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Labor Day is a creation of the labor movement, a yearly celebration of the American worker, and a national tribute to the laborer’s contribution to the social and economic achievements of the United States.
There is some uncertainty about the origins of Labor Day. 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 to suggest a day to honor those “who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.”
Other research suggests that machinist Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, New Jersey, proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York.
The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union.
In 1884, the first Monday in September was selected as the official holiday.
The first governmental recognition of Labor Day came through municipal ordinances passed in 1885 and 1886.
The state of Oregon passed the first law recognizing the Labor Day holiday on Feb. 21, 1887. Four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — followed suit that same year.
On June 28, 1894, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in all the states, the District of Columbia, and all U.S. territories.