Honest Abe.

Honest Abe.

Your birthday is not a national holiday! Most Americans think February 12th is the date; we celebrate his accomplishments.

Lincoln was the first Republican President, ended slavery, the Civil War, and united the Nation in one Union. Lincoln's image is on our pennies and five-dollar notes. Even though he is considered one of our greatest Presidents, his birthday never became a national holiday. Right now, you are probably picturing the Lincoln Memorial, honoring our 16th president. But the fact remains, contrary to what many of us believe; we have no national holiday for his birthday.

Instead, his birthday is celebrated unofficially nationwide, with only four individual states, Connecticut, Illinois, Missouri, and New York honoring his birthday as a holiday. The California legislature ended Lincoln's birthday as a paid state holiday in 2009.

It was in Buffalo, N.Y that Julius E. Francis beginning in 1874, called for Congress to declare Lincoln's Birthday as a holiday.

However, the South did not want a national holiday honoring Lincoln following the Civil War. Democrats successfully blocked attempts to promote or preserve Lincoln's memory by designating his birthday as a national holiday.

But wait, don't we celebrate Lincoln's birthday as part of Presidents Day?

Another myth. President's Day is not a federal national holiday. When Congress moved holidays as part of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, Congress rejected proposals to honor Washington and Lincoln and retained Washington's birthday. That's right; it is officially "Washington's birthday." Nevertheless, a dozen states have renamed Washington's birthday as "Presidents' Day, and another dozen declare the day as "Washington and Lincoln Day,"

Perhaps it's time for those among us to recognize a leader who understood that what makes America Great is a republican form of government that is "of the people, by the people, and for the people.”