It took 81 years for Congress to honor George Washington with a federal holiday on his birthday, the first honor ever accorded an American citizen by the federal government.  Abraham Lincoln’s birthday was never actually a federal holiday until it was combined with Washington’s into President’s Day in 1971.  Several states celebrated both holidays at least since Lincoln’s death in 1865, but those are generally the only Presidents recognized by state holidays, and all of them waited until after the President had left office to declare the holidays.