1.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
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Constitution Day (United States)
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Constitution Day is an American federal observance that recognizes the adoption of the United States Constitution and those who have become U. S. citizens. It is normally observed on September 17, the day in 1787 that delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the document in Philadelphia, when Constitution Day falls on a weekend or on another holiday, schools and other institutions observe the holiday on an adjacent weekday. The law establishing the present holiday was created in 2004 with the passage of an amendment by Senator Robert Byrd to the Omnibus spending bill of 2004, before this law was enacted, the holiday was known as Citizenship Day. In May 2005, the United States Department of Education announced the enactment of this law, iowa schools first recognized Constitution Day in 1911. In 1917, the Sons of the American Revolution formed a committee to promote Constitution Day, the committee would include members such as Calvin Coolidge, John D. Rockefeller, and General John Pershing. This day was inspired by Arthur Pine, the head of a publicity-public relations firm in New York City bearing his name. The promotion proved so successful that a newspaper chain promoted “I am an American Day” on a basis and had President Roosevelt name it as an official day. In 1939, William Randolph Hearst advocated, through his chain of daily newspapers, in 1940, Congress designated the third Sunday in May as I am an American Day. In 1944 I am an American Day was promoted through the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service, a 16-minute film, I Am an American, was featured in American theaters as a short feature. In 1947 Hearst Newsreels featured the event on News of the Day, by 1949, governors of all 48 states had issued Constitution Day proclamations. On February 29,1952, Congress moved the I am an American Day observation to September 17, Louisville, Ohio, calls itself Constitution Town, and credits one of its own for getting the holiday national recognition. In 1952, resident Olga T. Weber petitioned municipal officials to establish Constitution Day, mayor Gerald A. Romary proclaimed September 17,1952, as Constitution Day in the city. The following April, Weber requested that the Ohio General Assembly proclaim September 17 as statewide Constitution Day and her request was signed into law by Governor Frank J. Lausche. In August 1953, she took her case to the United States Senate, the Senate and House approved her request and it was signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. On April 15,1957, the City Council of Louisville declared the city Constitution Town. S, Constitution & Citizenship Week at MSOE Multiple related links on the U. S. Shows January 1994 US Code prior to amendment adding Constitution Day to this observance
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United States Constitution
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The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States of America. The Constitution, originally comprising seven articles, delineates the national frame of government, Articles Four, Five and Six entrench concepts of federalism, describing the rights and responsibilities of state governments and of the states in relationship to the federal government. Article Seven establishes the procedure used by the thirteen States to ratify it. In general, the first ten amendments, known collectively as the Bill of Rights, offer specific protections of individual liberty, the majority of the seventeen later amendments expand individual civil rights protections. Others address issues related to federal authority or modify government processes and procedures, Amendments to the United States Constitution, unlike ones made to many constitutions worldwide, are appended to the document. All four pages of the original U. S, according to the United States Senate, The Constitutions first three words—We the People—affirm that the government of the United States exists to serve its citizens. From September 5,1774 to March 1,1781, the Continental Congress functioned as the government of the United States. The process of selecting the delegates for the First and Second Continental Congresses underscores the revolutionary role of the people of the colonies in establishing a governing body. The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was the first constitution of the United States and it was drafted by the Second Continental Congress from mid-1776 through late-1777, and ratification by all 13 states was completed by early 1781. Under the Articles of Confederation, the governments power was quite limited. The Confederation Congress could make decisions, but lacked enforcement powers, implementation of most decisions, including modifications to the Articles, required unanimous approval of all thirteen state legislatures. The Continental Congress could print money but the currency was worthless, Congress could borrow money, but couldnt pay it back. No state paid all their U. S. taxes, some paid nothing, some few paid an amount equal to interest on the national debt owed to their citizens, but no more. No interest was paid on debt owed foreign governments, by 1786, the United States would default on outstanding debts as their dates came due. Internationally, the Articles of Confederation did little to enhance the United States ability to defend its sovereignty, most of the troops in the 625-man United States Army were deployed facing – but not threatening – British forts on American soil. They had not been paid, some were deserting and others threatening mutiny, spain closed New Orleans to American commerce, U. S. officials protested, but to no effect. Barbary pirates began seizing American ships of commerce, the Treasury had no funds to pay their ransom, if any military crisis required action, the Congress had no credit or taxing power to finance a response. Domestically, the Articles of Confederation was failing to bring unity to the sentiments and interests of the various states
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Dwight D. Eisenhower
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Dwight David Ike Eisenhower was an American politician and Army general who served as the 34th President of the United States from 1953 until 1961. He was a general in the United States Army during World War II. He was responsible for planning and supervising the invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch in 1942–43, in 1951, he became the first Supreme Commander of NATO. Eisenhower was of mostly Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry and was raised in a family in Kansas by parents with a strong religious background. He graduated from West Point in 1915 and later married Mamie Doud, after World War II, Eisenhower served as Army Chief of Staff under President Harry S. Truman and then accepted the post of President at Columbia University. Eisenhower entered the 1952 presidential race as a Republican to counter the non-interventionism of Senator Robert A. Taft, campaigning against communism, Korea and he won in a landslide, defeating Democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson and temporarily upending the New Deal Coalition. Eisenhower was the first U. S. president to be constitutionally term-limited under the 22nd Amendment, Eisenhowers main goals in office were to keep pressure on the Soviet Union and reduce federal deficits. He ordered coups in Iran and Guatemala, Eisenhower gave major aid to help the French in the First Indochina War, and after the French were defeated he gave strong financial support to the new state of South Vietnam. Congress agreed to his request in 1955 for the Formosa Resolution, after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, Eisenhower authorized the establishment of NASA, which led to the space race. During the Suez Crisis of 1956, Eisenhower condemned the Israeli, British and French invasion of Egypt and he also condemned the Soviet invasion during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 but took no action. Eisenhower sent 15,000 U. S. troops to Lebanon to prevent the government from falling to a Nasser-inspired revolution during the 1958 Lebanon crisis. Near the end of his term, his efforts to set up a meeting with the Soviets collapsed because of the U-2 incident. On the domestic front, he covertly opposed Joseph McCarthy and contributed to the end of McCarthyism by openly invoking executive privilege and he otherwise left most political activity to his Vice President, Richard Nixon. Eisenhower was a conservative who continued New Deal agencies and expanded Social Security. Eisenhowers two terms saw considerable economic prosperity except for a decline in 1958. Voted Gallups most admired man twelve times, he achieved widespread popular esteem both in and out of office, since the late 20th century, consensus among Western scholars has consistently held Eisenhower as one of the greatest U. S. Presidents. The Eisenhauer family migrated from Karlsbrunn in the Saarland, to North America, first settling in York, Pennsylvania, in 1741, accounts vary as to how and when the German name Eisenhauer was anglicized to Eisenhower. Eisenhowers Pennsylvania Dutch ancestors, who were farmers, included Hans Nikolaus Eisenhauer of Karlsbrunn
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Daughters of the American Revolution
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The Daughters of the American Revolution is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States struggle for independence. A non-profit group, they work to promote preservation, education. It currently has approximately 180,000 members in the United States and its motto is God, Home, and Country. The DAR is a white organization with a record of excluding African American women. In 1889 the centennial of President George Washingtons inauguration was celebrated, out of the renewed interest in United States history, numerous patriotic and preservation societies were founded. The first meeting of the society was held August 9,1890, the first DAR chapter was organized on October 11,1890, at the Strathmore Arms, the home of Mary Smith Lockwood, one of the DARs four co-founders. Other founders were Eugenia Washington, a great-grandniece of George Washington, Ellen Hardin Walworth and they had also held organizational meetings in August 1890. The First Lady, Caroline Lavina Scott Harrison, wife of President Benjamin Harrison, lent her prestige to the founding of DAR, having initiated a renovation of the White House, she was interested in historic preservation. She helped establish the goals of DAR, which was incorporated by charter in 1896. This was in addition to fraternal and civic organizations flourishing in this period. The DAR chapters raised funds to initiate a number of historic preservation and they began a practice of installing markers at the graves of Revolutionary War veterans to indicate their service, and adding small flags at their gravesites on Memorial Day. Other activities included commissioning and installing monuments to battles and other related to the War. The DAR recognized women patriots contributions as well as those of soldiers, for instance, they installed a monument at the site of a spring where Polly Hawkins Craig and other women got water to use against flaming arrows, in the defense of Bryan Station. In addition to installing markers and monuments, DAR chapters have purchased, preserved and operated historic houses, see DAR Historic Sites and Database for a map and database of DAR sites. Washington, D. C. had segregated facilities under laws established by a Southern-dominated Congress, in 1945, African-American jazz singer Hazel Scott was excluded from performing at Constitution Hall. In October 1945, the DAR invited First Lady Bess Truman to a tea at the hall, congressman Powell protested and asked Truman not to attend the tea. She chose to go, but said publicly that she opposed discrimination, the White House received letters asking Bess Truman to resign from the DAR in protest of their policy, she declined to do so. Other letters supported her having attended the tea, the DAR did not officially reverse its white performers only policy until 1952
6.
Congress of the Confederation
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A unicameral body with legislative and executive function, it comprised delegates appointed by the legislatures of the several states. Each state delegation had one vote, the membership of the Second Continental Congress automatically carried over to the Congress of the Confederation when the latter was created by the ratification of the Articles of Confederation. It had the secretary as the Second Continental Congress, namely Charles Thomson. The Congress of the Confederation opened in the last stages of the American Revolution, combat ended in October 1781, with the surrender of the British after the Siege and Battle of Yorktown. The British, however, continued to occupy New York City, while the American delegates in Paris, named by the Congress and this formally ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain and the thirteen former colonies, which on July 4,1776, had declared independence. On March 1,1781, the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union were signed by delegates of Maryland at a meeting of the Second Continental Congress, as historian Edmund Burnett wrote, There was no new organization of any kind, not even the election of a new President. The Congress still called itself the Continental Congress, some modern historians would later refer to the Continental Congress after the ratification of the Articles as the Congress of the Confederation or the Confederation Congress. The Congress had little power and without the threat of a war against the British. Nonetheless the Congress still managed to pass important laws, most notably the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, the War of Independence saddled the country with an enormous debt. In 1784, the total Confederation debt was nearly $40 million, of that sum, $8 million was owed to the French and Dutch. Of the domestic debt, government bonds, known as loan-office certificates, composed $11.5 million, certificates on interest indebtedness $3.1 million, the certificates were non-interest bearing notes issued for supplies purchased or impressed, and to pay soldiers and officers. Rhode Island and Virginia rejected the 1781 impost plan while New York rejected the 1783 revised plan, without revenue, except for meager voluntary state requisitions, Congress could not even pay the interest on its outstanding debt. Meanwhile, the states failed, or refused, to meet the requisitions requested of them by Congress. The Confederation Congress itself endorsed the Call and issued one on its own further inviting the states to send delegates. After meeting in secret all summer in the Old Pennsylvania State House now having acquired the nickname and new title of Independence Hall, from the famous action here eleven years earlier. The Confederation Congress received and submitted the new Constitution document to the states, the Congress of the Confederation continued to conduct business for another month after setting the various dates. Pell oversaw the meeting and adjourned the Congress sine die, rather than having a fixed capital, the Congress of the Confederation met in numerous locations which may be considered United States capitals. The Congress of the Confederation initially met at the Old Pennsylvania State House, party Politics in the Continental Congress
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President of the United States
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The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. The president is considered to be one of the worlds most powerful political figures, the role includes being the commander-in-chief of the worlds most expensive military with the second largest nuclear arsenal and leading the nation with the largest economy by nominal GDP. The office of President holds significant hard and soft power both in the United States and abroad, Constitution vests the executive power of the United States in the president. The president is empowered to grant federal pardons and reprieves. The president is responsible for dictating the legislative agenda of the party to which the president is a member. The president also directs the foreign and domestic policy of the United States, since the office of President was established in 1789, its power has grown substantially, as has the power of the federal government as a whole. However, nine vice presidents have assumed the presidency without having elected to the office. The Twenty-second Amendment prohibits anyone from being elected president for a third term, in all,44 individuals have served 45 presidencies spanning 57 full four-year terms. On January 20,2017, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th, in 1776, the Thirteen Colonies, acting through the Second Continental Congress, declared political independence from Great Britain during the American Revolution. The new states, though independent of each other as nation states, desiring to avoid anything that remotely resembled a monarchy, Congress negotiated the Articles of Confederation to establish a weak alliance between the states. Out from under any monarchy, the states assigned some formerly royal prerogatives to Congress, only after all the states agreed to a resolution settling competing western land claims did the Articles take effect on March 1,1781, when Maryland became the final state to ratify them. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris secured independence for each of the former colonies, with peace at hand, the states each turned toward their own internal affairs. Prospects for the convention appeared bleak until James Madison and Edmund Randolph succeeded in securing George Washingtons attendance to Philadelphia as a delegate for Virginia. It was through the negotiations at Philadelphia that the presidency framed in the U. S. The first power the Constitution confers upon the president is the veto, the Presentment Clause requires any bill passed by Congress to be presented to the president before it can become law. Once the legislation has been presented, the president has three options, Sign the legislation, the bill becomes law. Veto the legislation and return it to Congress, expressing any objections, in this instance, the president neither signs nor vetoes the legislation
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Donald Trump
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Donald John Trump is the 45th and current President of the United States. Prior to entering politics he was a businessman and television personality, Trump was born and raised in Queens, New York City, and earned an economics degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He then took charge of The Trump Organization, the estate and construction firm founded by his paternal grandmother, which he ran for four. During his real career, Trump has built, renovated, and managed numerous office towers, hotels, casinos. Besides real estate, he started several ventures and has lent the use of his name for the branding of various products. He owned the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants from 1996 to 2015, and he hosted The Apprentice, as of 2017, Forbes listed him as the 544th wealthiest person in the world with a net worth of $3.5 billion. Trump first publicly expressed interest in running for office in 1987. He won two Reform Party presidential primaries in 2000, but withdrew his candidacy early on, in June 2015, he launched his campaign for the 2016 presidential election and quickly emerged as the front-runner among 17 candidates in the Republican primaries. His final opponents suspended their campaigns in May 2016, and in July he was nominated at the Republican National Convention along with Indiana governor Mike Pence as his running mate. His campaign received unprecedented media coverage and international attention, many of the statements he made at rallies, in interviews, or on social media were controversial or false. Trump won the election on November 8,2016, in a surprise victory against Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. His political positions have been described by scholars and commentators as populist, protectionist, Trump was born on June 14,1946 at the Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, Queens, New York City. He was the fourth of five born to Frederick Christ Fred Trump. His siblings are Maryanne, Fred Jr. Elizabeth, and Robert, Trumps ancestors originated from the village of Kallstadt, Palatinate, Germany on his fathers side, and from the Outer Hebrides isles of Scotland on his mothers side. All his grandparents, and his mother, were born in Europe and his mothers grandfather was also christened Donald. On a visit to his village, he met Elisabeth Christ. He died from the flu pandemic of 1918 and Elizabeth incorporated the family real estate business, Elizabeth Trump and Son, which would later become The Trump Organization. Trumps father Fred was born in the Bronx, and worked with his mother since he was 15 as a real estate developer, primarily in the New York boroughs of Queens and he eventually built and sold thousands of houses, barracks and apartments
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Whitehouse.gov
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Whitehouse. gov is the official website of the White House and is owned by the United States government. Launched in October 1994, it contains information about the President, the Vice President, their families, press releases, proclamations, executive orders, and some speeches by White House officials. It has the web sites of several offices in the Executive Office of the President, such as the Office of Management and Budget. The website has been redesigned for each new president. Websites for former presidents in office are moved to archive versions, as of 2011, the website is considered among the best of the United States federal government. The content of the website is in the domain or licensed under Creative Commons Attribution license. On September 1,2011, David Plouffe announced in an email that the White House is releasing We the People to allow public petitions on whitehouse. gov, the launch of the petitioning platform was announced by Katelyn Sabochik September 22,2011 in a White House blog post. As of January 20,2017, the Spanish Version of whitehouse. gov under the Trump administration was removed
10.
Washington, D.C.
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Washington, D. C. formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D. C. is the capital of the United States. The signing of the Residence Act on July 16,1790, Constitution provided for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress and the District is therefore not a part of any state. The states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, named in honor of President George Washington, the City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital. In 1846, Congress returned the land ceded by Virginia, in 1871. Washington had an population of 681,170 as of July 2016. Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the population to more than one million during the workweek. The Washington metropolitan area, of which the District is a part, has a population of over 6 million, the centers of all three branches of the federal government of the United States are in the District, including the Congress, President, and Supreme Court. Washington is home to national monuments and museums, which are primarily situated on or around the National Mall. The city hosts 176 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of international organizations, trade unions, non-profit organizations, lobbying groups. A locally elected mayor and a 13‑member council have governed the District since 1973, However, the Congress maintains supreme authority over the city and may overturn local laws. D. C. residents elect a non-voting, at-large congressional delegate to the House of Representatives, the District receives three electoral votes in presidential elections as permitted by the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1961. Various tribes of the Algonquian-speaking Piscataway people inhabited the lands around the Potomac River when Europeans first visited the area in the early 17th century, One group known as the Nacotchtank maintained settlements around the Anacostia River within the present-day District of Columbia. Conflicts with European colonists and neighboring tribes forced the relocation of the Piscataway people, some of whom established a new settlement in 1699 near Point of Rocks, Maryland. 43, published January 23,1788, James Madison argued that the new government would need authority over a national capital to provide for its own maintenance. Five years earlier, a band of unpaid soldiers besieged Congress while its members were meeting in Philadelphia, known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, the event emphasized the need for the national government not to rely on any state for its own security. However, the Constitution does not specify a location for the capital, on July 9,1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River. The exact location was to be selected by President George Washington, formed from land donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia, the initial shape of the federal district was a square measuring 10 miles on each side, totaling 100 square miles. Two pre-existing settlements were included in the territory, the port of Georgetown, Maryland, founded in 1751, many of the stones are still standing
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White House
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The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States, located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D. C. It has been the residence of every U. S. president since John Adams in 1800, the term White House is often used to refer to actions of the president and his advisers, as in The White House announced that. The residence was designed by Irish-born architect James Hoban in the Neoclassical style, construction took place between 1792 and 1800 using Aquia Creek sandstone painted white. When Thomas Jefferson moved into the house in 1801, he added low colonnades on each wing that concealed stables and storage. In 1814, during the War of 1812, the mansion was set ablaze by the British Army in the Burning of Washington, destroying the interior, reconstruction began almost immediately, and President James Monroe moved into the partially reconstructed Executive Residence in October 1817. Exterior construction continued with the addition of the semi-circular South portico in 1824, because of crowding within the executive mansion itself, President Theodore Roosevelt had all work offices relocated to the newly constructed West Wing in 1901. Eight years later in 1909, President William Howard Taft expanded the West Wing and created the first Oval Office, in the main mansion, the third-floor attic was converted to living quarters in 1927 by augmenting the existing hip roof with long shed dormers. A newly constructed East Wing was used as an area for social events. East Wing alterations were completed in 1946, creating additional office space, by 1948, the houses load-bearing exterior walls and internal wood beams were found to be close to failure. Under Harry S. Truman, the rooms were completely dismantled. Once this work was completed, the rooms were rebuilt. The Executive Residence is made up of six stories—the Ground Floor, State Floor, Second Floor, the property is a National Heritage Site owned by the National Park Service and is part of the Presidents Park. In 2007, it was ranked second on the American Institute of Architects list of Americas Favorite Architecture, in May 1790, New York began construction of Government House for his official residence, but he never occupied it. The national capital moved to Philadelphia in December 1790, the July 1790 Residence Act named Philadelphia, Pennsylvania the temporary national capital for a 10-year period while the Federal City was under construction. The City of Philadelphia rented Robert Morriss city house at 190 High Street for Washingtons presidential residence, the first president occupied the Market Street mansion from November 1790 to March 1797, and altered it in ways that may have influenced the design of the White House. As part of an effort to have Philadelphia named the permanent national capital, Pennsylvania built a much grander presidential mansion several blocks away. President John Adams also occupied the Market Street mansion from March 1797 to May 1800, on Saturday, November 1,1800, he became the first president to occupy the White House. The Presidents House in Philadelphia became a hotel and was demolished in 1832, the Presidents House was a major feature of Pierre Charles LEnfants plan for the newly established federal city, Washington, D. C
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United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
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Citizenship and Immigration Services is a component of the United States Department of Homeland Security. It performs many functions formerly carried out by the former United States Immigration and Naturalization Service. The stated priorities of USCIS are to promote national security, to eliminate immigration case backlogs, USCIS is headed by a director, currently James McCament, who reports directly to the Secretary of Homeland Security. USCIS is charged with processing immigrant visa petitions, naturalization petitions, asylum applications and it also makes adjudicative decisions performed at the service centers, and manages all other immigration benefits functions performed by the former INS. The enforcement of immigration laws remains under Customs and Border Protection and Immigration, USCIS focuses on two key points on the immigrants journey towards civic integration, when they first become permanent residents and when they are ready to begin the formal naturalization process. USCIS handles all forms and processing materials related to immigration and naturalization and this is evident from USCISs predecessor, the INS, which is defunct as of May 9,2003. USCIS currently handles two kinds of forms, those relating to immigration, and those related to naturalization, forms are designated by a specific name, and an alphanumeric sequence consisting of one letter, followed by two or three digits. Forms related to immigration are designated with an I and forms related to naturalization are designated by an N. USCIS official website is USCIS. gov, the site was redesigned in 2009 and unveiled on September 22,2009. The redesign made the web page interface more similar to the Department of Homeland Securitys official website, the last major redesign before 2009 took place in October 2006. Also, USCIS runs an online appointment scheduling service known as INFOPASS and this system allows people with questions about immigration to come into their local USCIS office and speak directly with a government employee about their case and so on. This is an important way in which USCIS serves the public, USCIS maintains a blog entitled The Beacon as well as the @uscis Twitter account. Unlike most other agencies, USCIS is funded almost entirely by user fees. Under President George W. Bushs FY2008 budget request, direct congressional appropriations made about 1% of the USCIS budget, the total USCIS FY2008 budget was projected to be $2.6 billion. USCIS consists of 19,000 federal employees and contractors working at 223 offices around the world, the INS was widely seen as ineffective, particularly after scandals that arose after September 11,2001. On November 25,2002, President George W. Bush signed the Homeland Security Act of 2002 into law and this law transferred the Immigration and Naturalization Service functions to the Department of Homeland Security. Immigration enforcement functions were placed within the U. S. Customs and Border Protection at the border and Ports-of-Entry while U. S. Immigration, the immigration service functions were placed into the separate USCIS. USCIS was formerly and briefly named the U. S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, on March 1,2003, the INS ceased to exist and services provided by that organization transitioned into USCIS. Eduardo Aguirre was appointed the first USCIS Director by President Bush, in December 2005, Emilio T. Gonzalez, Ph. D. was confirmed by the U. S. Senate as the Director of USCIS, and he held this position until April 2008
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Federal government of the United States
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The Federal Government of the United States is the national government of the United States, a republic in North America, composed of 50 states, one district, Washington, D. C. and several territories. The federal government is composed of three branches, legislative, executive, and judicial, whose powers are vested by the U. S. Constitution in the Congress, the President, and the courts, including the Supreme Court. The powers and duties of these branches are defined by acts of Congress. The full name of the republic is United States of America, no other name appears in the Constitution, and this is the name that appears on money, in treaties, and in legal cases to which it is a party. The terms Government of the United States of America or United States Government are often used in documents to represent the federal government as distinct from the states collectively. In casual conversation or writing, the term Federal Government is often used, the terms Federal and National in government agency or program names generally indicate affiliation with the federal government. Because the seat of government is in Washington, D. C, Washington is commonly used as a metonym for the federal government. The outline of the government of the United States is laid out in the Constitution, the government was formed in 1789, making the United States one of the worlds first, if not the first, modern national constitutional republics. The United States government is based on the principles of federalism and republicanism, some make the case for expansive federal powers while others argue for a more limited role for the central government in relation to individuals, the states or other recognized entities. For example, while the legislative has the power to create law, the President nominates judges to the nations highest judiciary authority, but those nominees must be approved by Congress. The Supreme Court, in its turn, has the power to invalidate as unconstitutional any law passed by the Congress and these and other examples are examined in more detail in the text below. The United States Congress is the branch of the federal government. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate, the House currently consists of 435 voting members, each of whom represents a congressional district. The number of each state has in the House is based on each states population as determined in the most recent United States Census. All 435 representatives serve a two-year term, each state receives a minimum of one representative in the House. There is no limit on the number of terms a representative may serve, in addition to the 435 voting members, there are six non-voting members, consisting of five delegates and one resident commissioner. In contrast, the Senate is made up of two senators from each state, regardless of population, there are currently 100 senators, who each serve six-year terms
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Federal Register
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The Federal Register, abbreviated FR or sometimes Fed. Reg. is the journal of the federal government of the United States that contains government agency rules, proposed rules. It is published daily, except on federal holidays, the Federal Register is compiled by the Office of the Federal Register and is printed by the Government Publishing Office. There are no restrictions on the Federal Register, as a work of the U. S. government. In essence, the Federal Register is a way for the government to announce changes to government requirements, policies, the notice and comment process, as outlined in the Administrative Procedure Act, gives the people a chance to participate in agency rulemaking. Publication of documents in the Federal Register also constitutes constructive notice, the Federal Register is the main source for the U. S. Both proposed and final rules are published in the Federal Register, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking typically requests public comment on a proposed rule, and provides notice of any public meetings where a proposed rule will be discussed. The public comments are considered by the government agency. The United States Government Manual is published as an edition of the Federal Register. Its focus is on programs and activities, to purchase current or back print copies of the Federal Register, one may contact the U. S. Government Publishing Office. In each issue of the Federal Register, there is a subscription page, currently, a years subscription rate within the U. S. is US$929. Each individual issue may be priced from $11 to $33 depending on its pages, virtually every law library associated with an American Bar Association–accredited law school will also have a set, as will federal depository libraries. The Federal Register has been online since 1994. Federal depository libraries within the U. S. also receive copies of the text, outside the U. S. some major libraries may also carry the Federal Register. To help federal agencies manage their dockets, the Federal Docket Management System was launched in 2005 and is the side of regulations. gov. In April 2009, Citation Technologies created a free, searchable website for Federal Register articles dating from 1996 to the present. GovPulse. us, a finalist in the Sunlight Foundations Apps for America 2, provides a web 2.0 interface to the Federal Register, including sparklines of agency activity, on July 25,2010, the Federal Register 2.0 website went live. The new website is a collaboration between the developers who created GovPulse. us, the Government Publishing Office and the National Archives, on August 1,2011, the Federal Register announced a new application programming interface to facilitate programmatic access to the Federal Register content
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National Archives and Records Administration
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The NARA also transmits votes of the Electoral College to Congress. The chief administrator of NARA is the Archivist of the United States, the Archivist of the United States is the chief official overseeing the operation of the National Archives and Records Administration. The Archivist not only maintains the official documentation of the passage of amendments to the U. S, Constitution by state legislatures, but has the authority to declare when the constitutional threshold for passage has been reached, and therefore when an act has become an amendment. The Office of the Federal Register publishes the Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations and it also administers the Electoral College. Since 1964, the NHPRC has awarded some 4,500 grants, the Office of Government Information Services is a Freedom of Information Act resource for the public and the government. Congress has charged NARA with reviewing FOIA policies, procedures and compliance of Federal agencies, NARAs mission also includes resolving FOIA disputes between Federal agencies and requesters. Originally, each branch and agency of the U. S. government was responsible for maintaining its own documents, Congress established the National Archives Establishment in 1934 to centralize federal record keeping, with the Archivist of the United States as chief administrator. The National Archives was incorporated with GSA in 1949, in 1985 it became an independent agency as NARA, connor, began serving in 1934, when the National Archives was established by Congress. As a result of a first Hoover Commission recommendation, in 1949 the National Archives was placed within the newly formed General Services Administration. The Archivist served as an official to the GSA Administrator until the National Archives. An audit indicated that more than one third withdrawn since 1999 did not contain sensitive information, the program was originally scheduled to end in 2007. In 2011, a retired employee pleaded guilty to stealing original sound recordings from the archives, Archival Recovery Teams investigate the theft of records. NARAs holdings are classed into record groups reflecting the governmental department or agency from which they originated, Records include paper documents, microfilm, still pictures, motion pictures, and electronic media. Archival descriptions of the permanent holdings of the government in the custody of NARA are stored in the National Archives Catalog. The archival descriptions include information on traditional paper holdings, electronic records, as of December 2012, the catalog consisted of about 10 billion logical data records describing 527,000 artifacts and encompassing 81% of NARAs records. There are also 922,000 digital copies of already digitized materials, most records at NARA are in the public domain, as works of the federal government are excluded from copyright protection. However, records from other sources may still be protected by copyright or donor agreements and its Information Security Oversight Office monitors and sets policy for the U. S. governments security classification system. Many of NARAs most requested records are used for genealogy research
16.
New Year's Day
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New Years Day, also called simply New Years or New Year, is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar. In pre-Christian Rome under the Julian calendar, the day was dedicated to Janus, god of gateways and beginnings, other global New Years Day traditions include making New Years resolutions and calling ones friends and family. Mesopotamia instituted the concept of celebrating the new year in 2000 BC, celebrated new year around the time of the vernal equinox, the early Roman calendar designated March 1 as the new year. The calendar had just ten months, beginning with March and that the new year once began with the month of March is still reflected in some of the names of the months. September through December, our ninth through twelfth months, were positioned as the seventh through tenth months. Roman legend usually credited their second king Numa with the establishment of the months of January and February and these were first placed at the end of the year, but at some point came to be considered the first two months instead. The January Kalends came to be celebrated as the new year at some point after it became the day for the new consuls in 153 BC. Romans had long dated their years by these consulships, rather than sequentially, still, private and religious celebrations around the March new year continued for some time and there is no consensus on the question of the timing for January 1s new status. Once it became the new year, however, it became a time for family gatherings, in AD567, the Council of Tours formally abolished January 1 as the beginning of the year. These days were also astronomically and astrologically significant since, at the time of the Julian reform, March 25 had been understood as the spring equinox and December 25 as the winter solstice. Medieval calendars nonetheless often continued to display the months running from January to December, among the 7th century pagans of Flanders and the Netherlands, it was the custom to exchange gifts on the first day of the new year. This custom was deplored by Saint Eligius, who warned the Flemish and Dutch, make vetulas, little deer or iotticos or set tables at night or exchange New Year gifts or supply superfluous drinks. Because of the leap year error in the Julian calendar, the date of Easter had drifted backward since the First Council of Nicaea decided the computation of the date of Easter in 325, by the sixteenth century, the drift from the observed equinox had become unacceptable. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII declared the Gregorian calendar widely used today, the Gregorian calendar reform also restored January 1 as New Years Day. Although most Catholic countries adopted the Gregorian calendar almost immediately, it was gradually adopted among Protestant countries. The British, for example, did not adopt the reformed calendar until 1752, until then, the British Empire – and its American colonies – still celebrated the new year on 25 March. Most nations of Western Europe officially adopted 1 January as New Years Day somewhat before they adopted the Gregorian Calendar, in Tudor England, New Years Day, along with Christmas Day and Twelfth Night, was celebrated as one of three main festivities among the twelve days of Christmastide. There, until the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar in 1752, Pope Gregory acknowledged 1 January as the beginning of the new year according to his reform of the Catholic Liturgical Calendar
17.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
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Martin Luther King Jr. Day is an American federal holiday marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, the holiday is similar to holidays set under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. King was the spokesman for nonviolent activism in the Civil Rights Movement. The campaign for a holiday in Kings honor began soon after his assassination in 1968. President Ronald Reagan signed the holiday into law in 1983, at first, some states resisted observing the holiday as such, giving it alternative names or combining it with other holidays. It was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000, the idea of Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a holiday was promoted by labor unions in contract negotiations. Senator Edward Brooke introduced a bill in Congress to make Kings birthday a national holiday, the bill first came to a vote in the U. S. House of Representatives in 1979. However, it fell five short of the number needed for passage. Only two other figures have national holidays in the U. S. honoring them, George Washington, soon after, the King Center turned to support from the corporate community and the general public. The success of this strategy was cemented when musician Stevie Wonder released the single Happy Birthday to popularize the campaign in 1980 and hosted the Rally for Peace Press Conference in 1981. Six million signatures were collected for a petition to Congress to pass the law, senators Jesse Helms and John Porter East led opposition to the holiday and questioned whether King was important enough to receive such an honor. Helms criticized Kings opposition to the Vietnam War and accused him of espousing action-oriented Marxism, Helms led a filibuster against the bill and on October 3,1983, submitted a 300-page document to the Senate alleging that King had associations with communists. New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan declared the document a packet of filth, threw it on the Senate floor, President Ronald Reagan originally opposed the holiday, citing cost concerns. But on November 2,1983, Reagan signed a bill, proposed by Representative Katie Hall of Indiana, the bill had passed the House of Representatives by a count of 338 to 90, a veto-proof margin. The holiday was observed for the first time on January 20,1986, the bill also established the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday Commission to oversee observance of the holiday, and Coretta Scott King, in 2000, Utah became the last state to have a holiday named after King when Human Rights Day was officially changed to Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Later that year, Mecham proclaimed the third Sunday in January to be Martin Luther King Jr. /Civil Rights Day in Arizona, in 1990, Arizona voters were given the opportunity to vote on giving state employees a paid MLK holiday. That same year, the National Football League threatened to move Super Bowl XXVII, both measures failed to pass, with only 49% of voters approving Prop 302, the more popular of the two options, although some who voted no on 302 voted yes on Prop 301
18.
Confederate Memorial Day
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Confederate Memorial Day, also called Confederate Heroes Day in Texas, is a public holiday observed by the U. S. The day is marked by observances in many other states. It is observed on April 26 in most Southern states to recall the surrender of their last major field army at Bennett Place on that date in 1865, the war officially ended with the signing of Presidential Proclamation 157 on August 20,1866. In the spring of 1866 the Ladies Memorial Association of Columbus, Georgia, mary Ann Williams, the association secretary, was directed to pen a letter inviting ladies associations in every Southern state to join them in the observance. The actual date for the holiday was selected by Elizabeth Rutherford Ellis and she chose April 26, the first anniversary of Confederate General Johnstons surrender to Major-General Sherman at Bennett Place. For many in the South, that date in 1865 marked the end of the civil war, in a few places, most notably Columbus, Mississippi and Macon, Georgia, Union graves were decorated during the first observance. The day was referred to as Memorial Day by the Baltimore Sun on May 8,1866 after the ladies organization that started it. The name Confederate Memorial Day was not used until the northern observance was initiated in 1868, the GAR eventually adopted the name Memorial Day at their national encampment in 1882. Many theories have offered as to how Logan became aware of the southern tradition he imitated in 1868. In her autobiography, his wife claims she told him about it after a trip to Virginia in the spring of that year and his secretary and his adjutant also claim they told him about it. John Murray of Waterloo, New York claims it was he who inspired Logan in 1868. Bellware and Gardiner, however, offer proof that Logan was aware of the southern tributes long before any of them had a chance to mention it to him. ”In Alabama and it is a public holiday and state offices are closed. In Florida, Confederate Memorial Day is observed on April 26, when it falls upon a Sunday, the public holiday will be observed on the following Monday. In Georgia, the holiday celebrated on April 26 and known as Confederate Memorial Day was observed on the Monday prior to or on April 26, the state capitol and state agencies are closed, as on all state holidays. In 2016, the name Confederate Memorial Day was dropped and April 26 was observed on Monday April 25, in Mississippi, Confederate Memorial Day is observed on the last Monday in April. It is a holiday and state executives may close their respective offices. In South Carolina, Confederate Memorial Day is observed on May 10, if on a Saturday, it shifts to Friday. If Sunday, it will be observed the following Monday, in Louisiana, Confederate Memorial Day is observed on June 3rd
19.
United States presidential inauguration
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The inauguration of the President of the United States is a ceremony to mark the commencement of a new four-year term of a president of the United States. This ceremony takes place for new presidential term, even if the president is continuing in office for a second term. Since 1937, it has taken place on January 20, which is 72 to 78 days after the November presidential election, the term of a president commences at noon on that day, when the Chief Justice administers the oath to the president. However, when January 20 falls on a Sunday, the Chief Justice administers the oath to the president on that day privately and then again in a ceremony the next day, on Monday. The most recent presidential inauguration ceremony was the swearing in of Donald Trump to a term of office on Friday. However, over the years, various traditions have arisen that have expanded the inauguration from a simple oath-taking ceremony to an event, including parades. Since the 1981 inauguration of Ronald Reagan, the ceremony has held at the west front of the United States Capitol. Other swearing-in ceremonies have taken place at the Capitols east portico, inside the Old Senate Chamber, the House chamber, additionally, on two occasions—in 1817 and 1945—they were held at other locations in Washington, D. C. Although the Constitution does not mandate that anyone in particular should administer the oath of office. Since 1789, the oath has been administered at 58 scheduled public inaugurations, by 15 chief justices, one associate justice, when a new president assumed office under these circumstances the inauguration is kept low key, and conducted without pomp or fanfare. The first inauguration, that of George Washington, took place on April 30,1789, all subsequent inaugurations from 1793 until 1933, were held on March 4, the day of the year on which the federal government began operations under the U. S. The exception to this pattern being those years in when March 4 fell on a Sunday, when it did, the public inauguration ceremony would take place on Monday, March 5. This happened on four occasions, in,1821,1849,1877, Inauguration Day moved to January 20, beginning in 1937, following ratification of the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution, where it has remained since. A similar Sunday exception and move to Monday is made around this date as well, there is no in-lieu-of holiday for employees or students who are not regularly scheduled to work or attend school on Inauguration Day. Most presidential inaugurations since 1801 have been held in Washington D. C. at the Capitol Building, prior inaugurations were held, first at Federal Hall in New York City, and then at Congress Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Each city was, at the time, the nations capital, the location for James Monroes 1817 swearing in was moved to the Old Brick Capitol in Washington due to on-going restoration work at the Capitol building following the War of 1812. Three other inaugurations—Franklin D. Roosevelts fourth, Harry S. Trumans first, Presidential inaugurations have traditionally been outdoor public ceremonies. Andrew Jackson, in 1829, was the first of 35 held on the east front of the Capitol
20.
Stephen Foster Memorial Day
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Stephen Foster Memorial Day is a United States Federal Observance Day observed on January 13. §140, Stephen Foster Memorial Day celebrates the life of American songwriter Stephen Foster, the date commemorates date that Foster died. The law took effect on November 2,1966, and the day was first observed in January 1967
21.
The Eighth (United States)
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The Eighth was a federal holiday in the United States from 1828 until 1861. It honored the Battle of New Orleans, which place on January 8,1815, with Tennessees Andrew Jackson leading a successful battle against regular British soldiers. The holiday was celebrated widely across the US South after this battle in the War of 1812. The Eighth became a national holiday in 1828, following Jacksons election as President. The Eighth continued as a national holiday from 1828 until the advent of the American Civil War. The holiday remains largely forgotten by the American public, as it was the final war waged against England, it turns out to be Americas second independence. Historians recalled that celebrations were larger than Christmas and was surpassed by Independence Day. Public holidays in the United States Federal holidays in the United States
22.
Super Bowl Sunday
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Super Bowl Sunday is the day on which the Super Bowl, the annual championship for the National Football League, is played. It is usually on the last Sunday in January or the first Sunday in February and is referred to as an unofficial national holiday. The 51st annual event, Super Bowl LI, occurred on February 5,2017, festivities for Super Bowl Sunday typically involve groups of people gathering to watch the game. Both Super Bowl Sunday and Super Sunday are registered trademarks of the National Football League, although not an official holiday, Super Bowl Sunday is an occasion when many families and friends gather together to watch the game, including those who are not normally football fans. Although sports bars have historically been busy on Super Bowl Sunday in the past and this is due in part to the increasing size of home televisions in the United States as well as the attempts of budget conscious consumers to save money. Large amounts of food and alcohol are consumed on Super Bowl Sunday, the event is the second-largest day of food consumption in the United States after Thanksgiving, and some police departments have noticed a dramatic increase in drunk driving on Super Bowl Sunday. Super Bowl Sunday food is served buffet style, rather than as a sit-down meal. Foods traditionally eaten on Super Bowl Sunday include buffalo wings, chili, baby back ribs, dipping sauces, pizza, many pizza delivery businesses see their order numbers double as roughly 60 percent of the take out ordered on Super Bowl Sunday is pizza. Roughly 28,000,000 pounds of chips,1.25 billion chicken wings, and 8,000,000 pounds of guacamole are consumed during the Super Bowl
23.
Black History Month
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It is celebrated annually in the United States and Canada in February, and the United Kingdom in October. From the events initial phase, primary emphasis was placed on encouraging the teaching of the history of American blacks in the nations public schools. C. The American Indian left no continuous record and he did not appreciate the value of tradition, and where is he today. The Hebrew keenly appreciated the value of tradition, as is attested by the Bible itself, in spite of worldwide persecution, therefore, he is a great factor in our civilization. Negro History Week was met with enthusiastic response, it prompted the creation of black history clubs, an increase in interest among teachers, Negro History Week grew in popularity throughout the following decades, with mayors across the United States endorsing it as a holiday. On 21 February 2016, 106-year Washington D. C. resident, when asked by the president why she was there, Virginia said, A black president. And I’m here to celebrate black history, Black History Month was first proposed by Black educators and the Black United Students at Kent State University in February 1969. The first celebration of Black History Month took place at Kent State one year later and he urged Americans to seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history. Black History Month was first celebrated in the United Kingdom in 1987 and it was first celebrated in London. In 2008, Senator Donald Oliver moved to have the Senate officially recognize Black History Month, Black History Month often sparks an annual debate about the continued usefulness and fairness of a designated month dedicated to the history of one race. Another criticism is that the celebration is racist, Black celebrities such as actor and director Morgan Freeman and actress Stacey Dash have criticized Black History Month, with Freeman saying, I dont want a Black history month. Freeman has argued there was no White History Month, because white people did not want their history relegated to just one month. Board of Education and the Black History Month Syndrome, Harvard Blackletter Law Journal, C. G. Woodson, Negro History Week, Journal of Negro History, vol. Library of Congress Black History Month Website Official UK Black History Month Website Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada Black History Month website Youmanity and Black History Month
24.
Washington's Birthday
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It can occur on the 15th through the 21st of February inclusive. Colloquially, the day is now widely known as Presidents Day and is often an occasion to honor all persons who have served as president. The day is a holiday in most states, with official names including Washingtons Birthday, Presidents Day, Presidents Day. Depending upon the law, the state holiday might officially celebrate Washington alone, Washington and Abraham Lincoln. However, Presidents Day is not always a term and might refer to only a selection of presidents. Several states honor presidents with official state holidays that do not fall on the third Monday of February, in Massachusetts, the state officially celebrates Washingtons Birthday on the same day as the Federal holiday. In New Mexico, Presidents Day, at least as a state-government paid holiday, is observed on the Friday following Thanksgiving, George Washington was officially born on February 11,1731. Consequently, by the 1730s, the Julian calendar used by Britain, furthermore, the British civil year began on 25 March rather than 1 January, so that dates in February belonged to the preceding year. Since, during the 1700s, February 11 under the Julian calendar would fall as February 22 on the Gregorian, the federal holiday honoring Washington was originally implemented by an Act of Congress in 1879 for government offices in Washington and expanded in 1885 to include all federal offices. As the first federal holiday to honor an American president, the holiday was celebrated on Washingtons actual birthday, on January 1,1971, the federal holiday was shifted to the third Monday in February by the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. This date places it between February 15 and 21, which makes the name Washingtons Birthday in some sense a misnomer, since it never occurs on Washingtons actual birthday, the purpose was not to honor any particular President but to honor the office of the Presidency. It was first thought that March 4, the inauguration day. However, the bill recognizing the March 4 date was stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee and that committee felt that, because of its proximity to Lincolns and Washingtons Birthdays, three holidays so close together would be unduly burdensome. During this time, however, the Governors of a majority of the states issued proclamations declaring March 4 to be Presidents Day in their respective jurisdictions. By the mid-1980s, with a push from advertisers, the term Presidents Day began its public appearance, in Washingtons adopted hometown of Alexandria, Virginia, celebrations are held throughout the month of February. Until the late 1980s, corporate businesses generally closed on this day, some public transit systems have also gone to regular schedules on the day. Many colleges and universities hold regular classes and operations on Presidents Day, consequently, some schools, which used to close for a single day for both Lincolns and Washingtons birthday, now often close for the entire week as a mid-winter recess. For example, the New York City school district began doing so in the 1990s, today, the February holiday has become well known for being a day in which many stores, especially car dealers, hold sales
25.
Valentine's Day
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Valentines Day, also called Saint Valentines Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is an annual holiday celebrated on February 14. According to legend, during his imprisonment, Saint Valentine healed the daughter of his jailer, Asterius, the day first became associated with romantic love within the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. In 18th-century England, it evolved into an occasion in which expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery. In Europe, Saint Valentines Keys are given to lovers as a romantic symbol, Valentines Day symbols that are used today include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards, Saint Valentines Day is an official feast day in the Anglican Communion, as well as in the Lutheran Church. Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine, the Valentines honored on February 14 are Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni. Valentine of Rome was a priest in Rome who was martyred in 269 and was added to the calendar of saints by Pope Galesius in 496 and was buried on the Via Flaminia. The flower-crowned skull of Saint Valentine is exhibited in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, other relics are found at Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland. Valentine of Terni became bishop of Interamna and is said to have been martyred during the persecution under Emperor Aurelian in 273 and he is buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location from Valentine of Rome. His relics are at the Basilica of Saint Valentine in Terni, oruch states that abstracts of the acts of the two saints were in nearly every church and monastery of Europe. The Catholic Encyclopedia also speaks of a saint named Valentine who was mentioned in early martyrologies under date of February 14. He was martyred in Africa with a number of companions, Saint Valentines head was preserved in the abbey of New Minster, Winchester, and venerated. February 14 is celebrated as St. Valentines Day in various Christian denominations, it has, for example, in addition, the feast day of Saint Valentine is also given in the calendar of saints of the Lutheran Church. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, St. J. C. Cooper, in The Dictionary of Christianity, contemporary records of Saint Valentine were most probably destroyed during this Diocletianic Persecution in the early 4th century. The same events are found in Bedes Martyrology, which was compiled in the 8th century. It states that Saint Valentine was persecuted as a Christian and interrogated by Roman Emperor Claudius II in person, Claudius was impressed by Valentine and had a discussion with him, attempting to get him to convert to Roman paganism in order to save his life. Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead, because of this, he was executed. Before his execution, he is reported to have performed a miracle by healing Julia, the jailers daughter and his forty-six member household came to believe in Jesus and were baptized
26.
Groundhog Day
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Groundhog Day is a traditional holiday originating in the United States that is celebrated on February 2. Modern customs of the holiday involve early morning celebrations to watch the groundhog emerging from its burrow, Groundhog Day was more widely adopted in the U. S. in 1887. Clymer H. Freas was the editor of the local paper Punxsutawney Spirit at the time, the largest Groundhog Day celebration is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, with Punxsutawney Phil. Groundhog Day, already a recognized and popular tradition, received widespread attention as a result of the 1993 film Groundhog Day. The celebration began as a Pennsylvania German custom in southeastern and central Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries and it has its origins in ancient European weather lore, in which a badger or a sacred bear is the prognosticator, as opposed to a groundhog. It also bears similarities to the Pagan festival of Imbolc, the custom could have been a folk embodiment of the confusion created by the collision of two calendar systems. Some ancient traditions marked the change of season at cross-quarter days such as Imbolc when daylight first makes significant progress against the night, other traditions held that spring did not begin until the length of daylight overtook night at the Vernal Equinox. So an arbiter, the groundhog/hedgehog, was incorporated as a custom to settle the two traditions. Sometimes spring begins at Imbolc, and sometimes winter lasts six weeks until the equinox. However, observation of groundhogs in central New Jersey is that they come out of their burrows in mid-March. The largest Groundhog Day celebration is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, other celebrations of note in Pennsylvania take place in Quarryville in Lancaster County, the Anthracite Region of Schuylkill County, and the Sinnamahoning Valley of Bucks County. In 2017 Groundhog Day was scheduled to be observed at zoos in Moscow, St. Petersburg, according to Groundhog Day organizers, the rodents forecasts are accurate 75% to 90% of the time. However, a Canadian study for 13 cities in the past 30 to 40 years found that the patterns predicted on Groundhog Day were only 37% accurate over that time period. According to the StormFax Weather Almanac and records kept since 1887, the National Climatic Data Center has described the forecasts as on average, inaccurate and stated that groundhog has shown no talent for predicting the arrival of spring, especially in recent years. A similar custom is celebrated among Orthodox Christians in Serbia on February 15 during the feast of celebration of Sretenje or The Meeting of the Lord, thus, if it is sunny on Sretenje, it is a sign that the winter is not over yet. If it is cloudy, it is a sign that the winter is about to end. In Germany, June 27 is Siebenschläfertag, if it rains that day, the rest of summer is supposedly going to be rainy. It might seem to refer to the Siebenschläfer squirrel, also known as the edible dormouse, but it actually commemorates the Seven Sleepers
27.
Lincoln's Birthday
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Lincolns Birthday is a legal, public holiday in some U. S. states, observed on the anniversary of Abraham Lincolns birth on February 12,1809 In Hodgensville, Kentucky. Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, and New York observe the holiday, in other states, Lincolns birthday is not celebrated separately, as a stand-alone holiday. The earliest known observance of Lincolns birthday occurred in Buffalo, New York, julius Francis, a Buffalo druggist, made it his lifes mission to honor the slain president. He repeatedly petitioned Congress to establish Lincolns birthday as a legal holiday, the day is marked by traditional wreath-laying ceremonies at Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site in Hodgenville, Kentucky, and at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D. C. The latter has been the site of a ceremony ever since the Memorial was dedicated, since that event in 1922, observances continue to be organized by the Lincoln Birthday National Commemorative Committee and by the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. A wreath is laid on behalf of the President of the United States, Lincolns tomb is in Springfield, Illinois. On February 12,2009, the annual wreath-laying ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial commemorated Lincolns 200th birthday in grand fashion. S, as part of Lincolns birthday bicentennial, the U. S. Mint released four new Lincoln cents. The commemorative coins have new designs on the reverse showing stages of his life, the first went into circulation on September 12,2009. The standard portrait of Lincolns head remains on the front. S, New Jersey stopped observing the holiday on September 29,2008 with the enactment of the Public Employee Pension and Benefits Reform Act of 2008. Black History Month has its origin in 19th Century celebrations of Lincolns Birthday by African-American communities in the United States, by the early 20th Century, black communities were annually celebrating Lincolns birthday in conjunction with the birthday of former slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass on February 14. The precursor to Black History Month was created in 1926 when historian Carter G, by the 1970s, Negro History Week had become Black History Month. Black History Month has expanded further to Canada, where it is celebrated in February, and to the United Kingdom. Lincolns Birthday was never a U. S. Federal Government holiday, the third Monday in February remains only Washingtons Birthday in Federal Law. Regardless of the name and purpose, celebrations and commemorations on or about the third Monday often include honoring Lincoln. In Connecticut, Missouri, and Illinois, while Washingtons Birthday is a holiday, Lincolns Birthday is still a state holiday. California still lists Lincolns Birthday as a holiday, but as of 2009 no longer gives State employees a paid holiday on February 12, several states honor presidents with official state holidays that do not fall on the third Monday of February. In New Mexico, Presidents Day, at least as a state-government paid holiday, is observed on the Friday following Thanksgiving
28.
Ronald Reagan Day
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Ronald Reagan Day has also been declared a state holiday in Wisconsin. For the 100th anniversary of Reagans birthday in 2011, governors in 21 states issued proclamations designating February 6 Ronald Reagan Day, as of February 2017,40 governors have issued proclamations declaring Ronald Reagan Day in their respective states. Governor Gray Davis, a Democrat, proclaimed February 6 Ronald Reagan Day in both 2002 and 2003, daviss Republican successor, Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed February 6 Ronald Reagan Day in 2004,2005,2006,2007,2008,2009, and 2010. Senator George Runner introduced Senate Bill 944 on February 3,2010, the bill passed the Senate Education Committee on March 24,2010, by a 7–0 vote. SB944 was approved by the full Senate on April 8,2010, after its approval in the Senate, SB944 was sent to the Legislatures lower house, where the bill passed the Assembly Education Committee on June 16,2010, by a 5–1 vote. The bill was approved by the full Assembly on June 28,2010, on July 19,2010, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed SB944 into law, making Ronald Reagan Day a permanent day of special significance in California. The bill declared the first Ronald Reagan Day to be February 6, schwarzeneggers immediate successor, Jerry Brown proclaimed Ronald Reagan Day in 2011, as obligated by SB944. List of honors named for Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan Legacy Project Ronald Reagan Presidential Library The Ronald Reagan Legacy Project
29.
Rosa Parks Day
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Rosa Parks Day is an American holiday in honor of the civil rights leader Rosa Parks. In the U. S. states of California and Missouri it is celebrated on her birthday, in Ohio and Oregon it is celebrated on the day she was arrested, December 1. Rosa Parks Day was created by the California State Legislature and first celebrated in 2000, the holiday was first designated in the U. S. state of Ohio championed by Joyce Beatty, advocate who helped Ohios legislation pass to honor the late leader. It is also celebrated by the Columbus Ohio bus system with a tribute to the late civil rights leader. As of 2014, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon proclaimed Rosa Parks Day official in the state, in 2014, Oregon governor Kitzhaber declared that Oregon will celebrate its first Rosa Parks Day. Rosa Parks was a seamstress by profession, she was also the secretary for the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP. Twelve years before her history-making arrest, Parks was stopped from boarding a city bus by driver James F. Blake, Parks vowed never again to ride a bus driven by Blake. As a member of the NAACP, Parks was an investigator assigned to cases of sexual assault, in 1945, she was sent to Abbeville, Alabama, to investigate the gang rape of Recy Taylor. The protest that arose around the Taylor case was the first instance of a civil rights protest. In 1955, Parks completed a course in Race Relations at the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee where nonviolent civil disobedience had been discussed as a tactic, on December 1,1955, Parks was sitting in the frontmost row for black people. When a Caucasian man boarded the bus, the bus driver told everyone in her row to move back, at that moment, Parks realized that she was again on a bus driven by Blake. Found guilty on December 5, Parks was fined $10 plus a court cost of $4, gayle, took effect, and led to a United States Supreme Court decision that declared the Alabama and Montgomery laws requiring segregated buses to be unconstitutional. Many important figures in the Civil Rights Movement took part in the boycott, including Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. the 381-day boycott almost bankrupted the bus company and effectively made segregation in buses unconstitutional and illegal. Public holidays in the United States Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Malcolm X Day Harriet Tubman Day Susan B, anthony Day International Womens Day Womens Equality Day National Girls and Women in Sports Day Harvey Milk Day
30.
Susan B. Anthony Day
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Anthony Day is a commemorative holiday to celebrate the birth of Susan B. Anthony and womens suffrage in the United States, the holiday is February 15—Anthonys birthday. The idea of honoring Susan B, Anthony with a holiday has only been around since 2011 when Representative Carolyn Maloney introduced the Susan B. Today, only the U. S. state of Florida has the holiday enacted with state offices closed, in the state of Wisconsin, Susan B. Anthony Day is also a state holiday, enacted into law April 15,1976, from the 1975 Laws of Wisconsin, Chapter 307. In West Virginia, this day is celebrated on Election Day on even years and this holiday is not celebrated at a national level. In 1985, The Seattle Times reported on a campaign to establish the holiday as one celebrated nationally, the U. S. state of California has also made this day a legal holiday as of 2014. In 2004, New York governor George Pataki signed legislation that made this a holiday in that state, on February 11,2011, Representative Carolyn Maloney of New York introduced the Susan B. Anthony Birthday Act to the 112th session of Congress to honor the birthday as a U. S. national holiday on the third Monday of February, the bill was not enacted and its current status is dead. Anthony is known for her leadership in the campaign for womens right to vote in the United States. She indicated her interest as early as 1852, when she attended the National Women’s Rights Convention in Syracuse and she was also a vigorous opponent of slavery. In 1863, during the American Civil War, she and Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the Womens Loyal National League and it collected nearly 400,000 signatures on petitions to abolish slavery in the largest petition drive in the nations history up to that time. By the end of the Civil War, according to historian Ann D. Gordon, Anthony occupied new social and political territory. She was emerging on the scene as a female leader, something new in American history. By the 1880s, she was among the political figures in the United States. After the Civil War, Anthony worked primarily for womens suffrage and this right was established over the course of several decades, first in various states and localities, sometimes on a limited basis. The amendment was popularly known as the Susan B, Anthony Amendment in recognition of her leadership in achieving its passage. She died in 1906, fourteen years before it became the law of the land, Anthony Day Merriam Webster definition of Susan B
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Mardi Gras
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Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday, reflecting the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season. Related popular practices are associated with Shrovetide celebrations before the fasting, in countries such as England, Mardi Gras is also known as Shrove Tuesday, which is derived from the word shrive, meaning confess. In many areas, the term Mardi Gras has come to mean the period of activity related to the celebratory events. In some American cities, it is now called Mardi Gras Day, the festival season varies from city to city, as some traditions, such as the one in New Orleans, Louisiana, consider Mardi Gras to stretch the entire period from Twelfth Night to Ash Wednesday. Others treat the final period before Ash Wednesday as the Mardi Gras. In earlier times, parades were held on New Years Day, Carnival is an important celebration in Anglican and Catholic European nations. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the week before Ash Wednesday is called Shrovetide and it has its popular celebratory aspects, as well. Pancakes and related fried breads or pastries made with sugar, fat, and eggs are traditionally consumed at this time in many parts of Latin America. The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is an annual LGBT pride parade and festival in Sydney, Australia, attended by hundreds of thousands of people from around Australia and overseas. In the Belgian city of Binche, the Mardi Gras festival is one of the most important days of the year, around 1000 Gilles dance throughout the city from morning until past dusk, whilst traditional carnival songs play. In 2003, the Carnival of Binche was proclaimed one of the Masterpieces of the Oral, Carnival is the most famous Brazilian holiday. During this time, Brazil attracts 70% of its tourists, variations in carnival celebrations are observed throughout the multitude of Brazilian cities. Yet, a commonality observed among them is the incorporation of samba into the celebrations, the southeastern cities of Brazil have massive parades that take place in large sambadromes. The Rio Carnival is where two million people celebrate in the city, the city of Salvador holds a very large carnival celebration where millions of people celebrate the party in the streets of the city with a very big diversity of musical styles together. Cayman Mardi Gras has now been recognised as one of the national festivals. Celebrating the traditional Fat Tuesday, they also host a festive Monday Food Festival as well as an all day EDM Ash Wednesday, the event attracts thousands of attendees during the 3 day festival and includes a line up of international celebrities and performers. The Cayman Mardi Gras Festival is slowly becoming a major tourist attraction to the island nation, Carnaval de Barranquilla is Colombias Mardi Gras celebration. In 2003, it was proclaimed as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral, in the Czech Republic it is a folk tradition to celebrate Mardi Gras, which is called Masopust
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Ash Wednesday
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Ash Wednesday, a day of fasting, is the first day of Lent in Western Christianity. It occurs 46 days before Easter and can fall as early as February 4 or as late as March 10, Ash Wednesday is observed by many Western Christians, including Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Roman Catholics. According to the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus Christ spent 40 days fasting in the desert. Lent originated as a mirroring of this, fasting 40 days as preparation for Easter, every Sunday was seen as a commemoration of the Sunday of Christs resurrection and so as a feast day on which fasting was inappropriate. Accordingly, Christians fasted from Monday to Saturday during six weeks and from Wednesday to Saturday in the preceding week, orthodox Christians do this 40 days in a row. The words used traditionally to accompany this gesture are, Remember that you are dust, in the 1969 revision of the Roman Rite, an alternative formula was introduced and given first place, Repent, and believe in the Gospel. The old formula, based on the spoken to Adam and Eve after their sin, reminds worshippers of their sinfulness and mortality and thus, implicitly. The newer formula makes explicit what was implicit in the old. Originally, the ashes were strewn over mens heads, but, in the Catholic Church the manner of imposing ashes depends largely on local custom, since no fixed rule has been laid down. The Ash Wednesday ritual of the Church of England, Mother Church of the Anglican Communion, contains The Imposition of Ashes in its Ash Wednesday liturgy. The corresponding Catholic ritual in the Roman Missal for celebration within Mass merely states, Then the Priest places ashes on the head of those present who come to him, and says to each one. The 1969 revision of the Roman Rite inserted into the Mass the solemn ceremony of blessing ashes and placing them on heads, the Book of Blessings contains a simple rite. While the solemn rite would normally be carried out within a church building, while only a priest or deacon may bless the ashes, laypeople may do the placing of the ashes on a persons head. Even in the rite, lay men or women may assist the priest in distributing the ashes. In addition, laypeople take blessed ashes left over after the collective ceremony, at home the ashes are then placed with little or no ceremony. Even those who have been excommunicated and are forbidden to celebrate sacramentals are not forbidden to receive them. After describing the blessing, the rite of Blessing and Distribution of Ashes states, the Catholic Church does not limit distribution of blessed ashes to within church buildings and has suggested the holding of celebrations in shopping centres, nursing homes, and factories. Such celebrations presume preparation of an area and include readings from Scripture and prayers
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Courir de Mardi Gras
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The Courir de Mardi Gras is a traditional Mardi Gras event held in many Cajun communities of south Louisiana on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. Courir de Mardi Gras is Cajun French for Fat Tuesday Run, the rural Mardi Gras celebration is based on early begging rituals, similar to those still celebrated by mummers, wassailers and celebrants of Halloween. As Mardi Gras is the celebration of the day before Lent, celebrants drink and eat heavily. Popular practices include wearing masks, capuchons, and costumes, overturning social conventions, dancing, drinking alcohol, begging, feasting, whipping, because of violent activities associated with the Ku Klux Klan, Louisiana has a state law prohibiting the wearing of hoods and masks in public. Mardi Gras is one of the few occasions when exceptions are allowed, as are Halloween celebrations, Two HBO series make reference to the tradition. This is similar to other contemporary traditional European customs such as mumming and wassailing which usually occur around Christmas, New Years and these traditions originated in a time when most of the land and money was held by the upper classes. French medieval carnival celebrations also featured contests and races, which may be the origins of the chicken chase associated with the courir, a few of the traditional runs have whipping and penitinece as part of their traditions. These traditions are traced to the Medieval Flagellants, who would hold processions through the streets whipping themselves and sometimes onlookers to beat the sin out of them. Other of the associated with the courir are derived from the folk traditions of Pre-Christian Celtic Europe and are associated with fertility. These traditions were carried to North America by European immigrants during the 17th and 18th centuries. The Cajuns, as they would become known to the rest of the world, have held on to many of their customs, including their language, music, dances. In 1993 documentary film maker Pat Mire chronicled the tradition with his film Dance for a Chicken, The Cajun Mardi Gras. The imagery of the event is represented in work by artists such as Chuck Broussard, Francis Pavy. The increased popularity of Cajun music and culture has led to more nonlocal attention for the event. People escape from ordinary life through the alcohol and the roles they portray in costume, in the early morning the riders or runners or Mardi Gras gather in a central meeting place. As they gather, Le Capitaine and his co-capitaines explain the rules, the Capitaine usually rides on horseback, wears a cape and carries a small flag. After he organizes the troop, the begin to play. Traditions vary in each town with the way it is carried out, some towns have people on horse back, some on trailers and some on foot, and others use a variation of all three methods
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Super Tuesday
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More delegates to the presidential nominating conventions can be won on Super Tuesday than on any other single day of the primary calendar. Thus, candidates seeking the presidency traditionally must do well on this day to secure their partys nomination. In fact, convincing wins in Super Tuesday primaries have usually propelled candidates to their partys nomination, Super Tuesday is in either February or March of the presidential election year. During the 2016 election year, Super Tuesday was held on March 1, the particular states holding primaries on Super Tuesday have varied from year to year since each state decides separately. Some years have had more than one Super Tuesday, the phrase Super Tuesday has been used to refer to presidential primary elections since at least 1976. It is a term used by journalists and political pundits. In 2016, this date was dubbed the SEC Primary since many of the participating states are represented in the Southeastern Conference. Tuesday is the day for elections in the United States. State law determines how each parties delegates are chosen in that state including by either an election or a caucus. State governments are free to choose whichever date they want for their states primary or caucus, with the broadened use of the modern presidential primary system, states have tried to increase their influence in the nomination process. One tactic has been to create geographic blocs to encourage candidates to spend time in a region, the 1984 primary season had three Super Tuesdays. Decided on Super Tuesday III were delegates from five states, South Dakota, New Mexico, West Virginia, California, however, Gary Hart maintained that unpledged superdelegates that had previously announced support for Mondale would shift to his side if he swept the Super Tuesday III primary. Once again, Hart committed a faux pas, insulting New Jersey shortly before the primary day. Compounding the problem, when his wife interjected that she got to hold a koala bear, Hart replied that I wont tell you what I got to hold, while Hart won California, he lost New Jersey after leading in polls by as much as 15 points. Mondale secured the majority of delegates from the primaries, leading the way for him to take the Democratic nomination, in the 1984 Republican Party primaries, incumbent President Ronald Reagan was the only candidate to secure delegates. In the 1988 Democratic Party primaries, Southern Democrats came up with the idea of a primary in an effort to nominate a moderate candidate who would more closely represent their interests. However, Dick Gephardt, Jesse Jackson, Al Gore, and Michael Dukakis split the Super Tuesday primaries, meanwhile, George H. W. Bush secured most of the delegates in the 1988 Republican Party primaries. From 1996 to 2004, most of these Southern primaries were held the week after Super Tuesday, in 1992, Super Tuesday was on March 10
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Irish-American Heritage Month
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It was first celebrated in 1991. The heritage month is in March to coincide with Saint Patricks Day, heritage Months are usually proclaimed by nations to celebrate centuries of contributions by a group to a country. Saint Patricks Day is a Roman Catholic religious holiday that honors the saint and it has developed in the United States as a celebration of all things Irish. With large ethnic Irish populations, Boston and New York City both claim the worlds first Saint Patricks Day parade, while Philadelphia claims to be the second oldest behind New York City. In New York City, it occurred on 17 March 1762, featuring Irish soldiers serving in the British military protecting the Colonies during the French and Indian War. In 1948, President Harry S. Truman, of Scottish descent, attended the New York Saint Patricks Day parade and this was a proud moment for the many Irish whose ancestors had to fight stereotypes and prejudice to find acceptance in the United States. In 1960 John F. Kennedy was elected as the first Irish American Catholic President, within the authority of the Executive Branch, the President of the United States has also issued a proclamation each year since 1991. Each year in March, the Irish Taoiseach visits the United States for Saint Patricks Day, a Shamrock Ceremony takes place in the morning at the White House where a crystal bowl containing shamrock, a traditional symbol of Ireland, is presented to the President in the Oval Office. This is followed by a Friends of Ireland luncheon hosted by the House Speaker in the U. S. Capitol or the Rayburn House Office Building, the luncheon is attended by the President, Vice President, the Taoiseach, the Speaker, and other officials. In the evening, a Saint Patricks Day Reception takes place at the White House
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Women's History Month
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Womens History Month is an annual declared month that highlights the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. In the United States, Womens History Month traces its beginnings back to the first International Womens Day in 1911, in 1978, the school district of Sonoma, California participated in Womens History Week, an event designed around the week of March 8. In 1979 a fifteen-day conference about womens history was held at Sarah Lawrence College from July 13 until July 29 and it was co-sponsored by Sarah Lawrence College, the Womens Action Alliance, and the Smithsonian Institution. They also agreed to support an effort to secure a National Womens History Week, in February 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued a presidential proclamation declaring the week of March 8,1980, as National Womens History Week. The proclamation stated, From the first settlers who came to our shores, from the first American Indian families who befriended them, too often the women were unsung and sometimes their contributions went unnoticed. But the achievements, leadership, courage, strength and love of the women who built America was as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well, as Dr. Gerda Lerner has noted, Women’s History is Women’s Right. It is an essential and indispensable heritage from which we can draw pride, comfort, courage, I ask my fellow Americans to recognize this heritage with appropriate activities during National Women’s History Week, March 2–8,1980. I urge libraries, schools, and community organizations to focus their observances on the leaders who struggled for equality - Susan B, anthony, Sojourner Truth, Lucy Stone, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriet Tubman, and Alice Paul. Understanding the true history of our country will help us to comprehend the need for equality under the law for all our people. Carter was referring to the Equal Rights Amendment, which was never ratified, in 1981, responding to the growing popularity of Womens History Week, Sen. Orrin Hatch and Rep Barbara Mikulski co-sponsored the first Joint Congressional Resolution proclaiming a Womens History Week. Congress passed their resolution as Pub. L. 97-28, which authorized and requested the President to proclaim the week beginning March 7,1982 as “Women’s History Week. Throughout the next years, Congress continued to pass joint resolutions designating a week in March as Women’s History Week. Schools across the country began to have their own local celebrations of Womens History Week. By 1986, fourteen states had declared March as Womens History Month, in 1987, after being petitioned by the National Womens History Project, Congress passed Pub. L. 100-9 which designated the month of March 1987 as Women’s History Month. Between 1988 and 1994, Congress passed additional resolutions requesting and authorizing the President to proclaim March of each year as Women’s History Month, since 1988, U. S. presidents have issued annual proclamations designating the month of March as Women’s History Month. State departments of education began to encourage celebrations of Womens History Month as a way to promote equality among the sexes in the classroom. Within a few years, thousands of schools and communities began to celebrate of Womens History Month. They planned engaging and stimulating programs about womens roles in history and society, with support and encouragement from governors, city councils, school boards, and the U. S. Congress
