The History of Thanksgiving
Most of us know the origin of Thanksgiving in the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies, but do you know the history of Thanksgiving as a national holiday?
In 1777, the Continental Congress declared the first national American Thanksgiving following the victory at Saratoga, a key battle in the Revolutionary War.
In 1789, George Washington became the first president to declare a Thanksgiving holiday on November 26th. But it wasn't until President Lincoln, in 1863, declared Thanksgiving as the last Thursday of November that the holiday was celebrated on a national level.
Later presidents followed Lincoln's precedent until 1939, when Franklin D. Roosevelt declared November 23, the next to last Thursday that year, as Thanksgiving Day. This caused some controversy and led many Americans to ignore FDR's declaration. In 1941, he admitted his mistake and signed a bill that officially marked the fourth Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day.
|