The many way's Washington's has been celebrated throughout the history of the United States.

Did you know George Washington’s birthday has been celebrated by various parts of the United States since the revolutionary war? The first public celebration happened during the winter of 1778 at Valley Forge.

The next time it was celebrated was at a New York dinner at one of the leading hotels in 1783 on the “new” calendar. Many of the men who attended gave praise to him in their speeches. Once the meal was over the group decided to celebrate his birthday annually.

In 1790 Congress decided to adjourn for the day in honor of his birth while at the same time sending congratulations to the new president. The Tammany Society of New York also celebrated his birthday that year.

The following year Philadephia, as the nations capital, held a miltia parade to celebrate. In 1793 posponed the Assembly Ball until February 22 to coincide with his birthday. This caused many of the men in the opposition party not only to object but to complain that President Washington was being idolized. They still held the Ball on the twenty-second.

When the oppositional party gained control of Congress in 1796 they made sure there were no formal celebrations of President Washington’s birthday. This lead to poor attendance to the few private ones that were held. Once John Adams was inaugurated president he strongly encouraged the young nation to celebrate the day. Slowly the major cities did start celebrating the day.

After President Washington’s death on December 14, 1799 Congress adopted a resolution recommending the celebration of February 22,1800 throughout the United States, before adjourning from Philadephia. This was one of the first recommendations acted upon by several organizations in many of the cities. They held parades, dinners, balls, and church services to honor the birth of George Washington.

However, for the most part the celebrations of the day continued to swing irradically in those early years. Especially when Thomas Jefferson became president and ignored the day completely.

Surprisingly the longest continual celebration of President Washington’s birth is not held by cities, politicians or militia but rather academia. The University of Pennsylvania faculty marched to George Washington’s home in Philadephia in 1794. They made it an annual celebration in 1826 when the Trustees voted it as University Day. In 1829 it was mentioned for the first time in the catalog with the requirement to spend a small part of the day in the chapel. In fact it remained a small local event until 1898 when the University asked President William McKinley to be their main speaker for the event. Since then many other presidents and important me have participated in the University of Pennsylvania’s annual event.

In my research on how the United States celebrated President George Washington’s birth I discovered the biggest and longest celebration happened in the centennial of his birth. It lasted six months and was country wide. In addition to the United States celebrating his day that year forty other countries held special commemorations on the fourth of July in his honor.

The thing I find reasuring is the fact this celebration of President George Washington’s birth HAS been with us since the beginning of our country. This to honor the man called the father of our country. Personally I’m glad it is not some later addition to bolster the moral and good will the of people of the United States. By the way, Happy Birthday George!