What is behind the national holiday labeled Presidents' Day? Yes, there is a valid reason for celebrating and it should remind us of what we can celebrate.

Presidents' Day, a declared national holiday in honor of our past Presidents' birthdays comes once a year. I wonder how many people really think about our past presidents. In reflecting on this holiday, I realize that few people truly know what some of these great men accomplished or what they based their presidency on.

The Founding Fathers of this great country and the creators of the U.S. Constitution were great men. President James Madison is considered to be the Father of the U.S. Constitution, along with Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and the others who drafted the Constitution.

There is a mistaken belief that our U.S. Constitution is based on Christianity and that our Founding Fathers were all Christians. This is not true . Although the majority probably were Christians, it does not mean they created the Constitution for this to be primarily a Christian nation.

Madison and Jefferson also drafted the Declaration of Freedom and the following portion is part of the State of Virginia's Constitution. In Section 1, Jefferson argues that the concept of compulsory religion is wrong for the following reasons:

-The imposition of anything on a human mind, which God made to be free, is hypocritical and wrong.
-Whereas Almighty God hath created the mind free, God never coerced anyone to follow him, and the imposition of a religion by government officials is impious.
-The coercion of a person to make contributions—especially monetary—to a religion he doesn't support is tyrannical and crates favoritism among ministers.
-Civil rights do not depend on religious beliefs, and what a person thinks is no business of the government.

A quote from writings of Thomas Jefferson states, "I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature." Even then, our Founding Fathers wanted this country to be a country where all people have the freedom to worship as they choose.

There is also a strong possibility that the Iroquois Confederacy influenced the writers of our Constitution. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin are known to have had a strong connection with the Iroquois and used parts of the Iroquois Confederacy constitution as a role model for the U.S. Constitution.

The Confederacy consisted of five Indian tribes and recent estimates date the confederacy and its constitution between 1090 and 1150 CE. The initiator of the Iroquois constitution is reportedly the Great Peacemaker Deganawida. Legend has it that his was a virgin birth. He stuttered, was ridiculed, became an outcast and he became an enlightened man through his handicap. He traveled through the various tribes to teach them the way of peace and along the way met Hiawatha, an angry and ferocious warrior whose wife and children had been killed by another tribe. Hiawatha listened to Deganawida and became his disciple as Deganawida's orator.

Deganawida became known as a prophet as he traveled among the tribes counseling peace while unifying them into the League of the Iroquois. He created an advanced political system—primarily democratic and it allowed women a major role.

In celebration of Presidents ' Day, it should be noted that this country was founded on the wisdom of the Founding Fathers. President John Adams wrote and incorporated into the Treaty with Tripoli, "As the government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." President Harry S. Truman is quoted as saying, "We believe that all men are created equal because they are created in the image of God."

Thomas Jefferson is quoted as saying, "Truth is certainly a branch of morality and a very important one to society." President John F. Kennedy said, "Let us resolve to be masters, not victims of our history, controlling our own destiny without giving way to blind suspicions and emotions."

This is an important election year and we have choices. We have a brilliant Constitution and a legacy of wisdom from our Founding Fathers, whom we should honor and insist during this election year on the restoration of the Constitution.