Much like Memorial Day and other nonreligious federal holidays, Labor Day’s history and significance has faded into a blur of end-of-summer barbeques and department store sales. Labor Day is one of eleven federal holidays in the United States. The eleventh, Juneteenth, commemorating the emancipation of slaves, was just added to the list this year.
Idaho State University history professor, Kevin Marsh, a doctorate in American History says that it really does take an act of Congress for federal holidays to be approved. According to historical archives from the House of Representatives, “The legislation passed with no objection and was sent to the President. The response to the new holiday was overwhelmingly positive. Labor unions in cities such as Boston, Nashville and St. Louis celebrated with parades and picnics.”
Labor Day was approved by former United States President Grover Cleveland in 1894, but according to Marsh was around before it was signed into federal law by the president. “The idea goes back to the previous decades. Labor unions had started to hold a march in early September on a weekday as a statement of asserting the influence of labor,” said Marsh. Labor Day is now held on the first Monday of September.
Although President Cleveland gets much of the credit for Labor Day as he was the president who signed it into effect, history illustrates that others were the real driving force behind the holiday. According to the Department of Labor, “Two workers can make a solid claim to the Founder of Labor Day title.” These two men, Peter J. McGuire and Matthew Maguire both are believed to have advocated for a holiday honoring the sacrifices of American workers.
The answer of who actually suggested the holiday remains unsolved, but the first Labor Day was celebrated on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 1882. The Department of Labor went on to say, “By 1894, 23 more states had adopted the holiday.” After its adoption as a federal holiday, it began to be celebrated more regularly across the country. Marsh states, “It grew in importance after that, particularly with a wider recognition from labor unions.”
In the period in which Labor Day came to be labor unions were much more prevalent than they are today, as were labor strikes. The worst one during President Cleveland’s tenure as president was the Pullman Stike. According to an article by the Washington Post, also regarding the history of Labor Day, “The railroad strike and boycott lasted from May 11 to July 20, 1894, disrupting rail traffic for much of that summer.” The article goes on to say that the strike was, “In response to the economic depression that began in 1893.” Many workers at the company had their wages cut by 25 percent. Some historians claim that this strike caused Cleveland to pass the holiday into law. However, as the article by The Washing Post illustrates, it had already passed in Congress and simply required the president’s signature. In addition, Cleveland had already served his two terms and had no plans to run again.
“Over the years it grew to become more widely recognized,” said Marsh. Marsh looked at Pocatello newspapers prior to our interview and found that a few years after the holiday was passed, Pocatello had Labor Day picnics and baseball games. “That was what Labor Day seemed to be,” said Marsh. “Only in the very early 1900s did I see that there was a community parade organized in the city and that the railroad, the major employer in town, gave some workers the day off.” Despite the change, both in the working class and in jobs across America, Labor Day has remained a constant reminder of the previous generation’s struggles for more employment equality and the fights they went through to make that happen.
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