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George Washington

America honors its first chief executive during the annual President's Day holiday. And while the day remains mainly one to honor George Washington, it has come to represent a time to celebrate all U.S. leaders.

It turns out, however, that who exactly is honored on the day can vary from state to state and, wouldn't you know it, in Alabama, we've chosen to march to the beat of our own Southern-sounding drum.

First, a bit of history...

The President's Day holiday traces its roots to 1800 when it was set aside to honor Washington, who had died the previous year. Back then, it was celebrated on Feb. 22, the day of Washington's actual birth. It remained an unofficial holiday until the late 1870s when it became a federal holiday. It originally was celebrated only in the District of Columbia, but, in 1885, was expanded to the entire country.

The day was originally designed to honor Washington alone. It would remain the only holiday honoring an individual until the establishment of the Martin Luther King holiday in 1983.

In 1971, the Washington holiday was moved to the third Monday in February as part of what's known as the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, a change that allowed workers to have more three day weekends. Congress also included a provision that specifically included Abraham Lincoln, who was born on Feb. 12.

That's when the President's Day designation began taking off.

The Washington/Lincoln combo is the most recognized one for President's Day. The day has been expanded, however, to include time to celebrate other presidents as well. The day itself doesn't fall on the actual birthday of any American president, even though four - Washington, William Henry Harrison, Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan - were born in February.

Alabama's unique twist

While all states recognize some form of President's Day (which, by the way is also spelled Presidents Day or Presidents' Day), Alabama's celebration is unique.

Alabama actually calls President's Day "George Washington/Thomas Jefferson Day." Jefferson, the third U.S. president, was born in April. No one seems to know why Alabama chose to honor Jefferson instead of Lincoln, but it's a reasonable guess that Alabama chose not to officially recognize the man who led the Union during the Civil War.

Those bad feelings die hard, after all.

Before you think this is just another example of Alabama being, well, Alabama, we're actually not alone on this one. Many other states have variations of who they officially recognize on President's day, with Arkansas being the most unique, calling its day "George Washington and Daisy Gatson Bates Day," in honor of the first president and a civil rights leader.

So now you know...