Bethpage-Tribune_2002-02-15

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VOL 40 NO. 9 SERVING BETHPAGE, ISLAND TREES, OLD BETHPAGE, PLAINVIEW, SEAFORD AND PLAINEDGE FORTY CENTS
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PRESIDENT'S DAY
Until 1971 both February 12 and February 22 were observed as
federal holidays to honor the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln (Feb. 12) and
George Washington (Feb. 22).
In 1971 President Richard Nixon proclaimed one single federal
holiday, the Presidents' Day to be observed on the third Monday of
February, honoring all past presidents of the United States of America.
George Washington's Birthday - February 22
"The Father of our Country"
Born in Westmoreland County, Va. on Feb. 22,1732. George
Washington was the eldest son of Augustine Washington and his second
wife, Mary Ball Washington who were prosperous Virginia gentry of
English descent. George spent his early years on the family estate on
Pope's Creek along the Potomac River. His early education included the
study of such subjects as mathematics, surveying, the classics, and "rules
of civility." His father died in 1743, and soon thereafter George went to live
with his half brother Lawrence at Mount Vernon.
By 1753 the growing rivalry between the British and French over
control of the Ohio Valley soon to erupt into the French and Indian War
(1754-63), created new opportunities for the ambitious young Washington.
Assured that the Virginia frontier was safe from French attack,
Washington left the army in 1758 and returned to Mount Vernon, directing
his attention toward restoring his neglected estate. He erected new
buildings, refurbished the house and experimented with new crops. With
the support of an ever growing circle of influential friends, he entered
politics, serving (1759-74) in Virginia's House of Burgesses. As a delegate
(1774-75) to the First and Second Continental Congress, Washington did
not participate actively in the deliberations, but his presence was
undoubtedly a stabilizing influence. In June 1775 he was Congress'
unanimous choice as commander in chief of the Continental forces.
George Washington was commander in chief of the Continental
army during the American Revolution and first president of the
1
Gettysburg Address
at the dedication of the Civil
War cemetery at Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania, November 19,
1863
Four score and seven years
ago our fathers brought forth on
this continent, a new nation,
conceived in Liberty, and
dedicated to the proposition that
all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a
great civil war, testing whether
that nation, or any nation so
conceived and so dedicated, can
long endure. We are met on a
for those who here gave their lives
that that nation might live. It is
altogether fitting and proper that
we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can
not dedicate - we can not
consecrate -- we can not hallow --
this ground. The brave men, living
and dead, who struggled here,
have consecrated it, far above our
poor power to add or detract. The
world will little note, nor long
remember what we say here, but it
can never forget what they did
here. It is for us the living, rather,
to be dedicated here to the
unfinished work which they who
fought here have thus far so nobly
advanced. It is rather for us to be
here dedicated to the great task
remaining before us - that from
these honored dead we take
increased devotion to that cause
for which they gave the last full
measure of devotion -- that 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
great battle-field of that war. We that government of the people, by
have come to dedicate a portion of the people, for the people, shall
that field, as a final resting place not perish from the earth.
United States (1789-97).
Although Washington reluctantly accepted command of the army in
1798 when war with France seemed imminent he did not assume an active
role. He preferred to spend his last years in happy retirement at Mount
Vernon. In mid-December, Washington contracted what was probably
quinsy or acute laryngitis; he declined rapidly and died at his estate on
Dec. 14, 1799.
Abraham Lincoln's Birthday - February 12
Nickname: "Honest Abe"
Lincoln was born on Feb. 12, 1809, in a log cabin in Hardin (now
Larus) County, Ky. Indians had killed his grandfather. Lincoln wrote,
"when he was laboring to open a farm in the forest" in 1786; this tragedy
left his father Thomas Lincoln "a wandering laboring boy" who "grew up,
literally without education." Thomas, nevertheless, became a skilled
carpenter and purchased three farms in Kentucky before the Lincolns left
the state. Little is known about Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln.
Abraham had an older sister, Sarah, and a younger brother, Thomas, who
died in infancy.
In 1815 the Lincolns moved to Indiana, "partly on account of slavery."
Abraham recalled, "but chiefly on account of difficulty in land titles in
Kentucky." Land ownership was more secure in Indiana because the Land
Ordinance of 1785 provided for surveys by the federal government;
moreover the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 forbade slavery in the area.
Lincoln's parents belonged to a faction of the Baptist church that
disapproved of slavery, and this affiliation may account for Abraham's
laier statement that he was "naturally anti-slavery" and could not
remember when he "did not think, and feel" this way.
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States guided his
country through the most devastating experience in its national history -
the CIVIL WAR. He is considered by many historians to have been the
greatest American president.
George Washington's
Famous Speech
First Inaugural Address in the
City of New York, Thursday,
April 30, 1789
The Nation's first chief
executive took his oath of office in
April in New York City on the
balcony of the Senate Chamber at
Federal Hall on Wall Street.
General Washington had been
unanimously elected President by
the first electoral college, and
John Adams was elected Vice
President because he received the
second greatest number of votes.
Under the rules, each elector cast
two votes. The Chancellor of New
York and fellow Freemason,
Robert R. Livingston administered
the oath of office. The Bible on
which the oath was sworn
belonged to New York's St. John's
Masonic Lodge. The new
President gave his inaugural
address before a joint session of
the two Houses of Congress
assembled inside the Senate
Chamber.
Second Inaugural Address
in the City of Philadelphia,
Monday, March 14, 1793
President Washington's
second oath of office was taken in
the Senate Chamber of Congress
Hall in Philadelphia on March 4,
the date fixed by the Continental
Congress for inaugurations.
Before an assembly of
Congressmen, Cabinet officers,
judges of the federal and district
courts, foreign officials, and a
small gathering of Philadelphians,
the President offered the shortest
inaugural address ever given.
Associate Justice of the Supreme
Court William Cushing
administered the oath of office.
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