On the third Monday of February Americans celebrate Presidents’ Day, officially Washington’s Birthday at the federal level. It is often celebrated to honor all those who served as U.S. presidents. Since 1879 it has been the federal holiday honoring Founding Father George Washington, who led the Continental Army to victory in the American Revolutionary War, presided at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and served as the first president from 1789 – 1797.
The day is an official state holiday in most states under various names. Depending upon the specific law, the state holiday may officially celebrate Washington alone, Washington and Abraham Lincoln, or some other combination of U.S. presidents (such as Washington and Thomas Jefferson, though the latter was born in April).
George Washington was born on February 22, 1732. His birthday was celebrated on this date from 1879 until 1970. To give federal employees a three-day weekend, in 1968 the Uniform Monday Holiday Act moved it to the third Monday in February, which can occur from February 15 to the 21st. The day soon became known as Presidents(‘) Day (the presence and placement of the apostrophe varies) and provides an occasion to remember all the U.S. presidents, to honor Abraham Lincoln’s and Washington’s birthdays together, or any single president of choice.
As many states and cities followed suit, some states that had been celebrating Lincoln’s birthday on February 12 combined the two into Presidents Day. Lincoln is most remembered for leading the nation through the Civil War, preserving the Union, abolishing slavery, bolstering the federal government, and modernizing the economy.
