Sermon Tone Analysis

Labor Day: For Man or God?

https://www.dol.gov/general/laborday/history

History of Labor Day | U.S. Department of Labor

Labor Day: What it Means

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers.

It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Labor Day Legislation

The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed in 1885 and 1886.

From these, a movement developed to secure state legislation.

The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887.

During 1887 four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment.

By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit.

By 1894, 23 more states had adopted the holiday, and on June 28, 1884, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

Founder of Labor Day

More than a century after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.

Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a co-founder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."

But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged.

Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday.

Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York.

What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

The First Labor Day

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union.

The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.

In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date.

The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.

A Nationwide Holiday

The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take was outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families.

This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day.

Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday.

Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.

The character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a change in recent years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge parades have proved a problem.

This change, however, is more a shift in emphasis and medium of expression.

Labor Day addresses by leading union officials, industrialists, educators, clerics and government officials are given wide coverage in newspapers, radio, and television.

The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy.

It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pays tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.

The Tower of Babel ()

Through Labor, mankind exalts Himself

Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain.

Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.

its builders labor in vain.

Unless the Lord watches over the city,

the watchmen stand guard in vain.

The Holy Bible: New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984), .

The Holy Bible: New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984), .

Labor Day

This article is about the U.S. holiday.

For the similarly named holiday in other countries, see Labour Day.

For other uses, see Labor Day (disambiguation).

Labor Day in the United States is a public holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September.

It honors the American labor movement and the contributions that workers have made to the strength, prosperity, laws and well-being of the country.

It is the Monday of the long weekend known as Labor Day Weekend and it is considered the unofficial end of summer in the United States.

It is recognized as a federal holiday.

Beginning in the late 19th century, as the trade union and labor movements grew, trade unionists proposed that a day be set aside to celebrate labor.

"Labor Day" was promoted by the Central Labor Union and the Knights of Labor, which organized the first parade in New York City.

In 1887, Oregon was the first state of the United States to make it an official public holiday.

By the time it became an official federal holiday in 1894, thirty states in the United States officially celebrated Labor Day.[2]

Canada's Labour Day is also celebrated on the first Monday of September.

More than 80 countries celebrate International Workers' Day on May 1 – the ancient European holiday of May Day – and several countries have chosen their own dates for Labour Day.

Contents

History

Origin

Beginning in the late 19th century, as the trade union and labor movements grew, different groups of trade unionists chose a variety of days on which to celebrate labor.

In the United States, a September holiday called Labor Day was first proposed in the early 1880s.

Alternate stories of the event's origination exist.

According to one early history of Labor Day, the event originated in connection with a General Assembly of the Knights of Labor convened in New York City in September 1882.[3]

In connection with this clandestine Knights assembly, a public parade of various labor organizations was held on September 5 under the auspices of the Central Labor Union (CLU) of New York.[3]

Secretary of the CLU Matthew Maguire is credited for first proposing that a national Labor Day holiday subsequently be held on the first Monday of each September in the aftermath of this successful public demonstration.[4]

📷 P. J. McGuire, Vice President of the American Federation of Labor, is frequently credited as the father of Labor Day in the United States.

Labor Day picnics and other public gatherings frequently featured speeches by prominent labor leaders.

In 1909 the American Federation of Labor convention designated the Sunday preceding Labor Day as "Labor Sunday", to be dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.[4]

This secondary date failed to gain significant traction in popular culture.

Legal recognition

In 1887 Oregon became the first state of the United States to make Labor Day an official public holiday.

By the time it became an official federal holiday in 1894, thirty U.S. states officially celebrated Labor Day.[2] All U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and the United States territories have subsequently made Labor Day a statutory holiday.

Labor Day vs. May Day

The date of May 1 (an ancient European folk holiday known as May Day) emerged in 1886 as an alternative holiday for the celebration of labor, later becoming known as International Workers' Day.

The date had its origins at the 1885 convention of the American Federation of Labor, which passed a resolution calling for adoption of the eight-hour day effective May 1, 1886.[6]

While negotiation was envisioned for achievement of the shortened work day, use of the strike to enforce this demand was recognized, with May 1 advocated as a date for coordinated strike action.[6]

The proximity of the date to the bloody Haymarket affair of May 4, 1886, further accentuated May First's radical reputation.

There was disagreement among labor unions at this time about when a holiday celebrating workers should be, with some advocating for continued emphasis of the September march-and-picnic date while others sought the designation of the more politically-charged date of May 1. Conservative Democratic President Grover Cleveland was one of those concerned that a labor holiday on May 1 would tend to become a commemoration of the Haymarket Affair and would strengthen socialist and anarchist movements that backed the May 1 commemoration around the globe.[7]

In 1887, he publicly supported the September Labor Day holiday as a less inflammatory alternative.[8]

The date was formally adopted as a United States federal holiday in 1894.

Unofficial end of summer

Labor Day is called the "unofficial end of summer"[9] because it marks the end of the cultural summer season.

Many take their two-week vacations during the two weeks ending Labor Day weekend.[10]

Many fall activities, such as school and sports begin about this time.

In the United States, many school districts resume classes around the Labor Day holiday weekend (see First day of school).

Many begin the week before, making Labor Day weekend the first three-day weekend of the school calendar, while others return the Tuesday following Labor Day, allowing families one final getaway before the school year begins.

Many districts across the Midwest are opting to begin school after Labor Day.[11]

In the U.S. state of Virginia, the amusement park industry has successfully lobbied for legislation requiring most school districts in the state to have their first day of school after Labor Day, in order to give families another weekend to visit amusement parks in the state.

The relevant statute has been nicknamed the "Kings Dominion law" after one such park.[12]

In Minnesota the State Fair ends on Labor Day.

Under state law public schools normally do not begin until after the holiday.

Allowing time for school children to show 4-H projects at the Fair has been given as one reason for this timing.[13]

In U.S. sports, Labor Day weekend marks the beginning of many fall sports.

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) teams usually play their first games that weekend and the National Football League (NFL) traditionally play their kickoff game the Thursday following Labor Day.

The Southern 500 NASCAR auto race has been held on Labor Day weekend at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina from 1950 to 2003 and since 2015.

At Indianapolis Raceway Park, the National Hot Rod Association hold their finals of the NHRA U.S. Nationals drag race that weekend.

Labor Day is the middle point between weeks one and two of the U.S. Open Tennis Championships held in Flushing Meadows, New York.