What is President's Day

President’s Day also known as Washington’s Birthday and Washington and Lincoln’s Birthday is celebrated on third Monday of January every year as a federal holiday. On this day, the service and piece of work of all past presidents are admired including George Washington, the first president of United States.

Americans remember Washington as a strong leader, committed to democracy with a strong belief that democracy was the feasible way to govern the growing country. Various communities in the USA observe President’s Day by staging pageants and re-enactments of important milestones in Washington’s life. When Is President’s Day Celebrated

The President’s Day is celebrated on the 3rd Monday of each year, Washington’s Birthday is actually on February 22nd, however, all former presidents and George Washington is honored on Presidents Day along with Abraham Lincoln who was also born in February.

History of President’s Day

George Washington, also known as Father of The Country was the first President of United States, he was born on 22 February 1732 in Virginia. Washington was a natural leader, instrumental in creating a united nation out of a conglomeration of struggling colonies and territories. The first military experience of Washington came during the French and Indian War, a conflict between the colonies of British America and New France which eventually escalated into the Intercontinental conflict known as French and Indian War. This war gave the future president valuable exposure to British military tactics that proved invaluable in the American Revolution.

At this time, King George III of England dominated thirteen colonies along the east coast and much of the surrounding territories. Colonists began to want their freedom and to live with a set of rules based on democracy, not under the rule of a faraway king. The Boston Tea Party of 1773, a colonial rebellion against unjust taxes, helped to spark the American Revolution. Washington led and encouraged his inexperienced armies against the British forces for eight years until the colonies won their independence. The laws of the new country were written into the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The laws called for a president and George Washington was considered the natural choice and he agreed to serve his country as the first president.

The trip from Mount Vernon, his family home in Virginia, to New York City, then the capital of the United States, took him a week. All along the way, people waited eagerly to glimpse the Revolutionary War general and their first president. Washington was a reluctant leader but he accepted two terms as president, seeing himself in service to God and country. The image of Washington is printed on the one-dollar bill and the quarter-dollar coin. The capital of the country, important places, and some universities are also named after him, which shows the love of the nation for their leader.

Works Cited

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2. Ellis, J. J. (2004). His Excellency: George Washington. Vintage.
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4. Brookhiser, R. (1997). Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington. Free Press.
5. Freeman, D. S. (1968). George Washington: A Biography (7 volumes). Scribner.
6. Smith, J. Y. (2004). John Adams. American National Biography.
7. Brands, H. W. (2012). The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin. Anchor.
8. McCullough, D. (2001). John Adams. Simon & Schuster.
9. Goodwin, D. K. (2005). Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. Simon & Schuster.
10. White, R. (2009). A. Lincoln: A Biography. Random House.