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who made thanksgiving a national holiday

Abraham Lincoln is credited with making Thanksgiving a recurring national holiday in the United States, through a presidential proclamation issued on October 3, 1863.

Who made Thanksgiving a national holiday?

  • In 1863, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday, November 26.
  • This was the first time Thanksgiving was formally established as a recurring national observance, rather than occasional or state-level celebrations.
  • Lincoln was influenced by Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor who had campaigned for a national Thanksgiving for many years to promote unity.

How it later became a fixed federal holiday

  • After Lincoln, presidents continued issuing annual Thanksgiving proclamations, but the exact date could vary.
  • In 1941, Congress passed a law, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, setting Thanksgiving as the federal holiday on the fourth Thursday of November, locking in the modern schedule.

So, if you are asking “who made Thanksgiving a national holiday,” the key figure is Abraham Lincoln for the original national proclamation, with Congress and Franklin D. Roosevelt later fixing its permanent date in law.

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