WHEREAS, Washington is the only state named for an American president, George Washington, the father of our country, and as such we Washingtonians hold the presidency and presidents in special regard; and
     WHEREAS, For many years our state and nation have set aside the third Monday in February to celebrate Presidents' Day, which honors former presidents of the United States of America; and
     WHEREAS, Both February 12th, the actual birthday of President Abraham Lincoln, and February 22nd, the actual birthday of President George Washington, were kept and observed, until nineteen seventy-one, as the anniversaries of the births of these two great American presidents; and
     WHEREAS, Presidents' Day for many citizens remains a time for specifically honoring the accomplishments of Washington, the first American president, and Lincoln, the sixteenth American president; and
     WHEREAS, Even until his death in seventeen ninety-nine, George Washington's birthday was actually celebrated by many of his fellow citizens on February 11th because colonial America at the time of his birth in seventeen thirty-two was still using the Julian, "Old Style" calendar, instead of the Gregorian, "New Style" calendar; and
     WHEREAS, The designation of February 22nd as President Washington's birthday came to pass because the Gregorian calendar added eleven days to the old date to make the calendar year line up with the astronomical year; and
     WHEREAS, It was in nineteen sixty-eight that federal legislation, the "Monday Holidays Act," was passed to install the Presidents' Day celebration that we have come to know and respect; and
     WHEREAS, Although traditionalists cling to the notion that Presidents' Day remains a time for celebrating the specific legacies of Presidents Washington and Lincoln, nontraditionalists are very welcome to embrace the fact that former Presidents John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses Grant, James Garfield, and Teddy Roosevelt, as well as the presidents of later decades, are honored in a good many National Park Service commemorations; and
     WHEREAS, In nineteen eighty-five the Washington State Legislature singled out the third Monday in February as a day for commemorating the births of Presidents Washington and Lincoln; and
     WHEREAS, In anticipatory celebration of this diverse, wonderful land of ours, which has been fashioned into a priceless, multicultural quilt, thanks to the children of scores of the world's nations, almost a fifth of our forty-three American presidents, the first eight presidents, did not start out in life as Americans because there was no America when they were born; and
     WHEREAS, No Presidents' Day celebration would be complete without appropriate recognition for the invaluable service of the First Ladies in our American presidential history; and
     WHEREAS, The term "First Lady" was first used in eighteen seventy-seven in describing the nonelected but very important "public office" held by Lucy Ware Webb Hayes, the wife of our nineteenth president, Rutherford B. Hayes;
     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the State of Washington salute and celebrate Presidents' Day 2005, a time for recognizing and paying tribute to the tireless dedication of our former presidents; and
     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution be immediately transmitted by the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for effective distribution among the schools of the state of Washington to help strengthen the knowledge of our presidents on the part of our young people, any one of whom could in fact grow up to be President.