holiday

"To the memory of the Man, first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." These are the words of Henry Lee upon the death of our first President, George Washington. Americans throughout the 1800s, cherishing those words, unofficially and spontaneously celebrated the Father of their Country's birthday every February 22, his actual birthday. President Rutherford B. Hayes, in 1879, signed a law making the day an official holiday, and it became a national federal holiday in 1885, known simply as Washington's Birthday. The holiday has changed in two ways since President Hayes signed it [...]