Everyone gets excited for the four-day weekend for President’s day. But what is the true purpose of this holiday? Why do we get off school for it?

President’s Day is a holiday only celebrated in the United States of America. It is actually not originally named “President’s Day” and was once known as “Washington’s birthday.” This is how it is still referred to by the federal government. President’s Day is always on the third Monday of February, but why is that? It was traditionally celebrated on February 22, which is George Washington’s actual date of birth. The holiday was established in 1885, but became popularly known as President’s Day once it was moved as part of 1971’s Uniform Monday Holiday Act, an attempt to create more three-day weekends for the nation’s workers.

As a result of a push by a past Senator of Illinois, Robert McClory, the Uniform Monday Holiday Act  sought to shift the celebration of several federal holidays from specific dates to a series of predetermined Mondays. Some people thought that ensuring holidays always fell on the same weekday would reduce the amount of employees skipping work.

Some people argued that by changing the dates of these holidays, it work lessen their meaning. Although overall, there was support from the private sector and labor unions.

Moving the date of the holiday was also an attempt to combine the celebration of Washington’s birthday with Abraham Lincoln’s birthday which was February 12. In certain states, his birthday had been celebrated like Washington’s and a majority of people were in support of joining the two days to give equal recognition to two very important American presidents.

After combining the two, and placing the date in the middle of the two birthdays, markets began to use the three-day weekend to sell more of their product. “Presidents Day” bargains were advertised at stores around the country which ultimately lead to the name change of “Washington’s Birthday” to “President’s Day”.