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Today is the 268th anniversary of the birth of George
Washington. Yesterday was a state and federal holiday, the
conclusion of what is informally known in the elevated
portions of Colorado as the busiest three-day ski
weekend of the year
and elsewhere as Presidents
Day.
When George was born at Pope's Creek, Va., to Augustine and Mary Washington, the calendar said Feb. 11, 1731. That was under the Julian calendar, which was 11 days out of synch with the seasons. It was sensible in one respect, though -- the new year started with spring on March 25, rather than in the dead of winter only a week after Christmas.
In 1752, the British empire switched from the Julian to the modern Gregorian calendar (the day after Sept. 2 was Sept. 14), and after that, Washington celebrated his birthday on the date it would have occurred if the Gregorian calendar had been in effect then: Feb. 22, 1732.
The first recorded Washington's birthday celebration, outside of the family, came in 1796 while he was still alive and serving as president. He left office after two terms in 1797 and returned to Mt. Vernon, where he died on Dec. 14, 1799. His birthday became an official federal holiday in 1885, and many states had by then already made it a holiday.
Note that there is no agency that can declare a legal holiday throughout all levels of American government, let alone American commerce. Federal holidays affect only federal agencies. States can declare their own holidays when state offices are closed (we used to have our own Colorado Day on Aug. 1), municipalities and school districts can do as they will, and in general, your business can operate when you feel like having the door open.
At any rate, Feb. 22 was a federal holiday that was honored by most states. Then came the federal 1968 Monday Holidays Act, which decreed that, starting in 1971, Washington's Birthday would be celebrated on the third Monday of February.
Monday holidays are pernicious for several reasons. Primarily, they remove the significance of the date that we are supposed to be commemorating -- the 1968 reformers even wanted to move Independence Day to the first Monday in July, rather than celebrate the Fourth of July.
In Washington's case, it's an even worse idea. There was Abraham Lincoln's birthday on Feb. 12, celebrated as a holiday in many states outside of the old Confederacy. To some, it seemed sensible to combine the two into a Washington-Lincoln Day, although that never officially happened.
But in 1971, President Richard M. Nixon proclaimed that the third Monday in February should be called Presidents Day to honor all past presidents, rather than just Washington and Lincoln.
However, Congress had never intended any such thing in 1968 when the Monday Holiday Bill supporters specifically rejected an amendment to change Washington's Birthday to Presidents Day. In 1998, the same thing happened when Congress rejected a bill to change the name to Presidents Day.
So why do people insist on calling it Presidents Day, or even Great Americans Day?
Perhaps because modern America doesn't want to think much about George Washington. He led an army of ragtag revolutionaries against the superpower of his day -- certainly not something that America would want to encourage now.
He grew hemp and tobacco, two plants that our
schoolchildren aren't supposed to know about. He enjoyed
drinking, gambling and hunting. He wasn't much of a
churchgoer, and referred to the deist Providence
rather than a Christian God.
In other words, it's impossible to imagine Washington getting a nomination from any modern political party.
He's hopelessly out of fashion, even as his younger contemporary Thomas Jefferson remains a vital figure -- and for much more than his relationship Sally Hemings. Jefferson is quoted and studied while Washington remains somehow aloof and remote.
Yet the more I read of Washington, the more I find to admire. He was strong and courageous. His first cabinet had two men who hated each other -- Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton -- but both trusted Washington to put the nation's interests first.
The greatest thing about Washington is that he retired, even though he had supporters who wanted to make him king of America. Look at the general run of leaders of revolutions -- Oliver Cromwell, Napoleon Bonaparte, V.I. Lenin, Fidel Castro -- and you find someone who betrayed the ideals of the cause and set himself up as dictator for life.
Then note that George Washington voluntarily left office in 1797 and returned to his farm, in keeping with his ideals for the republic he did so much to establish.
We Americans should honor Washington in every way possible, and the sooner we restore Washington's Birthday and eliminate Richard Nixon's Presidents Day, the better.
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