5 Thanksgiving Fun Facts

• President Abraham Lincoln established the original date for our National Thanksgiving Day celebration in 1863.


• President Thomas Jefferson scoffed at the idea of establishing a national “Thanksgiving Day.”


• Congress did not declare Thanksgiving a national holiday until 1941.

Benjamin Franklin wanted the national bird to be a turkey.

The first Thanksgiving was not a feast, but rather a time when Native Americans helped Pilgrims by bringing them food and helping them build off the land.