The Presidents behind President's Day

The Presidents behind President

President’s Day is a holiday that usually means that students are off from school and the local department store is having a sale. However, President’s Day is also a national holiday of the United States that celebrates the birthdays of President George Washington and President Abraham Lincoln. In this article, you can read a little more information on these amazing U.S. Presidents. 

George Washington was born in 1732 on his family’s plantation in Virginia. He was raised to be a true Southern gentleman by his family, but also studied military arts and western expansion in school. He used these skills when he was 16 during the French Indian War starting in 1762. In the war, he served as a lieutenant colonel and as an aid to the general. After the war, President Washington went back to his home and managed the lands, but was upset about the constant interference from the British government. 

Due to their unfair regulations and taxes against him, he decided that he would join the American Revolution to fight for freedom from the British government. He served as one of Virginia's chosen delegates, but later was elected as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. The war would go on for six long years and was won based on Washington’s strategy of surprising the British military instead of more traditional fighting strategies. Because of victory as general of the American Revolution, he was chosen by the electoral college as the first president of the United States. As president, Washington served for a term of eight years which established the policy that a president can only serve in office for eight years. 

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States. He was born on February 12, 1809 as the son of a frontiersman in Kentucky. Lincoln was born in a very rural environment and was forced to teach himself how to read, write, and the law while working on a farm. All of his hard work paid off because he was able to work in the Illinois legislature for eight years. He later ran for Senator of Illinois in 1858, but lost to his opponent, Stephen A. Douglas. However, his failure gained him fame among the Republican party and was nominated as their presidential candidate in 1860. 

As President of the United States, President Lincoln faced many challenges. In 1863, Lincoln said that all slaves in the United States were now free in his Emancipation Proclamation. However, the southern states were not content with this law so they rebelled against the United States during the Civil War. After a very bloody fight, the southern states finally declared defeat and rejoined the United States in 1865. However, some southerners were bitter and wanted revenge. So, on April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth took this bitterness into his own hands and assassinated Lincoln in Ford’s Theater.  

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Published on February 23, 2023

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