Library Corner
Feb 18, 2011
By John Grimm
George Washington has never had the Presidents Day Holiday fall on his birthday…and never will. George was born on February 22nd and Presidents Day, the third Monday in February cannot fall on the 22nd. Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12th.
Rather than have two Presidential holidays in February, Presidents Day became the holiday for both of them in 1968.
In its first 100 years as a nation, the United States was fortunate to have a number of remarkable presidents. George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are right up there and form two of the Mount Rushmore four.
Washington (1732-1799) was an American hero long before he became president. As the commander of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, he led colonial troops through many dire situations, including a long, difficult winter encampment in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
After the colonies emerged victorious over the British he returned to private life at his plantation in Virginia.
But the lack of a single strong leader caused political leaders to put out the call for Washington to return to the Philadelphia, the nation’s Capitol. He again stepped up to serve his country—first as the president of the 1787 Constitutional Convention and then as the nation’s first president in 1789.
He kept the United States out of European wars, helped to unite the nation, and established the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government.
Thomas Jefferson (born April 13th) is also among those whom history has chosen as one of our greatest presidents and he too appears on Mount Rushmore. (Theodore Roosevelt is the fourth President on the monument.)
Like Washington, Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) played a major role in the American colonies’ struggle to gain independence from Britain. He is perhaps best known as the main author of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson was the first secretary of state, the second vice president, and the third president of the United States (1801-09).
After the British burned the U.S. Capitol in 1814, Jefferson offered the Congress his personal collection of books for purchase. These books became the core of the Library of Congress, and today the Library’s main building bears Jefferson’s name.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-65) came from a very different background than that of the Virginians Washington and Jefferson. Born in Kentucky, he moved to Illinois, where he owned a general store that eventually went bankrupt. He served as postmaster and also was elected to the state legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives.
Lincoln studied law and eventually became a successful attorney. He made speeches that opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act--which he believed would result in the spread of slavery. These speeches brought him national attention and he played an important role in forming the Republican Party. In 1860, he became its candidate for president and was elected.
Lincoln had to confront two of the most difficult tasks ever faced by a U.S. president—attempting to hold the nation together in the face of secession and then leading it through four years of civil war. Just days after General Robert E. Lee surrendered on behalf of the Confederacy Abraham Lincoln was assassinated while attending a play Washington.
These historical facts come from the Library of Congress web site www.loc.gov.
Feb 18, 2011
By John Grimm
George Washington has never had the Presidents Day Holiday fall on his birthday…and never will. George was born on February 22nd and Presidents Day, the third Monday in February cannot fall on the 22nd. Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12th.
Rather than have two Presidential holidays in February, Presidents Day became the holiday for both of them in 1968.
In its first 100 years as a nation, the United States was fortunate to have a number of remarkable presidents. George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are right up there and form two of the Mount Rushmore four.
Washington (1732-1799) was an American hero long before he became president. As the commander of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, he led colonial troops through many dire situations, including a long, difficult winter encampment in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
After the colonies emerged victorious over the British he returned to private life at his plantation in Virginia.
But the lack of a single strong leader caused political leaders to put out the call for Washington to return to the Philadelphia, the nation’s Capitol. He again stepped up to serve his country—first as the president of the 1787 Constitutional Convention and then as the nation’s first president in 1789.
He kept the United States out of European wars, helped to unite the nation, and established the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government.
Thomas Jefferson (born April 13th) is also among those whom history has chosen as one of our greatest presidents and he too appears on Mount Rushmore. (Theodore Roosevelt is the fourth President on the monument.)
Like Washington, Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) played a major role in the American colonies’ struggle to gain independence from Britain. He is perhaps best known as the main author of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson was the first secretary of state, the second vice president, and the third president of the United States (1801-09).
After the British burned the U.S. Capitol in 1814, Jefferson offered the Congress his personal collection of books for purchase. These books became the core of the Library of Congress, and today the Library’s main building bears Jefferson’s name.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-65) came from a very different background than that of the Virginians Washington and Jefferson. Born in Kentucky, he moved to Illinois, where he owned a general store that eventually went bankrupt. He served as postmaster and also was elected to the state legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives.
Lincoln studied law and eventually became a successful attorney. He made speeches that opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act--which he believed would result in the spread of slavery. These speeches brought him national attention and he played an important role in forming the Republican Party. In 1860, he became its candidate for president and was elected.
Lincoln had to confront two of the most difficult tasks ever faced by a U.S. president—attempting to hold the nation together in the face of secession and then leading it through four years of civil war. Just days after General Robert E. Lee surrendered on behalf of the Confederacy Abraham Lincoln was assassinated while attending a play Washington.
These historical facts come from the Library of Congress web site www.loc.gov.
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