Pops
11-24-2008, 04:07 PM
How Thanksgiving Came To Be
Have you ever wondered how Thanksgiving came to be?
The first Thanksgiving was started by the Pilgrims in 1621, but it was thought to be a one-time celebration to give thanks. Throughout the 1700s the Continental Congress proclaimed several Thanksgiving Days in December and George Washington did so as well in 1789, but it still was not an annual holiday.
It took a widowed mother of five who was most famously known for her nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb" to write to three different presidents (Pierce, Buchanan, and finally Lincoln) asking them to declare an annual Day of Thanksgiving in an effort to abolish slavery. This woman's name was Sarah Josepha Hale.
Finally, upon the conclusion of the Civil War, while the nation had to face the tremendous loss of life, Sarah received a response from President Abraham Lincoln. He fulfilled Sarah Hale's relentless pleas to have a "day of our annual Thanksgiving made a National and fixed Union Festival."
Have you ever wondered how Thanksgiving came to be?
The first Thanksgiving was started by the Pilgrims in 1621, but it was thought to be a one-time celebration to give thanks. Throughout the 1700s the Continental Congress proclaimed several Thanksgiving Days in December and George Washington did so as well in 1789, but it still was not an annual holiday.
It took a widowed mother of five who was most famously known for her nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb" to write to three different presidents (Pierce, Buchanan, and finally Lincoln) asking them to declare an annual Day of Thanksgiving in an effort to abolish slavery. This woman's name was Sarah Josepha Hale.
Finally, upon the conclusion of the Civil War, while the nation had to face the tremendous loss of life, Sarah received a response from President Abraham Lincoln. He fulfilled Sarah Hale's relentless pleas to have a "day of our annual Thanksgiving made a National and fixed Union Festival."