Presidents’ Day, also called Washington’s Birthday at the federal governmental level, is a holiday in the United States celebrated on the third Monday of February to honor all persons who served as presidents of the United States and, since 1879, has been the federal holiday honoring George Washington, who led the Continental Army to victory in the American Revolutionary War, presided at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and was the first U.S. president.

The day is an official state holiday in most states, with names including Washington’s Birthday, Presidents’ Day, President’s Day, Presidents Day, and Washington’s and Lincoln’s Birthday.^[1] The various states use 15 different names. Depending upon the specific law, the state holiday may officially celebrate Washington alone, Washington and Lincoln, or some other combination of U.S. presidents (such as Washington and Thomas Jefferson, who was born in April).^[1]

Washington’s Birthday was celebrated on February 22 from 1879 until 1970. To give federal employees a three-day weekend, in 1968 the Uniform Monday Holiday Act moved it to the third Monday in February, which can occur from February 15 to the 21st.^[2] The day soon became known as Presidents(‘) Day^[3] (the placement of the apostrophe, if any, varies) and provides an occasion to remember all U.S. presidents, or to honor Abraham Lincoln‘s and Washington’s birthdays together.^[1]

As states and cities followed suit, those that had been celebrating Lincoln’s birthday on February 12 combined the two into Presidents Day. Lincoln led the nation through the American Civil War, preserved the Union, abolished slavery, bolstered the federal government, and modernized the U.S. economy.