Happy Thanksgiving!

In 1789, President George Washington declared November 26th to be Thanksgiving Day and issued a national Thanksgiving Proclamation for the country's having "been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed...." However, the holiday didn't really catch on at first. Over the next 30 years, only 6 Thanksgiving Proclamations were issued.

In a few years, though, a woman named Sarah Josepha Hale began lobbying for a national holiday of Thanksgiving on the last Thursday in November. She wrote editorials in the popular Godey's Lady's Book until President Abraham Lincoln made her wish come true. Since the establishment of the holiday in 1863, the Presidency has issued a Thanksgiving Proclamation every year.