This is part of a series of stamps issued by the U.S. to commemorate the bicentennial of the birth of George Washington, the nation’s first President.
The 12 stamps of the series were designed by Clair Aubry Huston and Alvin Meissner, both of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
This 3-cent stamp, along with 1/2, 1 ½, 2, 6, 8, and 9 cent values were designed by Huston. The rest, the 1, 4, 5, 7, and 10 cent values were the work of Meissner.
Initially the stamp series was to be of two-color wide-format (commemorative sized) stamps, featuring scenes and portraits covering Washington’s life.
Several of those stamps were designed, but in the end postal authorities decided that the public would be expecting familiar artwork that was full of historical inaccuracies, and they opted for the simple portrait design.
Each stamp bears a different portrait, painted over the course of Washington’s life, with him aging along with increasing denomination.
This is Scott number 708, and features a portrait by Charles Willson Peale, painted at Valley Forge in 1777. Peale also did the portraits copied on the ½, 1 ½, 4, and 5 cent stamps.
456,198,500 of this design were issued.
George Washington was born on 22 February 1732, in Westmoreland County, Virginia.
He became the first President of the United States of America, under the Constitution of the United States, on 30 April 1789.
The head of Congress, called the President, was the head of government during the Revolution through the Articles of Confederation, which preceded the Constitution.
Perhaps the two most important things that George Washington did during the political founding of the country, were to refuse becoming king of America, and to leave office of his own will at the end of his second term, stepping aside for the second President, John Adams.
This established that the U.S. had no monarchy, unlike every other country in the world. And it established the fact of the peaceful transfer of power. This was especially important since Washington and Adams were of different political beliefs, despite Adams having been Washington’s Vice President.
I say beliefs because political parties were not yet really established at the time, and Washington hated them, so he remained an Independent. Adams was a “Pro-Federalist” at the time he was President.
Before 1804, the candidate for President that received the second highest number of votes became Vice President. The 12th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1804, during the Presidency of Thomas Jefferson (3rd President), separated the election for the two offices.
That remains in effect today, and why ballots have the offices listed separately. Voters can vote different parties for the two offices, and ignore the chosen running mate of their Presidential candidate. Washington did not live to see that amendment, having died on 14 December, 1799, at his home at Mount Vernon, Virginia.
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