First National Thanksgiving

First National Thanksgiving

In 1817 a few states officially adopted Thanksgiving as a holiday, but they all celebrated it on different days. In 1827 Sarah Josepha Hale started a campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. Hale's campaign finally paid off in 1863, when Abraham Lincoln established Thanksgiving on the last Thursday in November. The reason that he established it on this date was to help the nation heal during the civil war. Thanksgiving's date changed again in 1939. It was moved up a week, thanks to Franklin D. Roosevelt. The reason was to help boost retail sales, because of the depression. Finally after a lot of date jumping Thanksgiving was set to be on the fourth Thursday in November, the bill was signed by FDR in 1941.