It’s important and appropriate that we celebrate the birthday of the father of our country and arguably our greatest president. Why isn’t the holiday on his birthday?

The National Archives explains:

Before 1971, Washington’s Birthday was one of nine federal holidays celebrated on specific dates…

Washington’s Birthday was uprooted from its fixed February 22 date and transplanted to the third Monday in February…

That Washington’s birth date—February 22—would never fall on the third Monday in February was considered of minimum importance.

In other words, Congress in its infinite stupidity defined Washington’s Birthday (observed) in a way that it could never actually fall on his birthday. (It should have at least been the 4th Monday in February.)

In the meantime, here is a quote from Thomas Paine that George Washington read to his troops before crossing the Delaware, a reminder of the importance of always fighting for freedom:

“Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”