A little food for thought on this day of feasting: Did you know Sarah Josepha Hale, author of Mary Had a Little Lamb, was largely responsible for the establishment of a federal Thanksgiving holiday? Hale, one of the great women in American history campaigned for nearly twenty years to make Thanksgiving made a national holiday. During her campaign – which spanned five presidents before she found one who was open to her idea (Abraham Lincoln) – she continually lobbied various congressmen, wrote annual editorials on the subject, and sent letters to every governor and U.S. president of the time. Ultimately, she was able to convince President Lincoln that a national holiday would help unify the country once the Civil War ended. Her final letter to Lincoln on the subject was mailed on September 28, 1863. After thinking it over, on October 3, 1863, Lincoln decided to declare the last Thursday in November as a national holiday for giving thanks – which went into practice that same year. Prior to this, the only national holidays that existed in the U.S. were Independence Day and Washingtons birthday. From that point on – until congress officially set the date of Thanksgiving into U.S. law in 1941 – every U.S. President would annually declare a Thursday in November as a national holiday for giving thanks.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Nov 2013 17:13:01 +0000
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