Okay people, history-fail story-time...
So back in the 1780ā²s when our country was still figuring crap out and olā George Washington was just elected president, G.W. decided to send a letter to Congress along the lines ofĀ āLooking forward to working with you all, this will be exciting!ā Congress, not wanting to slight the president and also trying to express their own enthusiasm, sent back a letter along the lines ofĀ āGlad youāre excited, we are also looking forward to working with you!ā
Then George sends another letter back saying something likeĀ āCool cool bros, glad youāre just as excited as I am,ā and Congress, again not wanting to be awkward or just ignore the PRESIDENT, sent back ANOTHER letter saying some dumb crap that was probably along the lines ofĀ āGlad youāre excited that weāre excited that youāre excited.ā
And while this in itself is funny, that is not even the best part.
George Washington, while being powerful, was not extremely eloquent, and at this point was also aging, busy, and overall very stressed about his new position (which he did not want in the first place). Ā So he asked his old friend James Madison, who had a much better way with words, to write the first note to Congress. Ā Good old James Madison, wanting to oblige his friend, did just that and composed the note to Congress. Ā Now, J-Mads was himself a member of Congress, so when the note arrived, he was in session to hearĀ āWashingtonāsā letter read.
Congress got nervous and worried about who could possibly compose a formal and acceptable letter back to Washington. Ā Who better than his old friend, James Madison? Ā So Jimmy, being obliging, wrote the response. Ā When Washington received the reply, he once again asked his friend to write the response. Ā
And who did Congress choose to write their final letter? Thatās rightā¦.none other than Jimmy-James-Madison himself.
So James Madison, future 4th president of the United States, wrote himself 4 letters under the guise of George Washington and the first Congress of the U.S. Ā And he was too embarrassed to admit it.