The history and meaning of Presidents’ Day is more confusing than many federal holidays. Just who do we honor on this annual holiday?
George Washington
President George Washington
The first president of the United States, George Washington, was a gentleman landowner in Virginia. He was a delegate to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia when it convened in May 1775. During this gathering, Washington was elected Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. He held his post for six years, starting on July 3, 1775. He was an important proponent of Constitutional Convention of 1787 at which he was elected President, upon ratification of the Constitution. He served two terms as President.
Washington was held in such esteem that his birthday, February 22nd, was celebrated unofficially beginning in 1796, during his final year in office. By the early 1800s, Washington’s Birthday had become an established, though not official, national holiday. It wasn’t until 1880 that Washington’s birthday did become an official federal holiday, making him the first United States citizen to be recognized in this way. The federal holiday was always celebrated on his actual birth date, February 22. Though today the holiday is commonly referred to as ‘Presidents’ Day,’ the official name remains Washington’s Birthday
To add to the confusion, during Washington’s lifetime, his birthday was sometimes celebrated on February 11th. This date was chosen because according to the Julian (”Old Style”) calendar that was still in use in England and her colonies up to 1752, this was Washington’s actual date of birth. The Gregorian (”New Style”) calendar that the colonists adopted added eleven days to the Julian calendar to synchronize it with the astronomical year; hence the date February 22nd.
Abraham Lincoln
President Abraham Lincoln and his son, Tad
The only other president to be honored with a birthday observance was Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln rose from a poor background to become a lawyer and circuit judge. He was defeated by Stephen Douglas in his bid for the Senate in 1858, but was elected President in 1860. Lincoln, of course, is best known for issuing the Emancipation Proclamation that bestowed freedom on all slaves in the Confederate states and for his steadfast defense of the Union. Lincoln’s birthday was first officially celebrated on February 12, 1866, one year after his assassination, when both houses of Congress joined in a memorial service in his honor. Lincoln’s birthday was never designated as a federal holiday, but was celebrated by many states. So, for many years, both Washington’s and Lincoln’s birthdays were celebrated separately on their actual dates of birth—- February 22nd was observed as a federal public holiday to honor the birthday of George Washington and February 12th was observed as a public holiday (in most states) to honor the birthday of Abraham Lincoln.
Presidents’ Day?
In 1968, Congress decided to create a uniform system of federal Monday holidays in order to provide workers with some three-day weekends. Lawmakers voted to shift three existing holidays (including Washington’s Birthday) to Mondays. This law took effect in 1971, and as a result the Washington’s Birthday holiday was changed from February 22 date to the third Monday in February. This change was not without controversy. There was some concern that Washington’s identity would be lost (since the third Monday in February would never fall on his birth date of February 22nd).
At this time, there was also a movement to rename the public holiday “Presidents’ Day,” but this stalled in committee. According to Mr. William Moore McCulloch (R-Ohio), “It was the collective judgment of the Committee on the Judiciary…that this [naming the day "President's Day"] would be unwise. Certainly, not all Presidents are held in the same high esteem as the Father of our Country. There are many who are not inclined to pay their respects to certain Presidents. Moreover, it is probable that the members of one political party would not relish honoring a President from the other political party whether he was in office, no matter how outstanding history may find his leadership.”
Washington Elm, Phillips Academy, site of President Washington’s address to students in 1789
Courtesy of Timothy Sprattler, Oliver Wendell Holmes Library, Phillips Academy
The single holiday observance meant that the traditional 10-day separation between Washington’s Birthday (February 22) and Lincoln’s Birthday (February 12) had essentially been eliminated. Despite the fact that Congress had created a single federal public holiday, “Washington’s Birthday,” about one dozen states, including California, Idaho, Tennessee, Texas officially renamed their holiday “Presidents’ Day.” Additionally, in some states, Lincoln’s birthday is still celebrated as a legal holiday, though not always on February 12th.
In Massachusetts, “Washington’s Birthday” is celebrated on the third Monday in February. However, to honor especially those presidents who have come from Massachusetts, on this day the Governor reads a proclamation honoring: John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Calvin Coolidge, and John F. Kennedy. Note that Coolidge was not born in Massachusetts but spent his political career here until he became vice president. George H. W. Bush, who was born in Massachusetts, is not included because he has spent the majority of his life living in other states.
In recent years, Presidents’ Day has come into common use and is now popular among marketers advertising holiday sales events. Of course, these advertisements often include references to both Washington and Lincoln, thus maintaining the tie to the original intent of the holiday. In 1999, there were two bills (U.S. House (HR-1363) and Senate (S-978)) introduced to specify that the legal public holiday once referred to as “Washington’s Birthday” be “officially” called by that name once again. Both bills died in committees.
However, while Congress had created a uniform federal holiday law, there was not a uniform holiday title agreement among the individual states. Even though most states with individual holidays honoring Washington and Lincoln shifted their state recognition date of Washington’s Birthday to correspond to the third Monday in February, some states, including California, Idaho, Tennessee, Texas and others, chose not to retain the federal holiday title and renamed their state holiday “President’s Day.”
