july 4th was declared an unpaid national holiday for federal employees in 1870.
july 4th was declared an unpaid national holiday for federal employees in 1870.
when was july 4th declared an unpaid national holiday for federal employees?
1870
bullet::::- in 1783, salem, north carolina, held a celebration with a challenging music program assembled by johann friedrich peter entitled "the psalm of joy". the town claims to be the first public july 4 event, as it was carefully documented by the moravian church, and there are no government records of any earlier celebrations.









































bullet::::- in 1870, the u.s. congress made independence day an unpaid holiday for federal employees.









































bullet::::- in 1938, congress changed independence day to a paid federal holiday.









































section::::customs.
independence day (united states)
in january 1979, ted kennedy, in his new position as senate judiciary committee chairman, announced he was terminating the system that had previously allowed senators to veto prospective federal judgeship nominees from his or her state. nevada senator paul laxalt read a statement from thurmond in which the latter presumed "that the committee will honor the blue slip system that has worked so well in the past". in march, the carter administration made an appeal to congress for new powers to aid with the enforcement of federal laws as it pertains to housing discrimination. thurmond refused to back the administration as he charged it with "injecting itself in every facet of people's lives" and said housing disputes should be settled in court. in april, during a congressional hearing attended by coretta scott king and other witnesses in favor of establishing the birthday of martin luther king jr. as a national holiday, thurmond stated that the civil service commission had estimated that enacting the holiday would cost the government $22 million to cover pay for federal employees. thurmond furthered that taxpayers would be forced to pay $195 million to accommodate the employees. ted kennedy responded to thurmond by saying that the estimates were not factoring in the revenue that could be generated from sales on the proposed holiday. in july, after the carter administration unveiled a proposed governing charter for the fbi, thurmond stated his support for its enactment, his backing being seen by the "new york times" as an indication that the governing charter would face little conservative opposition. in september, the senate approved bailey brown as judge of the united states court of appeals for the sixth circuit. the nomination was one of the few votes in which thurmond and ted kennedy joined forces in confirming and thurmond supported an opinion by kennedy on what the latter hoped would be the precedent for judicial nominees: "it is inadvisable for a nominee for a federal judgeship to belong to a social club that engages in invidious discrimination." during the hearing, kennedy had stated that he believed it would have been better for brown to resign from the all-white club. thurmond stated afterward that he understood the judge's feeling that a resignation would have been verification of his thirty-three years with the club being improper. on october 10, president carter signed the federal magistrate act of 1979, an expansion of the jurisdiction of american magistrates in regards to civil and criminal cases. carter noted thurmond as one of the members of congress who had shown leadership on the measure, without whose efforts it would have never passed. senate sources reported in october that ted kennedy had asked majority leader robert byrd to bring the illinois brick bill to the floor, the controversial antitrust measure attracting the opposition of thurmond, who joined orrin hatch in threatening a filibuster of the bill. in their stance against the bill, thurmond and hatch argued the bill's enactment would result in businesses being exposed to endless litigation as well as the possibility of duplicative awards of damages to direct and indirect purchasers.
strom thurmond