Early Thanksgivings
This Native group celebrated the Green Corn Dance.
The Cherokees.
The famous Pilgrims’ feast took place in this year.
1621.
The first president to proclaim a national day of Thanksgiving in 1789.
George Washington.
The congressman who proposed a national day of Thanksgiving in 1789.
Elias Boudinot.
The year Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday.
1863.
The first documented European Thanksgiving in North America took place here in 1578.
Newfoundland.
The Pilgrims celebrated their 1621 Thanksgiving in this non-religious way.
A non-religious feast.
This president refused to proclaim Thanksgiving, saying it violated church–state separation.
Thomas Jefferson.
The president notified by Congress to proclaim the 1789 Thanksgiving.
George Washington.
Washington proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving on this date.
November 26, 1789.
This 1607 colony in Maine held an early Thanksgiving service.
The Popham Colony.
The Pilgrims prayed and fasted in 1623 because of this.
A drought.
This president proclaimed a Thanksgiving Day in 1815, the last one before the Civil War era.
James Madison.
The editor who campaigned 36 years for a national Thanksgiving holiday.
Sarah Josepha Hale.
Congress officially set Thanksgiving on this day in 1941.
The fourth Thursday of November.
This colony held a Thanksgiving in 1610 after a supply ship arrived.
Jamestown.
This captain brought supplies and news of a Dutch ship before the 1623 Thanksgiving.
Miles Standish.
This president made Thanksgiving an annual national holiday in 1863.
Abraham Lincoln.
This editor promoted Thanksgiving through stories, recipes, and letters.
Sarah Josepha Hale.
Roosevelt changed the Thanksgiving date to increase shopping time before this holiday.
Christmas.
Thanksgiving services at Berkley Hundred ended because of this event.
An Indian uprising.
This Thanksgiving is considered the origin of the modern holiday because it mixed religious and social elements.
The 1623 Thanksgiving.
This president moved Thanksgiving to the third Thursday in 1939 and 1940.
Franklin D. Roosevelt.
This president issued the Thanksgiving proclamation after the Union victory at Gettysburg.
Abraham Lincoln.
The year of the earliest documented European Thanksgiving in North America.
1578.