This Week in History

November 26, 1789, was proclaimed a Day of National Thanksgiving by President George Washington. President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 designated the last Thursday of November as a day to be “set apart and observed as a day of thanksgiving and praise.” President Franklin Roosevelt signed a congressional resolution in 1941 making it the fourth Thursday of the month.

The origin of the American Thanksgiving tradition of feasting is generally credited to the Pilgrims. As early as 1621, the Puritan colonists of Plymouth, Massachusetts set aside a day of thanks for a bountiful harvest. Throughout the colonial period and into the 19th century, official days of feasting and fasting commemorated periods of good and poor fortune.

Source(s): Library of Congress

Compiled by Bob Valen