The Hisrory of Thanksgiving Holiday - Essay Example

Sarah’s husband had died from pneumonia leaving her to take care of the children, the youngest of whom was yet to be born. Despite the challenging task of bringing up her five children as a widow, she was passionate about campaigning for women. Among others, she fought for secure work environments for women, women and girls' educational opportunities, and women’s opportunities of becoming teachers and doctors. Generally, Sarah used pen and paper in achieving her goals. Among her most famous literary work included Mary Had a Little Lamb sung by many American children to date.

She also wrote poetry as well as a novel during her free time. Additionally, she published many famous authors such as Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, and Harriet Beecher Stowe2. Sarah embarked on a one-woman campaign of commemorating Thanksgiving as a national holiday as early as 1827. She did this using her books as well as the magazines that she edited. In the year 1847, she earnestly began promoting Thanksgiving Day, imploring presidents as well as all territories and states’ governors to set up the last Thursday of November as a typical Thanksgiving Day.

Many presidents to whom she wrote did not agree with her plea and beginning in June or July of every year, Sarah would publicize the progress regarding her national acceptance goal in her editorials. In November of the year 1851, she tendered the opportunity of announcing a Thanksgiving Day to the governors of the 31 territories and states. In October 1852, she announced that in 1851, twenty-nine states iii and all the territories had commemorated Thanksgiving on the same day3. In 1859, convinced that the celebration of Thanksgiving by the whole nation would avert war, Sarah was able to use her September 1859 editorial to convince several states and territories to unite in Union Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of November.

In 1863, Sarah’s relentless quest gained success. Following the victory of the Union in the battle of Gettysburg, she visited Lincoln, appealing her cause a. October 3, 1863, her editorial as well as the Gettysburg victory impelled Lincoln to give out a decree reserving as a national Thanksgiving Day the last Thursday on November 4.