Why We Celebrate Labor Day

While undeniably patriotic, Labor Day pays tribute to all of the working men and women who made, and continue to make, the United States what it is today, according to HowStuffWorks. Before it was a national holiday, labor unions designated a day of solidarity each year; those in New York City chose the first Monday in September to celebrate in 1892. Just two years later, President Grover Cleveland — hardly a union man — declared Labor Day a national holiday to make amends for a deadly strikebreaking action he had ordered against the American Railway Union.