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America's Federal Holidays The True Story

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Americans have forgotten the meaning behind its federal holidays. In efforts to revise our country’s history and to increase our leisure time, our federal holidays have lost their power. We don’t appreciate the peaceful passing of power from one party to another that takes place on Inauguration Day. We don’t recall who inspired Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We overlook the courage and perseverance of George Washington, the Father of Our Country. Independence Day has become a day of fireworks and feasts, instead of a remembrance of liberty and sacrifices. Memorial Day and Labor Day have become a way to mark the beginning and ending of summer. Christopher Columbus has moved from a place of honor, to dislike, to ignorance in the minds of most. Many schoolchildren falsely believe the first Thanksgiving was held so the Pilgrims could thank the Indians. And Christmas, an official federal holiday, is a word that is not even uttered in public places for fear of offending someone. America’s Federal Holidays, The True Story© promotes the heroic people and events that are the reason for America’s federal holidays. This book will encourage Americans to appreciate the shared history of our people, understand the meaning behind each day, and strengthen our citizens and our republic.



FOREWORD BY MICHAEL ALLEN
I am very happy that John De Gree’s America’s Federal Holidays is now in print. There is no other book quite like it, and it will prove extremely valuable to classroom teachers in America’s public, private, charter, and home schools.
How many of today’s elementary, secondary, and college students really understand the origins and meaning of the days they get to “take off” during the school year or their summer vacations? Unfortunately, students (and sometimes their parents and teachers!) become absorbed in the joy of the impending long weekend and forget “the reason for the season,” as it were. How many of us could, off the tops of our heads, thoroughly and accurately state the historic origins of Memorial Day? New Year’s Day? And while the roots of celebrating the Fourth of July and Christmas may seem obvious, in fact there is much more to the stories of these “days off” than we know. It is thus very important to make America’s Federal Holidays part of the effort to train good citizens in our schools.

John De Gree is a seasoned classroom teacher with many years’ experience in both public and private schools. His website and curriculum, The Classical Historian, is subscribed to by thousands of public, private, homeschool, and charter school parents and teachers. And John De Gree and his wife Zdenka are parents and teachers to their own seven children. This experience is obvious in each of the pages that follow. John’s lessons on Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Dr. Martin Luther King’s Birthday, George Washington’s Birthday, and all other official federal holidays are brimming with information that will make for good classroom learning. America’s Federal Holidays will help teachers create lesson plans to use immediately prior to the respective holiday vacations.


On occasion, Americans appear more concerned with taking a well-earned vacation than pondering the reasons for the blessed event. “Blessed” is an apt term here, because all holidays stem historically from religious “days of rest” and, of course, the Sabbath. Indeed, one of the remarkable things we learn from America’s Federal Holidays is that religion and religious motives form the basis for most of our federally recognized holidays.


So, the next time you get to take a three-day weekend, enjoy it! But before you do, read through John De Gree’s America’s Federal Holidays to understand why.
Michael Allen
PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, TACOMA
CO-AUTHOR, A PATRIOT’S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES AND A PATRIOT’S HISTORY READER
#1 BEST SELLING NEW YORK TIMES AUTHOR

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