Presidents Day Honors Lives of U.S. Presidents

Presidents Day is a national holiday that is celebrated on Feb. 21. The holiday was created originally in honor of President Washington after his death in 1799.

At this time in history Washington was one of the most admired historical figures. In the late 1870’s Senator Stephen Wallace Dorsy was one of the first people to propose the idea of celebrating Washington’s birthday as a holiday. In 1879 President Rutherford B. Hayes officially signed that Washington’s birthday was a holiday. Originally the holiday only affected Washington D.C. then in the year 1885 it became a national holiday.

In 1968 it was proposed that George Washington's birthday be renamed to Presidents Day as a way to honor both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Shortly after the renaming of the holiday, in 1971 the Uniform Monday Holiday Act was passed. The Uniform Monday Holiday Act moved Labor day, Memorial day, and Washington’s birthday to Monday’s. Due to this act President’s Day was moved to the third Monday in February, as an attempt to give Americans more three day weekends.

This day now recognizes all the presidents, and since it is a federal holiday, countrywide federal offices and federal employees have the day off.

All the U.S. presidents