History of Labor Day
Every
year on September 1st, Labor Day is observed as a celebration of the economic
and social achievements of American laborers. Labor activists pushed for a
federal holiday in the late 19th century to honor the numerous contributions
workers have made to the strength, wealth, and well-being of the United States.
This is how the holiday got its start.
Early Adopters
Labor
groups and individual states observed Labor Day before it was officially
declared a federal holiday. Following the enactment of local ordinances in 1885
and 1886, a push to gain state legislation emerged. Although Oregon was the
first state to formally recognize Labor Day on February 21, 1887, New York was
the first to draft a bill for the holiday. In the same year, statutes
designating Labor Day as a state holiday were passed in four additional states:
Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York. By the end of the decade,
the holiday had also been observed in Pennsylvania, Nebraska, and Connecticut.
Following the adoption of the holiday by 23 additional states by 1894, Congress
enacted legislation on June 28, 1894, designating the first Monday in September
as a legal holiday annually.
McGuire vs. Maguire: Who Founded Labor Day?
The idea
for the worker holiday originated with whom? Although it's not quite obvious
who invented Labor Day, two persons have a good case for the title.
According
to certain documents, Peter J. McGuire, a co-founder of the American Federation
of Labor and General Secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, proposed
establishing a day in 1882 to celebrate those "who from rude nature have
delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."
Peter
McGuire's position in Labor Day history is not without controversy, though.
Many people think that machinist Matthew Maguire, not Peter McGuire, was the
one who created the holiday. According to recent research, the holiday was
proposed in 1882 while Matthew Maguire was the secretary of the Central Labor
Union in New York. Maguire would later become the secretary of Local 344 of the
International Association of Machinists in Paterson, New Jersey. According to
the New Jersey Historical Society, the Paterson Morning Call wrote an opinion
piece upon President Cleveland's signing of the legislation establishing a
national Labor Day, with the title "The souvenir pen should go to this
city's Alderman Matthew Maguire, the undisputed author of Labor Day as a
holiday." Both Maguire and McGuire participated in the country's
first Labor Day parade in New York City that year.
The First Labor Day
Tuesday,
September 5, 1882, was designated as Labor Day in New York City in accordance
with Central Labor Union plans. Just one year later, on September 5, 1883, the
Central Labor Union observed its second Labor Day celebration. Labor Day was
formally declared a national holiday on June 28, 1894, after 23 more states had
done so by then. President Grover Cleveland had signed the legislation
establishing Labor Day as a national holiday.
A Nationwide Holiday
The
original idea for Labor Day advised that the day be commemorated with a street
procession to exhibit, and this is exactly how many Americans spend the
occasion today with parades and parties.
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