Labor Day

June 28, 1894

An Act Making Labor Day a legal holiday.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the first Monday of September in each year, being the day celebrated and known as Labor's Holiday, is hereby made a legal public holiday, to all intents and purposes, in the same manner as Christmas, the first day of January, the twenty-second day of February, the thirtieth day of May, and the fourth day of July are now made by law public holidays.

APPROVED, June 28, 1894.

"It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership -- the American worker."

Labor Day was declared a national holiday in 1894. It is a tribute to people like my grandparents and great-grandparents - the sharecroppers, the farmers, the linemen, the cabinet makers, and soldiers of The Greatest Generation. Each and every one of them working hard every day to provide a better life for their children. And in passing down the ethics of a hard day's work, they've ensured that each generation that has come after them has indeed had a better life than those before. So on this day, I think about my forefathers who worked hard each day to make this a better place.