A Holiday of Kindness: Sarah Josepha Hale and the Establishment of Thanksgiving

"The First Thanksgiving" as recounted in a story by Jane Austen in a painting, circa 1912-1915, by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris. Library of Congress. Public Domain

Every year, during the last Thursday of November, we exclaim: “Happy Thanksgiving!” This wish conveys the hope, fellowship, thankfulness, and kindness of the season.

However, this kind, annual wish was not started during a feast between the Indians and the first Pilgrims, as is typically depicted. The “First Thanksgiving” that is usually celebrated and taught is actually based on a fictional story written in 1895 by Jane G. Austin in her work “Standish of Standish: A Story of the Pilgrims.”

The first true Thanksgiving was officially established in 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving as a national holiday. Yet most of the credit for the initiation of this holiday goes to a wonderfully patriotic woman, Sarah Josepha Hale (1788–1879), who is most known for her poem “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

A portrait of Sarah Josepha Hale, 1831, by James Lambdin. Richard’s Free Library, Newport, N.H. Hale urged President Lincoln to establish a national day of thanksgiving. She is also known as the author of "Mary Had a Little Lamb." Public Domain

An Attempt to Prevent War

For years, Americans had celebrated days of thanksgiving for different purposes, such as victories during the Revolutionary War, but the United States never had a national day of thanksgiving.

However, with the growing division that would lead to the American Civil War, Sarah Josepha Hale sought to create a holiday that would unify Americans everywhere in a day of thanksgiving. By creating a unifying feeling throughout the whole nation, she hoped that the Americans would be less likely to fight.

From 1846 to 1863, Hale worked to get the country to agree to a national holiday. In his article “The First Thanksgiving,” Andrew F. Smith, writing for “Americana: The Journal of American Popular Culture,” says: “For seventeen years, she wrote annually to presidents, members of Congress, and every governor of every state and territory, requesting each to proclaim the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day.”

Even so, this attempt at unification through a national holiday did not prevent the Civil War and, with the beginning of the war, Hale’s attempts halted. Because the Civil War divided North and South, Hale had greater difficulty contacting representatives and leaders. But she resumed her efforts until, finally, she obtained enough votes for a majority to agree.

While the Civil War raged on, Hale wrote President Abraham Lincoln and, as Smith says, “a few months after the North’s military victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg in the summer of 1863, Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day, thus establishing a national holiday.” Hale finally helped to bring about one of the most American of holidays.

The 1863 letter from Sarah Josepha Hale to President Lincoln discussing Thanksgiving Day. Library of Congress. Public Domain

Always Kind

In her poem “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” Hale wrote: “And you each gentle animal/ In confidence may bind,/ And make them follow at your call,/ If you are always kind.” This is the kindness that Hale sought to cultivate and encourage among all Americans.

When we adopt kindness, we continue the heritage and traditions that Hale supported and which brought about Thanksgiving. With our kind actions, we can impact our friends, family, and nation in unimaginable ways!

Though the holiday was not able to prevent the schism that divided the North from the South, Hale demonstrated that thankfulness, hope, and kindness are ideals and virtues that are worth encouraging. By endorsing and practicing these virtues, we can reduce—even prevent—strife, war, and death. We can even help to reunify the nation.

As we enter into the Thanksgiving season, let us look at all of our blessings and be grateful for the dedicated and patriotic Sarah Josepha Hale. Through her, we are now able to enjoy wonderful turkey dinners and be thankful for our friends, family, and nation.