Presidents Day is really Washington’s Birthday, but not really
National Archives: He was actually born Feb. 11
Monday is the Presidents Day holiday, or at least that’s what most people and all the retail stores bombarding us with special sales ads call it.
But the federal government officially designates the holiday as “Washington’s Birthday,” one of 11 federally observed holidays each year. The City of Columbus’ website calls it that on its holiday calendar, yet most public bodies and people do not.
What happened? Ohioans helped shape the holiday’s observance
Many years after the death of America’s first President, George Washington, the young nation annually celebrated his birthday on Feb. 22. On the 100th anniversary of his birthday, the National Archives reports Congress adjourned on Feb. 22, 1832 out of respect for his memory.
Congress, urged by Philadelphia’s mayor and some of that city’s prominent citizens, marked the 130th anniversary of Washington’s birthday by holding a special joint session of the House and the Senate and reading aloud his Farewell Address, according to the National Archives.
However, Washington’s birthday was not observed as a federal holiday until 1879 when President Rutherford B. Hayes, one of seven Ohio-born presidents, signed into law legislation passed by Congress making it a legal holiday to be observed Feb. 22, the archives reports.
Interestingly, the legislation did not stipulate all federal government employees in the U.S. were to be paid for the holiday off. Even in Washington, some federal employees got paid while others did not, the archives said. With what some might say was typical Congressional speed, the issue was not resolved until 1885, when legislation was passed making all federal holidays a paid day off for all federal employees across the nation.
Since 1896, the U.S. Senate has annually observed Washington’s birthday by selecting one of its members (alternating parties) to read Washington’s Farewell Address in legislative session — a tradition that continues today.
Another Senate tradition is that after the appointed senator reads the more than 7,641-word address, he or she inscribes their “name and brief remarks in a black, leather-bound book maintained by the secretary of the Senate. The book’s first entry, dated February 22, 1900, bears the signature of Ohio Republican Joseph Foraker,” the Senate’s website says.
A three-day holiday weekend snubs Washington
Washington’s Birthday was observed on Feb. 22 until 1968, when the archives reports Congress passed the Monday Holiday Law creating threeday weekends around federal holidays to “provide uniform annual observances” and “bring substantial benefits to both the spiritual and economic life of the Nation.”
The law changed the observance of Washington’s Birthday from Feb. 22 to the third Monday in February. The National Archives points out that this move ironically created a situation where the holiday would never again be celebrated on the first president’s Feb. 22 birthday because the third Monday in February statistically can’t fall any later than Feb. 21.
Meh, it’s not really Washington’s Birthday anyway
The National Archives says George Washington was actually born in Virginia on February 11, 1731.
However, when Britain and all its colonies decided to get rid of the Julian calendar in use when Washington was born, and adopted the Gregorian calendar instead, the archives says Washington’s birthday “moved” one year and 11 days under the new calendar to February 22, 1732.
Perhaps because of this, perhaps because the third Monday never falls on the Gregorian-recognized holiday anyway, or perhaps because President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday was Feb. 12 and there was a desire to recognize all our nation’s presidents, many people began referring to the holiday weekend as Presidents Day.
Do state and local governments celebrate all federal holidays?
Nope. Federal holidays apply only to the federal government and the District of Columbia, according to the National Archives.
Because Congress has never declared Washington’s Birthday or any of its 11 federal holidays binding outside the federal government, the archives said, each state — and even local governments — decide holidays for themselves.
Some states, like Delaware, the first state and the home state of President Joe Biden, do not have a holiday marking Washington’s Birthday or Presidents Day.
Ohio follows the 11 federal holidays, including Columbus Day in October. But the city of Columbus, responding to pressure from advocates for indigenous people, no longer celebrates the federal holiday of its namesake. A few years ago, the city moved the holiday to Veterans Day, which previously was not a day off for city employees.