Few
people realize that the Pilgrims did not celebrate Thanksgiving
any year thereafter, though some of their descendants later
made a "Forefather's Day" that usually occurred on December
21 or 22. In 1827, Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale began lobbying
several Presidents for the instatement of Thanksgiving as
a national holiday, but her lobbying was unsuccessful until
1863 when Abraham Lincoln finally made it a national holiday
with his 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation.
|