The United States was forged from steel effort, sweat labor and economic achievement of American workers.

In 19th century America the industrial revolution was in full bloom with people lined up to feed the machines of mass production. Millions responded in search of the American dream, a newly founded trust in the commonwealth known as the free market. The idea of celebrating the everyday-working-man began to spread with the growth of labor organizations. By 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country. This holiday is to exhibit to the public “the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations” of the community. Speeches by prominent men and women are given to emphasis the economic and civic significance of the holiday. The first states to declare Labor Day as a state holiday in 1887 was Oregon, Colorado, New York, Massachusetts, and New Jersey.

In 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed the bill making Labor Day a national holiday on the first Monday in September intended not as a celebration of leisure but as a promotion of the great American work ethic. Work, they believed, was the highest calling in life, and Labor Day was a reminder to get back to it!

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