Presidents’ Day

Presidential Biographies “from the book The Presidents of the United States of America written by Frank Freidel and Hugh S. Sidey (contributing author), published by the White House Historical Association with the cooperation of the National Geographic Society.”

Recommended Books:

The Buck Stops Here by Alice Provensen

Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman

George Washington’s World by Genevieve Foster

If You Grew Up WIth Abraham Lincoln by Ann McGovern

Bully For You, Teddy Roosevelt by Jean Fritz

A Book of Americans by Rosemary Carr and Stephen Vincent Benet

Poems:

Leetla Giorgio Washeenton by Thomas Augustine Daly

George Washington by James Russell Lowell

O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman

Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight by Vachel Lindsay

Abraham Lincoln by Stephen Vincent Benet and Rosemary Carr

Abraham Lincoln’s favorite poem

Speeches:

The Gettysburg Address “. . . we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

George Washington’s Farewell Address “Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice?”

Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address “Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”

3 thoughts on “Presidents’ Day

  1. I learned the order of the presidents from “The Buck Starts Here”–we practically memorized the book in my second grade social studies class. 🙂 Fond memories.

  2. To pay honor to the distinctive contributions of each of the two Presidents, I prefer separate holidays.
    The current usage allows leeway for paying unmerited tribute to other Presidents, as Pro Ecclesia argues. He has an impressive Washington correspondence to read as well.
    http://proecclesia.blogspot.com/2006/02/in-honor-of-father-of-our-country-his.html
    Since we celebrate Lincoln’s birthday on February 12. Presidents’ Day should be known as Washington’s Birthday. He is the Father of our Country! Our family keeps February 22, too! (see the discussion Whose Holiday Is It? http://www.infoplease.com/spot/washington1.html)

  3. Hey, thanks for the book suggestions. I am a public school teacher and I’m always looking for good books….but books on President Washington and Lincoln are of special interst to me. I find them such interesting and fascinating men!

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