With the generic Presidents’ Day (the holiday is, legally, still officially Washington’s Birthday, not Presidents’ Day) behind us, it is time to celebrate the actual birthday of George Washington. But is there anything original left to say, 281 years after America’s first President was born? Beyond the familiar tales of …
Instead of celebrating George Washington’s birthday, today we’ve lumped him in together with no-names including Millard Fillmore and William Henry Harrison as we celebrate a generic “Presidents’ Day.” But George Washington was not simply a President. He was the indispensible man of the American Founding. Washington’s words, thoughts, and deeds …
Everyone ascending the steps of the National Archives building sees these words chiseled in stone: “Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty.” No one was more vigilant than Judge Robert Bork, who passed away in December, in courageously defending principles that make our liberty possible. In 1968, then a Yale …
Life is good when you’re in the majority—and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) seems to believe he’ll be there forever. Reid has already effectively shut down the opportunity for minority Senators to offer amendments to bills. Now he is angling to change the Senate’s rules so that minority members …
The Constitution is for sale. No, really. Christie’s in New York will auction off George Washington’s 223-year-old copy of the Constitution and Bill of Rights next week. The pages are largely unmarked, except for a few of Washington’s notes about the presidency. That’s appropriate, considering that Article II was drafted with …
With Super Tuesday coming up, Americans are reflecting on the Republican presidential campaign: Has the fighting among candidates been normal? Is the presidential campaign process too long? How important are debates? Reflecting on these questions can be put into better context by looking at the evolution of the presidential selection …
Poor George Washington. His birthday, spontaneously celebrated since the Revolution and formally declared a holiday in 1879, has slowly morphed into the insipid Presidents Day you’ll hear about today. George Washington, the “indispensable man” of the Revolution who was rightly extolled for being “first in war, first in peace, and …
In this week’s Heritage in Focus, Heritage Vice President and first principles scholar Matt Spalding discusses the importance of Presidents’ Day. Click here to listen. Should the holiday be designated as Presidents’ Day or George Washington’s Birthday? What principles did President Washington embody that are worth celebrating? What’s the most important thing …
