12 Key Dates in the History of Thanksgiving 

1623

While an autumn Thanksgiving had been a common religious celebration in the colonies, this was the first Thanksgiving that was recognized by a civil authority— by William Bradford, governor of Plymouth — rather than by religious leaders. Today, while Thanksgiving is often celebrated in religious settings, it is widely considered a secular holiday designated by the federal government. ​

George Washington's original 1789 proclamation establishing the first Thanksgiving Day is seen on display at Christie's New York in 2013.

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1789 

President George Washington, in his first year in office, issued the first proclamation for Thanksgiving to be a national holiday, designating November 26th as a public day of Thanksgiving. Since then, there’s been a precedent for the federal government to declare the public holiday — though, at the time, this was contentious, with anti-Federalists who believed the declaration was better left up to the states or, worse, that it was mimicry of European customs.  

Washington’s successor John Adams didn’t declare a Thanksgiving — and neither did Thomas Jefferson, our third president. Both believed it presented a conflict between church and state. ​

1815

Jefferson’s successor President James Madison broke with tradition and declared Thanksgiving in March of 1815as a day of gratitude to offer up thanks to God for ending the calamities of the War of 1812 and preserving the union.  After Madison’s proclamation, it wasn’t until Abraham Lincoln came into office that another president declared a public holiday of Thanksgiving. ​

1827

Writer and activist Sarah Josepha Hale began a campaign to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday. In the following decades, she would write to Congressmen, governors and even presidents, emphasizing the need for a moral reunion of American society in turbulent years.  

Hale admired the notion of Thanksgiving being open to people of all faiths, which harmonized with America’s principle of freedom of religion. As an abolitionist, she hoped the national holiday would unite a country divided over slavery. ​

1863

After decades of campaigning, Hale was successful in persuading President Abraham Lincoln to sign “A National Day of Thanksgiving and Praise” into being amid the Civil War. He reminded the nation of the reasons to give thanks, despite the severity of war: industry had increased, the population was growing, the harvest was good and we preserved peace with other nations, and, “‘Harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict.” This day of Thanksgiving was designated as the last Thursday in November. ​

1924

The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was held in New York City, however, it was then called the Christmas Parade. The parade was six miles long, reportedly drew 10,000 spectators and featured real elephants and other animals from the Central Park Zoo. The parade marched to the flagship Macy’s store on Herald Square, where Santa Claus was welcomed and enthroned on the store’s balcony.  ​

The 1941 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

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1941

President Franklin D. Roosevelt controversially moved Thanksgiving one week earlier in 1939 to add an extra week to the Christmas shopping season. There were five Thursdays in November that year, the last one being November 30th, which gave customers only 24 days to do their shopping.  

Small businesses felt the proclamation favored bigger competitors unfairly, and many Americans wrote letters to the White House expressing their outrage that their vacation plans had been suddenly upended for the sake of money-making. In December 1941, Congress passed a law that officially fixed a date for the holiday as the fourth Thursday in November.  ​

A gift for Thanksgiving was offered by a group of students to President John F. Kennedy in 1963.

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1963

President John F. Kennedy pardoned a turkey just three days before he was assassinated on November 22, 1963. Six days later, on Thanksgiving, the nation was in shock and mourning. Lyndon B. Johnson, who had been sworn in as president, addressed the country on the evening of Thanksgiving. He proclaimed gratitude for the nation’s resilience and urged the nation to move forward with strength: “A great leader is dead; a great nation must move on. Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or to lose.”​

1975

The term “Black Friday” first appeared in The New York Times, coined by Philadelphia police officers referring to the chaos of the shopping crowds. By the end of the 1980s, Black Friday sales were common among most brands, with retailers opening around 6 a.m. As the years went on, stores started opening earlier and earlier on Friday morninguntil the 2010s when many opened late on the evening of Thanksgiving. Today, it’s common for stores to announce Black Friday sales in October. 

The hustle and bustle of the pre-Christmas season, when Thanksgiving can easily become an afterthought, gives us all the more reason to step away and take time to consider why this holiday has been so important in our country’s history, and why it remains important for us today.