Thanksgiving proclamation, 1889
Item 1142 info
Maine Historical Society
By the time Maine Governor Edwin G. Burleigh issued his proclamation setting aside Thursday, November 28, 1889 as a day of public thanksgiving, the date already was a national holiday.
Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of Godey's Lady's Book, spent 40 years lobbying to have a permanent national day of Thanksgiving, an event she believed would help unite the country and preserve the Union.
Hale wrote a number of editorials in her publication advocating for such a day until 1863 when Lincoln agreed.
In one editorial, Hale wrote that on Thanksgiving, "the noise and tumult of worldliness may be exchanged for the laugh of happy children, the glad greetings of family reunion, and the humble gratitude of the Christian heart."
She suggested the day be observed by "sending good gifts to the poor, and doing those deeds of charity that will, for one day, make every American home the place of plenty and rejoicing."
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