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How did Thanksgiving become a national holiday?

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Sarah Josepha Hale campaigned for a national thanksgiving holiday in the United States during the 19th century, eventually winning President Abraham Lincoln’s support in 1863. He and subsequent presidents proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving annually until 1942, when a presidential proclamation specified that the fourth Thursday in November would be Thanksgiving Day.

In Canada, Parliament established a national Thanksgiving Day in 1879.

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