Presidents’ Day is a holiday that is celebrated on the third Monday of every February. It commemorates the history of all of the presidents in the history of the United States, past and present. Presidents’ Day falls between the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln, born on February 12, and George Washington, born on February 22, and in 2016, February 15 is Presidents’ Day.  Since Lincoln and Washington’s birthdays are near this date, many people only associate this holiday with these two past presidents, and although both Washington and Lincoln are celebrated on that day, the rest of the presidents are to be celebrated as well. It hasn’t always been that way, though.

According to History, Presidents’ Day was originally reserved for George Washington in the year 1800—a year after his death when Washington’s Birthday became a holiday, though unofficially observed until the 1870’s when it became a federal holiday across the country.  When he died, Washington was one of the most famous men in the United States, mainly for his actions as General for the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, which in turn earned him the position as the United States’ first president.

Washington was unanimously selected as the President of the United States by the Electoral College in both the 1789 election and 1792 election. As the first President, it was his job to set the precedent for future leaders of the country. He declined to run for a third term, which set the trend for presidents generally running for two terms of presidency before giving up the position. Although this action was not required, it became a law after Franklin D. Roosevelt passed away in office during his fourth term in the early- to mid-1900’s. George Washington’s Mount Vernon notes that Washington also established the first presidential Cabinet, which consists of advisors whom the president chooses himself. Today, the Cabinet has 16 people on it, but Washington’s only had four: Secretary of State, Secretary of Treasury, Secretary of War, and Attorney General. It is customary, and imperative, today for the president to choose his own Cabinet as well.

When Washington’s Birthday transformed into Presidents’ Day and the celebration shifted to the third Monday in February as it is now, it began to celebrate Lincoln as well since it fell between the two presidents’ birthdays.  Lincoln had his own significant accomplishments as president as well.

Lincoln, the 16^th president of the United States, is most known for his actions during the Civil War in the 1860’s. HistoryNet explains that just months before Lincoln’s inauguration as president, South Carolina seceded from the Union. Lincoln was inaugurated in January of 1861, and in April of 1861, the Battle of Fort Sumter ensued and the Civil War began and lasted for almost the rest of his presidency. The Civil War started as an effort to preserve the Union and to keep the United States as one. In 1862, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which was an order for all states of the Confederacy to free their slaves. Since the Confederacy didn’t follow Lincoln’s orders, the slaves were not freed, but the war then turned into a war to end slavery as well as to preserve the Union. Lincoln was reelected in 1864, and the Civil War ended with a Union victory in April of 1865, lawfully preserving the Union and freeing the slaves, although both goals would actually take years to accomplish. Less than a week later, John Wilkes Booth assassinated the President.

Until the 1980’s, Washington’s Birthday was still the name of the official holiday, but people then began to refer to it more commonly as Presidents’ Day, and in the 2000’s, Presidents’ Day became the nationally recognized name for the holiday in all 50 states. To celebrate the holiday today, schools will teach students about the history of the Unites States’ presidents (mostly focused on Washington and Lincoln), and many groups will have reenactments and hold other celebrations. If it was not for all of the men who have served as President of the United States, our country would not be the superpower that it is today.