The first unofficial Thanksgiving was in 1789 when Washington called for a celebration of the U.S. Constitution though it failed to become a tradition. In 1863 Sarah Josepha Hale,author of the poem,"Mary Had a Little Lamb" wrote a letter to Lincoln lobbying for a national day of thanks at the end of November. Within weeks a proclamation was issued by Secretary of State Seward calling for a national day of Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November celebrated annually to heal the nations wounds. The date was briefly moved in 1939 to the third Thursday but moved back to the original date in 1941.
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