In 1941, Congress passed a bill, and Franklin D. Roosevelt signed it, that fixed the date of Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday in November. FDR attempted to move the holiday to the third Thursday in November, but Congress enacted a law to fix the date at the fourth Thursday in November, thus making it an "official" holiday. On November 26, 1941, FDR signed the bill.
Abraham Lincoln made a statement that Thanksgiving would always be celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November as an American holiday.
the author of Mary had a little lamb was the woman who began working on making thanksgiving a national holiday on Thursday in November. no president approved until Lincoln who approved and made thanksgiving on the last Thursday of November.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
November 27, 2014 is Thanksgiving Day according to Wikipedia.
Why Thursday? Because President Washington wanted it that way. Back in 1789, President George Washington declared Thursday, November 26, to be a national holiday of Thanksgiving. This was the first official American Thanksgiving to be held as a holiday. Thanksgiving was then held every year on the last Thursday of November. (Before that, different colonies, then states, held thanksgiving when they wanted.) In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared that Thanksgiving would be the second-to-last Thursday of November rather than the last. Why? Because that gave more shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Abraham Lincoln first declared a national day of thanksgiving on the last Thursday of November in 1862. (The date was changed to the 4th Thursday of November in 1941.)
George Washington declared Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1789. However, the Continental Congress (president John Hanson) made the first actual national proclamation on March 16, 1776. The following year, a national day of prayer and thanksgiving was observed on December 16, 1777. The date of Thursday, November 26, 1789 was the date used by Washington, following the precedent of Thursday, November 28, 1782. The annual observance was established by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, and observed each year since then.
President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day during the Civil War, on October 3, 1863. He asked that the nation give thanks for the Union on the last Thursday of November. That made the first true national autumn Thanksgiving on Thursday, November 26, 1863, recognizing a long-standing New England tradition of placing the holiday on the fourth Thursday in November. He did it partially to help soothe the national mood, which was weary of the Civil War. He declared Thanksgiving again for November 23, 1864. In 1865, his successor, Andrew Johnson, declared a Thanksgiving for December 7, 1865, and presidents traditionally declared a Thanksgiving for every autumn since. (Andrew Johnson was the first to give government employees the day off, making it a legal holiday.) In 1941, Congress passed a bill, and FDR signed it, that fixed the date as the fourth Thursday in November. FDR attempted to move the holiday to the third Thursday in November, but Congress enacted a law to fix the date at the fourth Thursday in November, thus making it an "official" holiday. On November 26, 1941, FDR signed the bill. See the Related Link for a complete time line of the history of Thanksgiving. George Washington was the first President to declare a national day of Thanksgiving.
President George Washington proclaimed Thursday, November 26, 1789 to be "a day of public thanksgiving and prayer". He proclaimed a second Thanksgiving Day on Thursday, February 19, 1795. It wasn't until 1863 that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November of every year to be "a day of Thanksgiving". In June 1870 it legally became a paid holiday for federal employees working within the District of Columbia. In 1885 the law was expanded to apply to federal employees nationwide. In 1939 and 1940, in order to help retail businesses by making the Christmas shopping season longer, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed Thanksgiving Day to be the third Thursday of November. So many people protested the change in the Thanksgiving tradition that, as a compromise, Congress passed a bill making the fourth Thursday of November Thanksgiving Day. President Roosevelt signed the bill into law on December 26, 1941, and it remains in effect to this day.
George Washington declared the first national day of Thanksgiving, but that was a one-time thing. Abraham Lincoln restarted it. It was originally the last Thursday in November, but in 1941, it officially became the fourth Thursday in November (sometimes November has five Thursdays). And technically, it still has to be proclaimed by the President every year, although that is a given.
President George Washington proclaimed the first national day of thanksgiving in 1789, but it was president Abraham Lincoln who officially declared the last Thursday in November Thanksgiving, beginning in 1863. It was during the Civil War, and Lincoln's proclamation advised people to make this holiday a special time for family, religion, and community. Much later, President Franklin Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving to the third Thursday of November to create a longer Christmas shopping season. But in 1941, Congress made Thanksgiving fall on the fourth Thursday in November, and it's been that way ever since!
The first proclamation was issued by George Washington during his first year as President. It sets aside Thursday, November 26 as "A Day of Publick(sic) Thanksgiving and Prayer." Signed by Washington on October 3, 1789 and entitled "General Thanksgiving,"On October 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for the observance of the fourth Tuesday of November as a national holiday.In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday to the third Thursday of November (to extend the Christmas shopping season and boost the economy). After a storm of protest, Roosevelt changed the holiday again in 1941 to the fourth Thursday in November, where it stands today.
In the middle of the US Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln, prompted by a series of editorials written by Sarah Hale, proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated on the final Thursday in November 1863. It has been celebrated anually since. However President George Washington was the first President to issue a Proclamation that declared a National Day of Thanksgiving on October 3, 1789.