Mother"s Day was first suggested in the United States in 1872 by Julia Ward Howe as a day dedicated to peace. A campaign to establish a National Mother"s Day was begun in 1907. It was successful, by 1911 Mother"s Day was celebrated in almost every state in recognition of[1] the influence mothers have in the making of better citizens.
In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed that the birthday of Mrs. Anna Reeves Jarvis, the "mother of Mother"s Day[2] ", would become the National Mother"s Day of the United States. And that from then on, the second Sunday in May would be Mother"s Day in memory of the work Mrs. Jarvis had done to bring families together after the Civil war, her work to bring the whole North and South together, her work to honor all the mothers of America throughout history and on into the future, but most of all to honor Mrs. Anna Reeves Jarvis as America"s National Mother. President Wilson asked that the American people fly the United States flag from public buildings and homes on that day as he said, as a public expression of our love and reverence[3] for the mothers of our country.
Well, what value is Mother"s Day now? As the Congress said in 1914, it reminds people of[4] the influence mothers have had in the making of better citizens. Jarvis was one such mother. On Mother"s Day much attention is given to the important part that each mother plays in giving her children a sense of what is right and what is wrong, what is good behavior and what is bad.
If the observances[5] of Mother"s Day can even in a small way remind mothers of this, then this day will help both the families and the whole country.