Washington’s Birthday!

Today is the Federal Holiday celebrating George Washington’s Birthday.  12 states have renamed the Holiday to Presidents Day to honor all U.S. Presidents.  This is the first federal holiday to honor a citizen, and it was enacted in 1880 for the District of Columbia only.  In 1885 it was named a holiday for all federal offices. 

George Washington was actually born on February 22, and Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12th.  Washington’s birthday has been publicly celebrated since he was in office, long before Lincoln was ever born.  Much of the debate over the name of the holiday comes from that fact that States can follow their own holidays, and many of them wanted to combine Washington’s birthday with Lincoln’s and call it Presidents day.

I hope you take at least a moment today and contemplate the history of your country, and gleen a few lessons about what works well and what doesn’t work well.  Too many Americans don’t even know where there state is on a map, let alone understand anything about history or how current events are shaped.  Ignorance is NOT bliss.