“We can’t bring back President Lincoln’s Birthday as a federal holiday...”
I confess I do not know when slavery officially ended in the U.S. I know the 13th Amendment did end it, but I don’t know whether or not if all Union slave states, MO, KY, DE, MD, WVA had freed their slaves prior to the 13th’s taking effect.
Logically it would make more sense to celebrate when slavery actually ended rather than when some Texas slaves learned about it, but logic is not really part of the process, is it.
You’re correct on Lincoln’s birthday not being a nation holiday, that was President Washington’s birthday that was. I grew up in Indiana where we had Lincoln’s birthday as a school holiday, since he spent his youth here in Indiana. I think Illinois, back then in the 50s and 60s also had Lincoln’s birthday as a state holiday.