By Tom Emery

This weekend, millions of Americans will hit the road, fire up the grill, and swarm to the beaches for the Labor Day weekend. The holiday has evolved dramatically from its origins, which are debated today.

What is clear, though, is the designation of Labor Day as a federal holiday in 1894 arose from a tenuous labor dispute in Illinois. The Pullman strike, remembered today as a landmark in American labor history, caused such ill feelings between workers and the government that Presiden...