It was meant for the farmers, the pioneers, and the backwoodsmen of the country.

It went into their homes, and passed with them beyond the Alleghanies and out to the plains and valleys of the great West.

The very defects of the book helped it to success among the simple, hard-working, hard-fighting race engaged in the conquest of the American continent.

To them its heavy and tawdry style, its staring morals, and its real patriotism all seemed eminently befitting the national hero, and thus Weems created the Washington of the popular fancy.

The idea grew up with the country, and became so ingrained in the popular thought that finally everybody was affected by it, and even the most stately and solemn of the Washington biographers adopted the unsupported tales of the itinerant parson and book-peddler.
In regard to the public life of Washington, Weems took the facts known to every one, and drawn for the most part from the gazettes.