Opinion Pieces

An Insight Into……… Presidents' Day

February 18, 2005

On February 21, 2005, the U.S will celebrate Presidents' Day to honor all its past presidents. This holiday began as a commemoration of the birthdays of two of the greatest presidents, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

George Washington, born February 22, 1732 in Virginia, was instrumental in creating a united nation out of a conglomeration of struggling colonies and territories. The first president of the United States of America, he is affectionately honored as "the father of his country."

Washington served in the army of King George III of England and, shortly after his twenty-second birthday, was put in command of a troop of soldiers. Washington commanded large contingents of soldiers and showed courage that inspired all his troops.

By the 1770s, the colonists wanted their independence. Washington led his inexperienced armies against the British forces for eight years until the colonies won their independence.

Laws for the new country were written into a Constitution and a Bill of Rights. The Constitution called for a President, and George Washington was considered the natural choice.  Though he agreed to serve his country as the first President, Washington was actually a reluctant leader. He saw himself serving his country, not leading it.  He turned down a third term as president, preferring to retire to his family home, Mount Vernon.

Abraham Lincoln, born on February 12, 1809, was a symbol of the American dream that an ordinary person from humble beginnings could reach the pinnacle of society as president of the country.  Perhaps most of all, he is associated with the final abolition of slavery.

Although Lincoln had very little formal education, in 1834 he was elected into the House of Representatives in the state of Illinois.  He studied law and began a long road to become the sixteenth president of the United States. In 1847 he was elected to Congress and became controversial for his vehemence against slavery.  Lincoln joined the Republican Party, a new political party that opposed slavery, and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1858. 

Nominated by the Republican Party in 1860 as its candidate for President, Lincoln won the election, just before the southern states began to secede from the Union and form the Confederate States of America. The North and South were divided, and the Civil War began. The war was not only over the abolition of slavery, but also the rights of individual states to make their own choices on other issues. During Lincoln's second term as President, the Confederate States surrendered and the Civil War ended in 1865.

The task of national reconstruction and reconciliation was a complex one, but Lincoln would not be the person to lead the country through this difficult period.  On April 14, 1865, while attending a play at the Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C., an actor who disagreed with Lincoln's political opinions stepped into the Presidential box and shot the President. He died the following morning.

Until 1971, both February 12 and February 22 were observed as separate public holidays to honor the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.  Then in 1971, President Richard Nixon proclaimed one single public holiday, Presidents' Day, to be observed on the third Monday of February, honoring all past presidents of the United States of America.