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Yesterday, on Sept. 7, we celebrated our annual USA Labor Day. Let us know take a brief look at a review of this wonderful annual holiday to recognize so many who labor every day to do so very much for all of us. This informative historical review is from our United States Department of Labor.
Labor Day is observed the first Monday in September, as an annual celebration of the social and economic achievements of American workers. The holiday is rooted in the late nineteenth century, when labor activists pushed for a federal holiday to recognize the many contributions workers have made to America's strength, prosperity, and well-being.
Before it was a federal holiday, Labor Day was recognized by labor activists and individual states. After municipal ordinances were passed in 1885 and 1886, a movement developed to secure state legislation. New York was the first state to introduce a bill, but Oregon was the first to pass a law recognizing Labor Day, on Feb. 21, 1887. During 1887, four more states, including Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, all passed laws creating a Labor Day holiday. By the end of the decade, Connecticut, Nebraska and Pennsylvania had followed suit.
The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday, just one year later, on Sept. 5, 1883. By 1894, 23 more states had adopted a Labor Day holiday. Then, on June 28, 1894, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a National holiday, and President Grover Cleveland then signed it to become an official USA national holiday.
American labor has raised the nation's standard of living and contributed to the greatest production the world has ever known and the labor movement has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pays tribute on Labor Day to all our American workers who do so much for our nation’s strength, freedom, and leadership. Thank you all so very much.