Presidents’ Day is a federal holiday celebrated on the third Monday in February - this year on Feb. 15.
For many it’s just become another day on the calendar or a chance to take advantage of special sales of everything from bed sheets to cars. And for those who work in many federal and state offices, banks, and the U.S. Post Office it’s a day off.
But the day has had a long history.
Presidents’ Day was originally created by Congress in 1885 to recognize the nation’s first president, George Washington, and the holiday became popularly known as Presidents’ Day, according to History.com. It later became an official federal holiday as part of 1971′s Uniform Monday Holiday Act - an attempt to create more three-day weekends for the nation’s workers.
While several states still have individual holidays honoring the birthdays of Washington, Abraham Lincoln and others, Presidents’ Day is now popularly viewed as a day to celebrate all U.S. presidents, past and present.
The story of Presidents’ Day actually began much earlier than the official recognition. After the death of George Washington in 1799, his birthday on Feb. 22 became a day of remembrance. At the time, Washington was admired as the most important figure in American history, and events like the 100th anniversary of his birth in 1832 and the start of construction of the Washington Monument in 1848 were causes for national celebrations, according to History.com.
Before the holiday was declared as a day to celebrate all the presidents of the United States, portraits of George Washington would grace the front pages of newspapers every Feb. 22., according to Calendarlabs.com.
Calendarlabs.com says that while Washington’s Birthday was an unofficial observance for most of the 1800s, it was not until the late 1870s that it became a federal holiday for those in Washington D.C. Senator Stephen Wallace Dorsey of Arkansas was the first to propose the measure, and in 1879 President Rutherford B. Hayes signed it into law. While the holiday initially only applied to the District of Columbia, in 1885 it was expanded to the whole country.
The Link LonkFebruary 14, 2021 at 09:18PM
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President’s Day 2021: History holiday honoring America’s leaders - AL.com
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