The History of Thanksgiving: From Lincoln to FDR

Early Thanksgiving Traditions

• 📜 The Puritans, with the help of Squanto, celebrated a three-day Thanksgiving in 1622, but it wasn't consistently organized afterward.
• 🏛️ Presidents like George Washington, John Adams, and James Madison proclaimed national days of Thanksgiving, but none established it as an annual tradition.

Sarah Josepha Hale's Campaign

• ✍️ Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of a leading magazine, launched a campaign in the 1840s to make Thanksgiving a national annual holiday.
• 📢 She wrote editorials describing Thanksgiving in glowing terms, emphasizing family gatherings, meals, and reflection.
• 📧 Her persistent efforts eventually reached President Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln Establishes Annual Thanksgiving

• 🗓️ In the midst of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving as an annual tradition in November 1863.
• 🕊️ This proclamation was influenced by his spiritual transformation and belief that slavery was a moral evil.
• 📈 Lincoln saw reasons for thankfulness, including Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, and the Emancipation Proclamation which bolstered the Union army.

Formalizing the Date

• 📅 While Thanksgiving was celebrated annually after 1863, its specific date varied.
• 🛒 In 1939, Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving to the last Thursday in November to allow for more shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
• 🗓️ By 1941, FDR formalized it to be the fourth Thursday in November.
• 🌎 Roosevelt's motivation was also economic, aiming to boost the economy during the Great Depression and the early stages of World War II.