Happy George
Washington’s Birthday!
It is President’s Day once again. Many
people have the day off today; and many of them are out shopping, visiting
tourist attractions, or simply staying home for a nice day of rest. However,
this celebration on the third Monday of February is not meant to celebrate all our
past presidents, but it was intended to be a day to celebrate George Washington’s
birthday and his contributions to this great nation.
Since the creation of the holiday on
February 22, 1879, we have celebrated the birthday of our first president of
the Federal government. Why not honor and remember the accomplishments of the
man who lead our Continental Army to victory and helped to win the
Revolutionary War; or the man who would serve as our first president, “The
Farther of our Country?”
Naturally, we also began celebrating
Lincoln’s birthday of February 12 (on the state level, not Federal) after he was
credited with “preserving the Union”. This new holiday gave people two days off
from work. In 1968, the Uniform Holidays Bill combined the two holidays to
create the observance that we have today on the third Monday of the month. At
some point, the day combined to celebrate all of the presidents; however, I
suggest that we restore the holiday to its original intent. I am not the only
one who has proposed this suggestion.
On February 6, 2001, Roscoe Gardner
Bartlett, former U.S. Representative for Maryland’s 6th congressional district,
proposed the “Washington-Lincoln Recognition Act of 2001” (HR 420). The bill proposed
that “The legal public holiday known as Washington’s Birthday…shall be referred
to by that name and no other.”[1]
Join in with me by calling it George
Washington’s Birthday. It should not be a day to celebrate any other
presidents. If you fill so inclined to celebrate Lincoln’s birthday, do so on
February 12th.
[1]
Roscoe Gardner Bartlett, “Bill Text, 107th Congress (2001-2002),
H.R.420.IH,” accessed on February 17, 2014, http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c107:H.R.420:.
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