The following information is a re-print of the
Department of Labor .Gov's explanation of Labor Day. I thought about
writing an article but decided to celebrate with a day off for myself.
LOL
Here you go from dol.gov
The History of Labor Day
Check out our Labor Day 2012 page, complete with videos, photo, resources, and more.
Labor Day: How it Came About; What it Means
Labor Day, the first Monda
y
in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to
the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes
a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the
strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.
Founder of Labor Day
More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is
still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.
Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American
Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who
from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."
But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone
unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter
McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the
contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the
International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the
holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union
in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a
Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and
picnic.
The First Labor Day
The first Labor Day
holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City,
in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central
Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on
September 5, 1883.
In 1884 the first Monday in September was
selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor
Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example
of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The
idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor
Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.
Labor Day Legislation
Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The
first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed
during 1885 and 1886. From them developed the movement to secure state
legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York
legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on
February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado,
Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday
by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut,
Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states
had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that
year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of
each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the
territories.
A Nationwide Holiday
The form that the
observance and celebration of Labor Day should take was outlined in the
first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public
"the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations"
of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and
amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for
the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were
introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and
civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the
American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding
Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and
educational aspects of the labor movement.
The character of
the Labor Day celebration has undergone a change in recent years,
especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge
parades have proved a problem. This change, however, is more a shift in
emphasis and medium of expression. Labor Day addresses by leading union
officials, industrialists, educators, clerics and government officials
are given wide coverage in newspapers, radio, and television.
The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of
living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has
brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of
economic and political democracy. 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.
