75 Surprising Facts About US Presidents – Part 1

In 1778, George Washington celebrated Independence day by giving his soldiers a double ration of rum.

27. George Washington had 124-126 Ounces of Blood Let Before His Death. Modern Physicians think that this was the cause of his death. A normal person has 162-185 oz of blood.

28. George Washinton's adopted son was the father-in-law of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

29. The original US Constitution set no term limits on the President. George Washington voluntarily retired from office after two terms, establishing an informal two-term limit. This custom lasted for nearly 150 years until Franklin D Roosevelt broke the tradition.

30. President George Washington was a lieutenant colonel in the British Army. He was unsuccessful in obtaining a royal commission but received a decree granting the British militia the same executive powers as commissioned officers. He is the only U.S President to have served the Crown.

In 2012, a woman successfully sold a Chicken McNugget on eBay for $8,100 because it looked like George Washington.

32. The term "Mr. President" has been used since George Washington took office. He preferred that over the more majestic titles proposed by the Senate.

33. A Native American served as George Washington's bodyguard.

34. George Washington is considered by most historians to have been a bad public speaker.

35. The very first US Congress passed, and George Washington signed into law, a health insurance mandate.

The two richest presidents were George Washington, with an estimated net worth of $525 million, and John F Kennedy, with a family fortune of $1 billion.

37. After George Washington was elected president, no one knew what to call him. One senator suggested "Most Illustrious and Excellent President." John Adams proposed "Your Most Benign Highness" and "His Highness, the President of the United States, and Protector of the Rights of the Same."

38. Mary Ball Washington was terrified of lightning because while she was pregnant with George, a bolt of lightning traveled down her chimney. It shocked her and killed a dinner guest.

39. George Washington considered burning down all of NYC.

40. There exists a painting in the dome of the US Capitol Building named Apotheosis of Washington that depicts George Washington literally ascending to heaven and becoming God.

George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, and Dwight D. Eisenhower are the only Presidents not to have held a political office when running for President of the United States.

42. George Washington refused to accept a salary while in office, and instead, simply asked to be reimbursed for his expenses at the end of the war.

43. John Adams felt that though independence and a free government sounded appealing in theory, he feared "that in every assembly, members will obtain an influence by noise, not sense. By meanness, not greatness. By ignorance, not learning. By contracted hearts, not large souls.”

44. July 2, 1776, was the day the United States declared independence from Great Britain. John Adams wrote a letter to his wife saying "the Second of July, 1776, will be the most memorable in the history of America."

45. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams visited William Shakespeare's house together and chipped off a piece of his chair as a souvenir.

John Adams once said that if we learned there was no God or life after death, we should all just take a bunch of opium.

47. The President John Adams had a dog in the White House named Satan.

48. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

49. John Adams, who would go on to become the second President, defended in court the soldiers who committed the Boston Massacre, earning acquittals for six of the eight.

50. 10 of first 12 US Presidents were slave owners and the only two who weren't slave owners were the father and son John Adams and John Quincy Adams.