Which US President Made Thanksgiving a National Holiday?

It is a well known fact of Thanksgiving Day history that the first thanksgiving (at least in America) was celebrated by the Pilgrims in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621. However, the first time Thanksgiving became a national holiday in the United States was when President George Washington issued his now famous Thanksgiving Day Proclamation. The Thanksgiving Day tradition thus began.

Thanksgiving Day Tradition

Following 1621, it became customary for various colonies (and later states) to issue calls for national days of prayer, fasting, and thanksgiving. Sometimes, these days would feature celebratory meals, but usually the focus was on meditative prayer and thanksgiving. According to the American history website Archiving Early America, "A Thanksgiving Day two hundred years ago was a day set aside for prayer and fasting, not a day marked by plentiful food and drink as is today's custom."

During the American Revolution, legislative calls for fasting, prayer, and thanksgiving intensified. According to the Library of Congress, "National days of thanksgiving and of 'humiliation, fasting, and prayer' were proclaimed by Congress at least twice a year throughout the war." This was in addition to those calls issued by state assemblies.

Congress Asks for a National Day of Thanksgiving

Victory in the Revolution brought the painful task of building a workable government. After several arduous years and the adoption of an intensely-debated new constitution, a national US government began operations in 1789. (While there was a national government of sorts under the Articles of Confederation, it was disastrously ineffective).

In 1791, Congress took up the task of adding to the new Constitution. Rep. James Madison (Virginia) honored a promise he had made during the ratification fights, and introduced twelve amendments to the Constitution. To make a long story short, ten of those amendments were passed by Congress and approved by the states during George Washington's presidency. Those ten amendments became known as the Bill of Rights.

To celebrate the Constitution and the success of the new Republic, Congress requested that President George Washington declare a national day of thanksgiving.

President Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation

George Washington responded to the congressional request by declaring "THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH DAY of NOVEMBER" to be set aside for "devoted by the people of thefe States to the fervice of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be." The opening lines of his proclamation read:

WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houfes of Congress have, by their joint committee, requefted me "to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to eftablifh a form of government for their safety and happiness"

There is no getting around the fact that George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation was blatantly religious. It was an official call to national prayer and submission to God.

Thanksgiving Through the Years

George Washington issued only two Thanksgiving Proclamations during his eight year presidency. John Adams likewise issued two proclamations, bringing the total to four presidential proclamations in 12 years. Thomas Jefferson declined to issue a Thanksgiving Day proclamation (though he did as governor of Virginia in 1779). James Madison issued a couple duirng his presidency, but by and large, the Thanksgiving Day as a national holiday faded in the years that followed.

Enter Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln declared a "prayerful day of Thanksgiving" on the last Thursday in November. The Presidents after Lincoln followed suit. When Franklin D. Roosevelt came along, he tried to move Thanksgiving to help increase consumer spending during the Christmas season. That didn't go over to well, and he and Congress set the date for Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday in November.