This Day in History: Carving Out a Piece of Thanksgiving History

This Day

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In History

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')[1].split(',')[0].split(' '); var month = date[1].substr(0, 3), day = date[2]; $('#this-day-in-history').find('div.month').text(month); $('#this-day-in-history').find('div.day').text(day); })

When was Thanksgiving officially established at the White House?

It all started on September 28, 1789, when the first Federal Congress asked President George Washington to declare a national day of thanksgiving. Just a few days later, George Washington issued a Presidential Proclamation declaring Thursday, November 26th as a national day of “public thanksgiving.”

However, it wasn’t until 1863 -- when President Abraham Lincoln declared that the last Thursday of November be marked as Thanksgiving -- that the holiday emerged as a national holiday.

But it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without a little gravy mixed in with American history, right?

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