Here's why school's out and the bank is closed today

All federal and state offices, post offices and financial markets, plus most banks, are closed today for Presidents Day, as are schools throughout the suburbs.

Do you know why today is Presidents Day?

The third Monday of the month is set aside to celebrate George Washington's birthday, which was declared a federal holiday in 1885. Some mistakenly think today is a holiday designed to celebrate both Abraham Lincoln's birthday, which is Feb. 12, and George Washington's, which is Feb. 22, but it's not.

Here are some other things you might not know about our presidents.

Our founders' first attempt at establishing government failed.Needing some sort of central government after declaring independence from Great Britain, the Articles of Confederation were penned in 1777. Because the states were so fearful of a strong central power, the Articles put into place a hopelessly weak central government. It was so weak that, among other things, it could not even raise a standing army. Conditions became so critical under the Articles that Washington and other founders became despondent and depressed, fearing their fledgling nation would collapse.George Washington never wanted to be president.He would much rather have been "at Mount Vernon with a friend or two, than to be attended at the Seat of Government by the Officers of State and the Representatives of every Power in Europe." However, he "was summoned by (his) country, whose voice (he could) never hear but with veneration and love."Our founders had deep concerns about press bias.Thomas Jefferson lamented that he and 20 aids would be unable to answer all of the "calumnies" that newspapers printed about him. Washington expressed similar concerns. Yet, they realized the power the press could play in controlling government extremes as well as informing the public. Jefferson said, "The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right: and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."The Constitution actually scared the colonies.The early Americans were very distrustful of any centralized form of government. And who can blame them? After what they had been though with England, the states wanted to maintain as much of their sovereignty as they could they did not want their hard-earned freedoms given over to another despot, including the one created by the Constitution.