Martinez, Nathan
11/22/08
3rd per.
Thanksgiving
What is Thanksgiving? Thanksgiving is a harvest festival that is a traditional North American holiday. Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of every November. When was the first federal Thanksgiving holiday? The first federal Thanksgiving holiday was set on the last Thursday of November in the year 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln to kind’ve relate to the anchoring of the Mayflower at Cape Cod which occurred on November 21, 1620. It was later changed to the fourth Thursday of November by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the year 1939 because sometimes the last Thursday would turn out to be the fifth Thursday of the month. This falls too close to Christmas, leaving businesses even less than a month to deal with two big festivals. Before President Lincoln declared the first federal holiday for Thanksgiving there was many attempts with several Presidents, including George Washington, who made Thanksgiving a holiday once. It was also an attempt by a lady named Mrs. Sarah Joseph Hale who began lobbying several Presidents for the proclamation of Thanksgiving as a national holiday since the year 1827 but it didn’t see success until 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln finally made it a national holiday.
How was Thanksgiving celebrated before it became a national holiday? Before President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday the festival did not assume the national significance and was not celebrated as an annual festive occasion throughout the United States. However in the year 1817 New York State adopted Thanksgiving Day as an annual custom. Soon later in the 19th century many other states did the same but it was still yet to assume national significance it was instead treated as an annual President proclamation.
What is the origin of Thanksgiving Day? It is...