Lincoln's Birthday
| Lincoln's Birthday | |
|---|---|
Abraham Lincoln
|
|
| Official name | Birthday of President Abraham Lincoln |
| Observed by | Illinois and various U.S. states |
| Type | Local |
| Significance | Honors 16th President of the United States |
| Date | February 12 |
| Next time | February 12, 2018 |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Related to | Presidents Day |
Lincoln's Birthday is a legal, public holiday in some U.S. states, observed on the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth on February 12, 1809 In Hodgensville,Kentucky.Connecticut,Illinois,Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, and New York observe the holiday.
In other states, Lincoln's birthday is not celebrated separately, as a stand-alone holiday. Instead Lincoln's Birthday is combined with a celebration of President George Washington's birthday (also in February) and celebrated either as Washington's Birthday or as Presidents' Day on the third Monday in February, simultaneously with the Federal holiday.
The earliest known observance of Lincoln's birthday occurred in Buffalo, New York, in 1874. Julius Francis (d. 1881), a Buffalo druggist, made it his life's mission to honor the slain president. He repeatedly petitioned Congress to establish Lincoln's birthday as a legal holiday.
The day is marked by traditional wreath-laying ceremonies at Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site in Hodgenville, Kentucky, and at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.. The latter has been the site of a ceremony ever since the Memorial was dedicated. Since that event in 1922, observances continue to be organized by the Lincoln Birthday National Commemorative Committee and by the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS). A wreath is laid on behalf of the President of the United States, a custom also carried out at the grave sites of all deceased U.S. presidents on their birthdays. Lincoln's tomb is in Springfield, Illinois.
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