Re: Happy Thanksgiving!

SkippyPB wrote:
> On 24 Nov 2006 06:53:29 -0800, "Alistair"
> <alistair@ld50macca.demon.co.uk> enlightened us:
> 
>
> In 1789, following a proclamation issued by President George
> Washington, America celebrated its first Day of Thanksgiving to God
> under its new constitution. That same year, the Protestant Episcopal
> Church, of which President Washington was a member, announced that the
> first Thursday in November would become its regular day for giving
> thanks, "unless another day be appointed by the civil authorities."
> Yet, despite these early national proclamations, official Thanksgiving
> observances usually occurred only at the State level.
>
>  Much of the credit for the adoption of a later annual national
> Thanksgiving Day may be attributed to Mrs. Sarah Joseph Hale, the
> editor of Godey's Lady's Book. For thirty years, she promoted the idea
> of a national Thanksgiving Day, contacting President after President
> until President Abraham Lincoln responded in 1863 by setting aside the
> last Thursday of November as a national Day of Thanksgiving. Over the
> next seventy-five years, Presidents followed Lincoln's precedent,
> annually declaring a national Thanksgiving Day. Then, in 1941,
> Congress permanently established the fourth Thursday of each November
> as a national holiday.
>
Thanks.