Federal holidays in the United States
Federal holidays in the United States are 11 calendar dates designated by the U.S. federal government as holidays. On these days non-essential U.S. federal government offices are closed and federal employees are paid for the day off.[1]
This article is about National government holidays. For other uses, see Federal holidays in the United States (disambiguation).Federal holidays in the United States
Federal holidays are designated by the United States Congress in Title V of the United States Code (5 U.S.C. § 6103).[2] Congress only has authority to create holidays for federal institutions (including federally-owned properties), employees, and the District of Columbia. As a general rule of courtesy, custom, and sometimes regulation, other institutions, such as banks, businesses, schools, and the financial markets, may be closed on federal holidays. In various parts of the country, state and city holidays may be observed concurrently with federal holidays.
The history of national holidays in the United States dates back to June 28, 1870, when Congress created national holidays "to correspond with similar laws of States around the District...and...in every State of the Union."[3] Although at first applicable only to federal employees in the District of Columbia, Congress extended coverage in 1885 to all federal employees.
The original four holidays in 1870 were:
George Washington's Birthday became a federal holiday in 1879. In 1888 and 1894, respectively, Decoration Day (now Memorial Day) and Labor Day were created. Armistice Day was established in 1938 to honor the end of World War I, and the scope of the holiday was expanded to honor Americans who fought in World War II and the Korean War when it was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.
In 1968, the Uniform Monday Holiday Act gave several holidays "floating" dates so that they always fall on a Monday, and also established Columbus Day.
In 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed the bill that created Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It was first observed three years later, although some states resisted making it a state holiday. It was finally celebrated both nationally and by each of the states in 2000.[4] Dr. King's birthday is January 15th.
On June 17, 2021, President Joe Biden signed the law that made June 19th a federal holiday. Also called "Juneteenth National Independence Day," Juneteenth commemorates the June 19, 1865 belated announcement in Texas that enslaved people in the Confederate states that were in rebellion (1861-65) had been freed by President Abraham Lincoln as of January 1, 1863.[5][6][7][8] President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 which declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." A National Park Service fact sheet explains that "the word “Juneteenth” is a Black English contraction, or portmanteau, of the month “June” and the date “Nineteenth.” Juneteenth celebrates the date of June 19, 1865, when enslaved people of African descent located in Galveston, Texas, finally learned of their freedom from the slavery system in the United States."[9] President Biden's annual proclamation in 2024 began, "On June 19, 1865, freedom finally came for the 250,000 enslaved people of Texas. That day, which would become known as Juneteenth, the Army arrived to enforce what had already been the law of the land for two and a half years — the Emancipation Proclamation."[10]
On October 3, 1789, at the request of the U.S. Congress, President George Washington issued a Thanksgiving proclamation designating November 26, 1789 as a day of "public thanksgiving and prayer" for the "People of the United States.”[11][12] Thanksgiving has been proclaimed in the U.S. for various months and days of the week, including March, August, September, November, December, and on Sundays.[13][14]
Celebrated on December 25th around the world, Christmas (the birthday or nativity of Christ) is the day that Christians remember the birthday and incarnation (God's Word becoming human) of Jesus Christ (God, Savior, Messiah). Christmas has been celebrated for over 2,000 years. In the United States, Christmas Day as a federal or public holiday is sometimes objected to by various anti-Christians,[15][16][17] usually due to its ties with Christianity. In December 1999, the Western Division of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, in the case Ganulin v. United States, denied the charge that Christmas Day's federal status violated the Establishment Clause of the Constitution, ruling that "the Christmas holiday has become largely secularized", and that "by giving federal employees a paid vacation day on Christmas, the government is doing no more than recognizing the cultural significance of the holiday".[18][19]