern States. |