Show THANKSGIVING DAY Thanksgiving Day as we know It is a distinctly AmerIcan institutIOn although festivals of similar impost t may be traced back many hundreds of years The Hebrew Feast of the Tabernacles Taber- Taber Tabernacles the Greek the Roman Cerelia and the English Harvest Home all appear to have had somethIng in common com com- common mon with our natIonal holiday Immediately after the fIrst harvest of the PIlgrims m in 1621 ThanksgIvIng was fIrst observed In AmerIca SimIlar observances were instituted by other by colonies Massachusetts in 1630 by ConnectIcut In 1639 and nd by New Netherlands In 1644 During the Revolution several ThanksgIvIng Days were wel e appointed by the Continental Congress President Washington designated November 26 1789 as tea a day of public thanksgiving and prayer and In 1795 he made madea a simIlar desIgnatIOn PresIdent MadIson appointed a day of thanksgiving at the close of o the War Val of 1812 VarIOus st states tes ob- ob observed served the day irregularly durIng succeeding years but It was not untIl 1864 that the day became a fIxed annual event In that year President Lincoln appointed the fourth Thursday of November as a day of natIonal Thanksgiving by offIcial proclamation proc proc- and the example thus set has been followed by all suc- suc c Presidents Washington's orIginal Thanksgiving proclamation is preserved preserved ed in the LIbrary of Congress The precious document was lost for mOle moie than years untIl it was dIscovered among some Washington manuscripts being auctioned In New York In 1921 when It was purchased for and restored to the government archIves |