Lincoln’s Birthday – circa 1910

I did not know, until looking it up, that Lincoln’s Birthday was never made a federal holiday.

Commemoration of the martyred President was made by various groups and organizations on the anniversary of his birth since the last quarter of the 19th century.

Efforts to proclaim a national holiday were never realized.

Opposition from southern states was a factor in this failure to honor Lincoln, and confederate flags were flown in some places where the holiday was observed.

Several states did make February 12 a state holiday, and the day is still a legal holiday in Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Texas, California, Missouri, and New York.

(A “boo” to New Jersey where Chris Christie oversaw the removal of Lincoln’s Birthday as a state holiday in 2008.)

Nevertheless, popular affection and respect for Lincoln was deep and wide-spread.

Millions of postcard greetings honoring February 12 were mailed or exchanged in the early years of the 20th century.

This postcard illustration was printed in Saxony by the firm of Raphael Tuck, a publisher in Great Britain.

The postcard was not mailed.

The birth of Lincoln is now observed in conjunction with Washington’s Birthday, which has been a federal holiday.