George Washington was rumored to throw a silver dollar across the potomac, does anyone know in what direction?

Answer 1

Probably forward.

Answer 2

No. This popular myth is often told to illustrate his strength. The Potomac River is over a mile wide and even George Washington was not that good an athlete! Moreover, there were no silver dollars when Washington was a young man. His step-grandson once wrote that Washington threw a piece of slate across the Rappahannock River near his boyhood home in Fredericksburg, which is much more narrow. That may be the origin of this story.

Answer 3

It never happened. First of all, there were no silver dollars in the Seventeen-hundreds. It would have been a Spanish or Mexican eight real piece which he never would have thrown across the Potomac because it would have paid the salary of the entire Colonial Army for a year. Our whole dollar system (including the old silver dollar) is based on the eight real piece which at one time traded at equal value as the silver dollar because of the same silver content.

NOTE: If he threw a dollar across the Potomac it would have been a Continental Dollar and it would have been in frustration because THEY WERE WORTHLESS then. They were our first dollar and they were made of pewter (or brass--the rarest ones were brass). They were worthless because then real coinage had to contain its value in precious metal--silver or gold. Otherwise it was just a token. The Colonies had no coinage (one of the many reasons they rebelled against England) and used whatever silver and gold coins they could get. Blacksmiths started making copper coins and pewter and brass dollars as barter, but without the precious metal content they were like wooden nickels.

Today a Continental dollar is worth a mint to a collector. So, dive into the Potomac and look for that pewter or brass Continental dollar our first President may, or not, have thrown. LOL!

H

Answer 4

It was the Delaware River not the Potomac.

Answer 5

I read somewhere it was way too wide for that, maybe he threw it into the Potomac but not across.

Answer 6

I'm not sure what direction, though I would imagine he threw it from Virginia to DC, from the south to the north roughly. The myth was originally told by Parson Weems, so you might want to look to the original source. Here's the link to an online text of Weem's "Life of Washington" : http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/gw/weems.html

Hope this helps

Answer 7

He threw it in a northeasterly direction while across the river from Trenton, NJ.

Answer 8

He threw it in a northeasterly direction while across the river from Trenton, NJ. i think

Answer 9

What do you mean, what direction? He threw it towards the other side. Duhhhhhhhh!!! Actually it wasn't a silver dollar, it was a Lincoln head penny. ( Think about it)

Answer 10

NO BUT THE CHANCES ARE GREATER IF YOU REALIZED THAT MOST LARGE COINS WERE THE TRADE DOLLARS THAT FEW PEOPLE TODAY EVEN KNOW WAS THE COMMON COIN OF THAT ERA, IT WAS MUCH LARGER AND COULD BE THROWN AT A GREATER DISTANCE THAN A COMMON AMERICAN SILVER DOLLAR WHICH THERE WERE FEW OF ACTUALLY IN CIRCULATION IN HIS CHILDHOOD

Answer 11

to the south direction i believe