Thanksgiving The National Holiday

In the United States Thanksgiving is usually a family day, celebrated with big dinners and joyous reunions.
One of the first Thanksgiving observances in America was entirely religious and did not involve feasting.  On Dec. 4 1619, Thirty -Nine English settlers arrived at Berkeley Plantation, on the James River near what is now Charles City, Va.   The group's charter required that the day of arrival be observed yearly as a day of thanksgiving to God.
For many years there was no regular national Thanksgiving Day in the United States.  Some of the states had a yearly Thanksgiving holiday, and others did not.  By 1830 New York had an official state Thanksgiving Day, and other Northern States soon followed its example.  Virginia was the first Southern state to adopt the custom..  President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November 1863 as "a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father".
In 1939, President Rooservelt set it one week earlier.  Congress finally ruled that after 1941 the fourth Thursday of November would be observed as Thanksgiving Day and would be a legal federal holiday.
Excerpts from the World Book Encyclopedia

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