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Thanksgiving is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November (which became the uniform date country-wide in 1941). [2] [3] Outside the United States, it is sometimes called American Thanksgiving to distinguish it from the Canadian holiday of the same name and related celebrations in other regions.
By 1855, 16 states celebrated Thanksgiving (14 on the fourth Thursday of November, and two on the third). President Lincoln's first proclaimed days in April, October and November. However, it was not until 1863 that Abraham Lincoln established the regular tradition of observing days of national thanksgiving. [6] [20] [21] [22]
The Thanksgiving holiday's history in North America is rooted in English traditions dating from the Protestant Reformation. It also has aspects of a harvest festival , even though the harvest in New England occurs well before the late-November date on which the modern Thanksgiving holiday is celebrated.
In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln finally declared Thanksgiving an official U.S. holiday, an act he saw as a step toward reuniting the fractured country after the Civil War. He put it on the ...
However, Lincoln declared Thanksgiving Day be held on the last Thursday of November in 1863, "hoping to reconcile a country in the throes of the Civil War." This is why Thanksgiving is a national ...
Sarah Josepha Hale wrote a letter to President Abraham Lincoln on September 28, 1863, requesting the last Thursday in November to be a day of Thanksgiving announced to the whole country. In ...
Author and editor Sarah Josepha Hale persuaded President Abraham Lincoln to proclaim Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863. This is a Nov. 26, 1996 photo of a painting of Sarah Josepha Hale ...
The holiday formed around 1870, a few years after US President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday. It had its origins with Ragamuffin Day (known in some jurisdictions as Beggars Day ), a celebration as part of Thanksgiving, which involved children going door-to-door seeking candy, dressed as beggars and homeless residents ...