26 nov 1789 anni - National Thanksgiving Proclamation

Descrizione:

President George Washington declared Thursday, November 26, 1789, as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer.

George Washington proclaimed a second day of Thanksgiving in 1795, following the defeat of the Whiskey Rebellion. After Washington left office, John Adams, James Madison, and others intermediately declared days of Thanksgiving. Several presidents opposed days of national thanksgiving, with Thomas Jefferson openly denouncing such a proclamation. By 1855, 16 states celebrated Thanksgiving (14 on the fourth Thursday of November, and two on the third). However, it was not until 1863 that Abraham Lincoln established the regular tradition of observing days of national thanksgiving.

On June 28, 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant signed into law the Holidays Act that made Thanksgiving a yearly appointed federal holiday in Washington D.C. and On January 6, 1885, an act by Congress made Thanksgiving, and other federal holidays, a paid holiday for all federal workers throughout the United States.