Today is Presidents’ Day. The holiday, created by Congress in 1971, was originally intended to merge the honoring of George Washington’s birthday with that of Abraham Lincoln, both born in February.

Men like Washington and Lincoln shaped our country’s political landscape. Both men came to power during times when the nation was embroiled in struggle. Washington served as a lieutenant colonel during the French and Indian War and was a general of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Lincoln was in power during the Civil War.

During his first term, Washington resolved the country’s escalating debt crisis. Lincoln established the first income tax in 1861. He also freed the slaves when, on Jan. 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The measure stated that every person who was held as a slave “henceforward shall be free.”

Both men are certainly worthy of being honored.

Eventually, though, Congress decided the third Monday in February would be set aside as a federal holiday. Now, the day is now a celebration of all the presidents of the United States.

Some of our notable leaders and their accomplishments are: Thomas Jefferson, who helped author the Declaration of Independence; Theodore Roosevelt, who oversaw the construction of the Panama Canal; Woodrow Wilson signed the act creating the National Parks Service; Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the country’s only four-term president; Harry Truman, who ordered atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan; and John F. Kennedy, whose vision it was to land the first human on the moon.

Presidents’ Day deserves a nod for reminding us to be grateful we live in a country that has effectively transferred power from one chief executive to the next for more than two centuries, which really is something worth celebrating.

We ask that you take a moment today and think about the real meaning of President’s Day: respect and leadership, especially in today’s political climate.Mount Rushmore