The proclamation marked the culmination of a 36-year crusade to make Thanksgiving a national holiday led by Sarah Josepha Hale. As TIME previously reported, she envisioned a day filled with roast ...

On Oct. 3, 1863, three score and 14 years to the day after Washington’s proclamation, he released one of his own, designating the fourth Thursday of November a national day of Thanksgiving.

Lincoln’s proclamation was catalyzed by a letter from prominent editor Sarah Josepha Hale, who had petitioned for decades for the nation to recognize Thanksgiving as a national holiday.

This Thanksgiving, we should give thanks for leaders like Washington, models of humility and national unity, who elevated America by calling for obedience to divine truths about justice, peace ...

Hale's idea became reality on Oct. 3, 1863, when Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring the last Thursday of November to be the permanent National Thanksgiving Day.

Hale's idea became reality on Oct. 3, 1863, when Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring the last Thursday of November to be the permanent National Thanksgiving Day.

The proclamation in 1863 called for a national day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.” Lincoln’s words emphasized gratitude, reflection, and ...

With President Abraham Lincoln's 1863 proclamation, Thanksgiving became regularly celebrated on the last Thursday in November. According to the National Archives, ...

When President Lincoln made his Thanksgiving proclamation in 1863, the last Thursday of November became standard. Then came the big date dispute of 1939 when two Thanksgiving holidays were observed.

Thanksgiving as a national holiday owes its ... It was 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring “a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise,” the culmination of a 36 ...

Lincoln wasn't the first president to issue a Thanksgiving proclamation — George Washington did so in 1789. While later presidents failed to maintain the tradition, it was Washington’s ...