President’s Day is the mid-month blessing that falls on the third Monday of February every year. President’s Day began its annual celebration in 1885, commemorating officially the birthday of George Washington the United States’ first president. The birthday of Abraham Lincoln, which falls on February 12, is often meshed into this day as a general patriotic celebration of the presidency.
The law to observe the birthday of George Washington as a federal holiday was brought forth by Senator Stephen Wallen Dorsey of Arkansas and signed into place by Rutherford B. Hayes in 1879, extended to be celebrated in the entire county in 1885.
This week, reflect on what it is that your country and your presidents have done for you. Soak in the four-day weekend with some reflection on the faults and triumphs of the United States, graced by the hands of 46 presidencies over the country’s 246-year history.
“In politics as in philosophy, my tenets are few and simple. The leading one of which, and indeed that which embraces most others, is to be honest and just ourselves and to exact it from others, meddling as little as possible in their affairs where our own are not involved. If this maxim was generally adopted, wars would cease and our swords would soon be converted into reap hooks and our harvests be more peaceful, abundant, and happy” - George Washington