President’s Day Honors Washington & Lincoln
“President’s Day” –originally called “Washington’s Birthday”– was enacted in 1879 as a holiday for government offices in Washington DC. A bill that kept the name “Washington’s Birthday” was enacted in 1968, honoring the birthdays of Presidents Washington and Lincoln.
The word “President’s Day” only appeared in the mid-1980s, as advertisers tried to make a buck, and both the Washington Post and Associated Press forgot their history.
DID YOU KNOW?
- President Washington was born on Feb 11, 1731.
- President Lincoln was born on Feb 12, 1809.
- Washington and Lincoln are the two most celebrated Presidents in American history. Washington’s life mission became to create the United States. Lincoln’s life mission became to preserve the Union.
- President Washington, in his Farewell Address, wrote: “…I shall carry it with me to my grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free Constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained;…”
- President Lincoln, in his Gettysburg Address, wrote: “…we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
