Until 1971, both February 12 and February 22 were observed as federal public holidays to honor the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln (February 12) and George Washington (February 22).

In 1971 President Richard Nixon proclaimed one single federal public holiday, the Presidents' Day, to be observed on the third Monday of February, honoring all past president of the United States of America.

Please Note: The Federal statute designates this day as Washington's Birthday, President Nixon issued a proclamation declaring the holiday as "President's Day" in 1971. President Nixon erroneously believed that a Presidential proclamation on the matter carried the same weight as an Executive Order.

Since that change in 1971, the common term has been "President's Day".

Of all the presidents in the history of the United State, Abraham Lincoln is probably the one that Americans remember the best and with deepest affection. His childhood in the frontier of Indiana set the course for his character and motivation later in life. He brought a new honesty and integrity to the White House. He would always be remembered as "honest Abe." Most of all, he is associated with the final abolition of slavery. Lincoln became a virtual symbol of the American dream whereby an ordinary person from humble beginnings could reach the pinnacle of society as president of the country.

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in Kentucky, and spent the first seven years of his life there. They were difficult years in which Thomas Lincoln, Abe's father tried to make a living as a carpenter and farmer. The Lincolns moved from farm to farm around Kentucky, until 1816, when the family left to settle in Indiana. The United States was still young, and the midwest was a wild, unsettled frontier. They stopped in the middle of a forest in Spencer County, Indiana. Neighbors were few and far away, and the family lived in a three-sided shelter until Abe's father cleared enough land and built a log cabin.

Abe and his sister helped with the heavy daily tasks that came with farming. He cleared the woods for farmland with his father, and became so skilled at splitting logs that neighbors settling into the Indiana territory paid him to split logs. At the time, he confessed that he did not really like manual labor. He wrote later that although he was very young, an axe was put into his hand, and he "was almost constantly handling that most useful instrument."

In his entire life, Abe was only able to go to school for a total of one year. This lack of education only made him hungry for more knowledge. His mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, influenced him in his quest for learning. Although she was completely uneducated and could not read or write, she encouraged her children to study by themselves. His beloved mother died when he was nine years old, The family was greatly saddened, and for a while lived almost in squalor. Two years later, however, Thomas Lincoln remarried. Abe's stepmother was also instrumental in encouraging him to read. He even travelled to neighboring farms and counties to borrow books. He was often found reading next to a pile of logs that he should have been splitting.

When he was older, Abe noticed that people loved to listen to stories. He began telling tall tales in the general store where he worked. Customers came and stayed when they knew he was there, just to hear him talk. The family moved once again, this time to Illinois. He began working in a store in the new capital of Springfield. His powers of speech soon helped him enter a new arena, that of politics and law. In 1834 he was elected into the House of Representatives and began studying to become a lawyer.

In 1839, he met his future wife Mary Todd. Coincidentally, she had been born in Kentucky, and her family had recently moved to Illinois. They had a long and unstable courtship, because Abe was indecisive about marrying. They finally exchanged their vows in Mary's home in November 1842. Abraham Lincoln began a long road to become the sixteenth president of the United States. He practiced law all across the state for the next few years, traveling far on horseback to different counties. I n 1847 he was elected into Congress, but his opinions did not ensure him a long stay there. He was vehemently against slavery and took stands on other controversial issues. He was not elected for a second term, so he returned to his law practice.

A few years later, slavery became a stronger issue, and more people were willing to abolish it. Lincoln joined the Republicans, a new political party that was opposed to slavery. The Republicans nominated him for the U.S. Senate in 1858, and in his acceptance speech, he stated:

"A house divided against itself cannot stand... This government cannot endure, permanently half-slave and half-free... I do not expect the Union to be dissolved. I do not expect the house to fall but I do expect it will cease to be divided. "

Abraham Lincoln's oratorical powers brought him to the attention of the nation. He challenged the Democratic nominee to the Senate to a series of debates. Using the simple language that he used to communicate with people all his life, he defeated Douglas in the debates but lost to him in the election.

Nominated by the Republican Party in 1860 as its candidate for the Presidency of the United States, Lincoln won by a small margin. But with his election, the country began the process of "dividing against itself." South Carolina had seceded from the Union before he was even inaugurated. Other states followed to form the Confederate States of America. The North and South were divided, and the Civil War began. The war was not only over the abolition of slavery, but also the rights of individual states to make their own choices on other issues.

The bloody Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania was the largest battle ever fought on American soil. On November 19, 1863, at a ceremony to establish Gettysburg as a national monument, Lincoln delivered what was to become one of the finest orations in American history, the Gettysburg Address. Yet just after he delivered it, there was polite applause, and reactions varied from indifference to disappointment. Edward Everett, ex-governor of Massachusetts, was the main speaker, and his speech had lasted for almost two hours. On his trip back to Washington, Lincoln himself said of his speech: "It was a flat failure. I am distressed about it. I ought to have prepared it with more care." But Edward Everett assured Lincoln saying: "I would be glad if I could flatter myself that I came near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes."

Lincoln was elected to a second term in 1864. The South surrendered, and the Civil War ended on April 9, 1865. The difficult task of national reconstruction and reconciliation lay ahead, but Lincoln would not be the person to lead the country through this difficult period.

On April 14, Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln attended a play at the Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. A few minutes past ten o'clock, an actor who disagreed with Lincoln's political opinions stepped into the Presidential box and shot the President. He died the following morning.

American poet Walt Whitman, along with the rest of the country, mourned the death of Abraham Lincoln. He wrote this poem in his honor.