Sarah Josepha Hale, Lincoln, and the Long Road to Thanksgiving
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Did one letter create Thanksgiving? It is an appealing explanation for a national holiday: a determined writer asks, a president agrees, and the holiday begins. The historical record is more interesting. Sarah Josepha Hale’s 1863 letter to Abraham Lincoln was part of a long campaign, not a letter that spent 36 years in the mail.
What happened before Hale wrote to Lincoln?
Thanksgiving observances and public proclamations existed long before 1863. George Washington issued an early federal proclamation in 1789, while practices varied by time and place. Beginning in 1827, Hale publicly promoted Thanksgiving through writing and advocacy. Over ensuing decades, she urged wider recognition and a common annual date.
Hale’s September 28, 1863 letter argued for a national, fixed observance. On October 3, 1863, during the Civil War, Lincoln called for a Thanksgiving observance on the last Thursday in November. The Library of Congress preserves the Hale letter and describes the broader campaign. Read the digitized 1863 letter.
Why the number thirty-six matters
The gap from 1827 to 1863 is thirty-six years. It represents the passage of decades between Hale’s early published promotion and Lincoln’s wartime proclamation—not the delivery time of one letter. That difference lets students practice historical causation: an influence can matter greatly without being the only cause or the formal decision-maker.
A five-part timeline activity
- 1789: Earlier federal thanksgiving proclamation under Washington.
- 1827: Hale’s early writing and promotion; discuss what long-term advocacy can accomplish.
- 1861–1865: Civil War context; discuss why national unity mattered to the wartime appeal.
- September–October 1863: Hale’s letter followed by Lincoln’s Thanksgiving proclamation.
- 1941: Congress eventually settles the modern fourth-Thursday federal rule.
After building the timeline, ask students to name a long-term condition, an advocate, a political context, and a formal government action. Are any of these interchangeable?
A free 22-role Reader’s Theater about the longer story
In The Letter That Took Thirty-Six Years, a documentary team expects to tell a short one-letter success story. Then a timeline researcher reveals the decades of preparation that the script omitted. The group must replace a tidy single-cause explanation with a more convincing account of advocacy, existing traditions, wartime circumstances, and presidential action.
Free classroom resource: The Letter That Took Thirty-Six Years
Designed for Grades 6–8 with a Grade 8 focus and 22 speaking roles. The script and differentiated Mini Readers keep the class on the same historical-causation question.
Get the free The Letter That Took Thirty-Six Years Reader's Theater
A strong exit-ticket question
“How can a person influence history without being the only person who causes an event?” Require two historical details in the response. For instance, students might use Hale’s prolonged advocacy and Lincoln’s ability to issue a proclamation. Encourage them to identify what the Civil War setting adds.
Avoid a common oversimplification
Lincoln’s proclamation did not invent harvest gratitude or instantaneously make every American observe an identical holiday. The holiday’s legal and calendar history includes additional federal steps. Encourage students to name the exact change, not just announce “Thanksgiving was created.”
See the other free Thanksgiving history Reader’s Theater lessons for separate inquiries on 1621, 1939, and public memory.
Pair this long-range historical cause-and-effect exercise with the 1939 Thanksgiving date controversy. The comparison helps students distinguish executive proclamations, state responses and congressional legislation.
Related Thanksgiving history lessons
- All five free Thanksgiving history scripts (Grades 3–12)
- Why did Thanksgiving have two dates in 1939? Explore Roosevelt’s calendar change
- Try six Thanksgiving activities without historical role-play reenactments
Another free option: Why did Thanksgiving have two dates in 1939? Explore Roosevelt’s calendar change — choose the grade band and inquiry target that fit your class.