For much of our history, America was a
predominantly agrarian society. Law makers therefore
took into account that November was perhaps the most convenient month for
farmers and rural workers to be able to travel to the polls.
Since
most residents of rural America had to travel a significant distance to the
county seat in order to vote, Monday was not considered reasonable since many
people would need to begin travel on Sunday. This would have conflicted with
Church services and Sunday worship. Tuesday, would also not conflict with market day,
which was on Wednesday in many towns.
Lawmakers
wanted to prevent Election Day from falling on the first of November for two
reasons. First, November 1st is All Saints Day, a Holy Day of Obligation for Roman Catholics. Second, most merchants were in the habit
of doing their books from the preceding month on the 1st and Congress
did not want the economic success or failure of the previous month to influence
the outcome of the election.
Source: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/electionday1.html
