Yahoo Autos Presidents Day car sales: Why's that a thing, and how did we get a Presidents Day anyway?
George Washington drives a Dodge, even though they're built in Canada ...
Presidents Day has rightfully been called "our weirdest federal holiday." This article began as a fun little bit about the popularity of car sales on the third Monday of every February. It almost immediately turned into two nights of Internet searches trying to figure out: What's going on with this holiday? And why is Presidents Day synonymous with Presidents Day car sales?
Short answer: If you're shopping for a car, you're in luck. There are deals to be had. You can start here at Autoblog's car-buying hub. And be sure to check our list of current rebates and other incentives.
As for the background of it all, here's how we wound up using stacks of Washingtons, Lincolns, Jacksons and Grants (and some Benjamins) to buy cars on Presidents Day:
The origin
This all started as an informal celebration of George Washington's birthday on February 22 — except Washington was born on February 11, 1732, because the then-British colonies used Britain's Julian calendar, not the Gregorian calendar popular among Catholic nations. Britain and its possessions adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752, retroactively converting Julian dates before 1752.
The celebrations
The celebrations began even before Washington died. The website of Washington's estate, Mount Vernon, wrote, "As early as 1779 the birthday was a cause for public celebration in Milton, Massachusetts." The winning general of record in the Revolutionary War wouldn't pass away until December of that year. And remember Massachusetts. It's going to come up again, soon, and repeatedly.
The beginnings of a holiday
And here's Massachusetts right now, right now: In 1856, it became the first state to declare Washington's birthday a state holiday. A year into the U.S. Civil War, the 130th anniversary of Washington's birth on February 22, 1862, the Confederate States of America made their constitution official. The same day, the Union government in Washington, D.C., gathered to read Washington's farewell address to the nation. After the war, with renewed zeal in the Founding Fathers and nationhood, a U.S. senator from Arkansas proposed making Washington's birthday a federal holiday for workers in Washington, D.C. President Rutherford B. Hayes signed the measure into law in 1879 but only for workers in D.C., with Congress expanding the holiday for federal workers nationwide in 1885.
