President's Day
President's Day History, Traditions, Facts, Information and Related Activities.
President's Day is a celebration of both George Washington's and Abraham Lincoln's Birthdays. The Holiday is celebrated on the third Monday of February.
February 22, 1732
- December 14, 1799 at age 67 Two famous tales told about him are from the book, "The Life and Memorable Actions of George Washington" by Parson Mason Locke Weems. Parson Weems speaks of George tossing a stone across the Rappahannock River.
(Later, the stone became a silver dollar in American folk lore. ) George Washington, a Virginian and
plantation owner himself of the estate known as Mount Vernon on the Potomac
River, was a methodical man. He gave a great deal of thought to every decision he made. However, once his decision was made he did not waver in his resolve.
Valley Forge is a testimonial to that resolve. Valley Forge was a strategic location chosen because it separated the British forces in Philadelphia from the colonist Congress operating in York, Pennsylvania.
It was there with a small army of 11,000 men through a freezing Winter with few supplies and many desertions that Washington was able to train his forces, with the help of Baron Frederick Van Steuben. The sheer force of his belief in the Colonists right to freedom was what pulled him through these, the darkest hours of the American Revolution. Washington went on to win our independence. Lord Cornwallis, leader of the British forces, surrendered on October 19, 1781. It took two more years before a peace treaty was signed in 1783 recognizing the Colonists independence. Abraham Lincoln was our 16th President
Lincoln took office as 16th President on March 4,
1861. Six weeks later,
on April 12, 1861 the Civil War broke out when Fort Sumter was fired upon by the confederacy. Six days later, on April 15, 1865 the man who had said, Lincoln, known as the Great Emancipator, signed the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862 giving freedom to slaves held in any state in the confederacy that did not return to the Union by the end of the year. Lincoln had stated when he was a candidate for Senator of Illinois, He felt the fate of democracy lay in the preservation of the Union. "As I would not not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of Democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference is no Democracy. " Puzzles To Print Out And Do! Kids President's Day On-line Quizzes
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President's Day: Books, Films, Music, Links
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