The DC Traveler

Happy President’s Day from Washington, DC. With the primary in full swing, I thought I might review the roots of the first presidential election and the Learning Center at the home of George Washington.
In both the first and second election for President (1789 and 1792) after the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, General George Washington received only 69 votes. But at that time, it was a landslide.
Since there was no popular vote for president by citizens at the time, only members of the elected electoral college cast votes, making Washington the only president to win 100 percent of …read more

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His place in history as one of our greatest presidents is memorialized with the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, DC.  And next year marks the 200th anniversary of his birth, and the memorial to his life will be rededicated in a major ceremony.
But one of the most notable moments in Lincoln’s life, and in American history, occurred in 1863 in a field in southern Pennsylvania, just 90 miles north of Washington, DC. 
The sixteenth U.S. President, Abraham Lincoln, gave a short speech, dedicating a battlefield where four months earlier saw the deadliest fighting of the Civil War.  …read more

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In 1880, George Washington birthday* (February 22nd), 81 years after his death, was first celebrated in Washington, DC. Five years later, federal offices began to observe the holiday and close offices.  In 1971, Washington’s birthday was officially recognized as a national holiday and was moved to the 3rd Monday in February.
Abraham Lincoln’s birthday (February 12th) was also celebrated, but was never a legal national holiday. 
Various observances and parades are planned for Presidents’ Day – February 19th.
George Washington’s Mt. Vernon
An official wreath laying ceremony will be held at Washington’s tomb at 10:00 a.m.  Immediately afterwards, a Revolutionary War mock battle, as …read more

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