On September 28, 1863, Sarah Josepha Hale wrote to Abraham Lincoln asking him to make Thanksgiving, a northeastern holiday, into a national holiday. She had been trying to convince the government to do so since 1846.
In 1837, Hale became the editor for Godey's Lady's Book and encouraged women to submit material. It became a very popular women's magazine promoting morality and intellect. Besides the usual fair of women's magazines, like wedding dresses and clothing, the abolishment of slavery and the education of girls were primary goals.
She also used her influence to raise money to build the Bunker Hill Monument and promote Thanksgiving, complete with poems and recipes for turkey and pumpkin pie.
Before the civil war, Thanksgiving promotion by the federal government was seen as promoting religion and, in the case of the south, as a Northern imposition. It was the civil war that finally created the atmosphere to be receptive to a national holiday of thanks. When Hale wrote to Lincoln, it was only a week later that he declared Thanksgiving a national holiday. Hale was also the person who suggested that the holiday be the last Thursday of November After George Washington's 1789 day of Thanksgiving. With all the death and carnage, the country needed something to bring them together and she promoted it to the president in this way. He obviously agreed and so it became the national holiday we know today.
PS. In 1877, the same year that Hale retired, Thomas Edison recorded "Mary Had a Little Lamb" on his very first phonographic recording. The first recordings were made on tin foil and one of the only surviving tin foil recordings remaining in the world is at the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit along with Edison's Menlo Park labs. In 1927, Edison re-recorded Hale's poem and that is still intact.
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