The origin of Presidents’ Day in the United States
The origin of Presidents‘ Day in the United States is related to the birthday of one of the most famous presidents of this nation.
If you are thinking that it is George Washington’s birthday, yes, it is true, the origin of Presidents’ Day in the United States is related to the birthday of this American hero.
For many in the United States, this Monday, February 19, George Washington’s birthday is celebrated on this Monday, February 19, but nothing could be further from the truth.
That’s because Americans have not celebrated the birthday of the country’s first president on his actual birth date for more than 50 years.
Instead, this Monday, February 19, like every third Monday of the month, the United States celebrates Presidents’ Day.
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–Determining the origin of Presidents’ Day in the United States.
So far to determine the origin of Presidents’ Day in the United States, one has to check the original date.
Washington was born on February 11, 1732, on the Julian calendar, which was in use at the time.
But it changed when England and its colonies adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752. His birthday was moved to February 22.
In the Gregorian calendar, one day is added to the calendar every four years to synchronize it with the solar year.
Americans celebrated Washington’s birthday on both dates during his presidency between 1789 and 1797.
But, in 1885, February 22 was established as a holiday for Washington’s birthday.
However, this all changed 100 years later.
–Law that changed everything–.
So we must continue to review the origin of Presidents’ Day in the United States, and go back to 1968, when Congress debated whether to combine the celebrations of the birthdays of Washington and Abraham Lincoln, who was born on February 12, into one holiday called Presidents’ Day.
But lawmakers from Virginia, Washington’s home state, objected and the initiative failed.
Nevertheless, Congress passed the Monday Holiday Act that year.
This law placed most holidays in the country on Mondays, so that Americans would occasionally have three-day weekends.
Ultimately, this bill went into effect in 1971 and since then the celebration of Washington’s birthday was moved from February 22 to the third Monday in February.
But not all states celebrate Presidents’ Day.
In that regard let’s review some exceptions that make the date more complicated.
Virginia still calls it Washington Day; Alabama calls it Washington Day and Jefferson and Montana call it Lincoln and Washington’s Birthday.
In the United States some dates have a fixed day in a given month, such is the case of Thanksgiving Day.
Finally, we must understand that neither Abraham Lincoln nor Washington was born on February 19.
However, both were born in the month of February, both are Aquarians, and both were much admired presidents in the history of the United States.