Happy President's Day-February 15, 2021!

Middletown CT

08 February, 2021

7:41 AM

Description

Happy President's Day-February 15, 2021! President's day is a federal holiday that is always celebrated on the third Monday of February. It originally began as a federal holiday in 1885 as a way to honor the first president George Washington. It eventually became a holiday to honor all former and current presidents. How did it begin? As I previously stated it began as a way to honor America's first president George Washington in 1800 following his death in 1799 according to history.com. Washington was revered as a prominent statesman and "the most important figure in American history," according to the article "President's Day 2021" from History.com. His birthday on February 22nd was a cause for celebration and the young nation wanted to honor him with the centennial anniversary of his birthdate coming up in 1832. In 1848 the construction of the Washington Monument began, and this was "cause for national celebration," during this time according to the same article. Washington's birthday was unofficially observed during most of the 1800's and in 1879 President Rutherford Hayes made it an official federal holiday. However, only Washington D.C. observed it. In 1885, the law was expanded to the entire nation and the Washington Monument was completed on February 21st according to the National Parks Service website NPS.Gov. Washington's Birthday was the fifth federal holiday joining Christmas, New Year's, Thanksgiving, and Independence Day. How did Washington's Birthday evolve into President's Day? It began in the late 1960's by U.S. Senator Robert McClory of Illinois and he championed a bill known as the Uniform Monday Holiday Act according to History.com. What this did was shift "the celebration of several federal holidays from specific dates to a series of predetermined Mondays," from the same article. The goal was to give American workers a three-day weekend. The Uniform Monday Holiday Act was approved in 1968 and officially became law when President Richard Nixon signed an executive order changing the law. What the law did was move celebrating Washington's Birthday on February 22nd to the third Monday of February it did not change the name though. This new day "led many to believe that the new date was intended to honor both Washington and Lincoln," according to History.com and by the mid-1980's many Americans commonly referred to Washington's Birthday as President's Day. By the start of the 21st Century half of the states changed the name to President's Day. "Presidents' Day is now popularly seen as a day to recognize the lives and achievements of all of America's chief executives," according to the article "President's Day 2021" from History.com. For more information about "President's Day" please see the following websites: https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/presidents-day https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/george-washington?li_source=LI&li_medium=m2m-rcw-history https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/abraham-lincoln https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wash/dc72.htm https://www.nps.gov/wamo/index.htm https://www.nps.gov/linc/index.htm/index.htm Again, Happy President's Day. Enjoy the videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMetVVQJ020