Thanksgiving became an official national holiday in the United States through a proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln on October 3, 1863, designating the last Thursday of November as a national day of thanksgiving during the Civil War. Congress later standardized the holiday in 1941 by passing a resolution, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, officially making the fourth Thursday in November the permanent federal holiday for Thanksgiving.

Timeline of Thanksgiving's National Status

• George Washington proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving in 1789, but it was not an annual or permanent holiday.

• Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving an annual national holiday in 1863, setting it on the last Thursday in November.

• In 1941, Congress established the fourth Thursday in November as the official, recurring date for Thanksgiving, which remains in effect today.