How Thanksgiving Became a National Holiday in the United States

Arianna Fox of 1440 thoughtfully explained the origins behind the very first Thanksgiving meal in 1621, what was actually on the table, and how it was later culinarily reinterpreted.

Thanksgiving may be synonymous with turkey and pie today, but its roots trace back to a 1621 feast between Pilgrims and the Wampanoag, who gathered to celebrate the settlers’ first successful harvest. The original meal included venison, shellfish, and corn porridge, far removed from today’s Thanksgiving tables.

Fox also discussed how this meal became a national holiday in 1863 and how it was scheduled for the last Thursday of November by Abraham Lincoln, with a little encouraging from Sarah Josepha Hale, whose recipe book featured Thanksgiving items that are more familiar to modern palates.

Author and activist Sarah Josepha Hale …started a campaign to make Thanksgiving an official national holiday seeing it as a way to unite Americans. Her efforts finally caught the attention of President Abraham Lincoln and in 1863 during the turmoil of the Civil War Lincoln declared the final Thursday of November a national day of Thanksgiving a move aimed at fostering unity across a fractured nation.

In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt suggested moving Thanksgiving to the third Thursday of November to help retailers after The Great Depression. He was talked out of it and signed the fourth Thursday of November into law.

Fast forward to1939 and Thanksgiving became the center of another debate as the country struggled through the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt decided to move Thanksgiving up by one week to give retailers a longer holiday shopping season. Many were outraged and after lawmakers voiced opposition, Roosevelt signed a bill in 1941 making Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday in November a tradition