Presidents' Day 2021: Why Aren't We Celebrating Washington's Birthday On His Actual Birthday?

Presidents' Day is observed on the third Monday in February, giving Americans a long weekend to enjoy each year. But despite its name, this holiday doesn't actually commemorate all presidents.

The holiday, which falls on Feb. 15 this year, is legally called "Washington’s Birthday" in honor of the nation’s first president, George Washington. It began in 1885 when the birthday of Washington was first celebrated as a federal holiday.

It was only much later that Washington's Birthday became popularly known as Presidents' Day and came to be viewed as a day to celebrate the achievements and lives of all presidents of the country -- giving Americans a chance to look back on the founding of their nation and the values it was built upon.

When exactly is Washington's birthday?

Washington's birthday can be quite a puzzle as the date was actually changed during his lifetime. During the time Washington was born, the Julian calendar was being used, but the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1752 by Britain and all its colonies led to a change in dates and ways of measuring the year, according to The Old Father's Almanac.

The Gregorian calendar required people born before 1752 to add 11 days to their birth dates, and those born between January 1 and March 25 also had to add one year to be in sync with the new calendar.

As a result of this, Washington's birthday was changed from Feb. 11, 1731 (his actual birth date) to Feb. 22, 1732, according to the National Archives.

If that's the case, then why is Presidents' Day called Washington's Birthday?

This is where the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1971 comes in. Shortly after Washington died in 1799, people began unofficially celebrating his birthday (Feb. 22) as a day of remembrance. This holiday, however, only became official in 1879 when President Rutherford B. Hayes signed Washington's Birthday into law.

Around 89 years after Washington's Birthday became an official holiday, Senator Robert McClory of Illinois championed legislation that would move several federal holidays to a series of predetermined Mondays -- a measure known today as the Uniform Monday Act. It was viewed as a way to increase the number of three-day weekends, according to History.com.

The act was signed into law in 1971 by President Richard M. Nixon and entailed celebrating Washington's Birthday on the third Monday of February instead of exactly on Feb. 22.

Since Washington's Birthday now landed between the birthdays of two of America's greatest leaders, Abraham Lincoln's and Washington's, the holiday began to be known instead as Presidents' Day.

Though the name of the holiday has never been officially changed, Presidents' Day now popularly serves as a day of commemoration for all presidents of America, past and present.