Happy Monday. Yes, I said Monday. We’re closed today for Labor Day, so I thought we’d bump this week’s blog out a day.

It also got me thinking about what Labor Day actually is.

We celebrate all of these holidays but don’t always know the history and/or meaning behind them.

So today I’m going to make it easy for you. I did the research, and I’m going to tell you what I discovered.

First, as the name suggests, Labor Day is meant to take a beat to recognize and honor the contributions of American workers.

Did you know, though, that it didn’t start as a paid holiday?

It was originally a protest. 10,000 workers in New York took an unpaid day off to show their displeasure with working conditions, meet up in the park, have speeches, and probably party a little bit (there’s no way that many people got together without a little celebration breaking out).

This was in 1882!

Over time, the “resistance” grew from workers, culminating in a railroad strike in 1894 in which the government sent troops out to quell the demonstrations. As you might imagine, that didn’t turn out well, people died, and the President (Grover Cleveland) thought creating a national holiday to recognize working-class citizens would make people like him again.

And we’ve had Labor Day ever since.

Let’s wrap it up with one fun fact. Know why Labor Day is in September?

Organizers chose it to fill the long gap between Independence Day and Thanksgiving.

Hope this was as interesting to you as it was to me.

Have a great week!

Sincerely,

Christopher Small
Owner
CMS Law Firm LLC

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