5 Things Includes the History of Thanksgiving —and "Mary Had a Little Lamb"

• In November 1621, after the success of the Pilgrims’ first corn harvest, Governor William Bradford organized a feast and invited a group of the  colony’s Native American allies, including the Wampanoag chief Massasoit. Now remembered as America’s first Thanksgiving, the festival lasted for three days. Because the Pilgrims had no oven and the Mayflower’s sugar supply had dwindled by the fall of 1621, the meal did not feature pies or other desserts. 
• In 1817, New York became the first of several states to officially adopt an annual Thanksgiving holiday. Each of those states celebrated it on a different day, but the holiday was largely unfamiliar in the southern states.
• In 1827, magazine editor and prolific writer Sarah Josepha Hale—author of the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb”—launched a campaign to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday.
• For 36 years, Hale published editorials and sent countless letters to governors, senators, presidents and other politicians. Abraham Lincoln finally heeded her request in 1863, at the height of the Civil War. He scheduled Thanksgiving for the final Thursday in November.
• In 1939, Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday up a week in an attempt to spur retail sales during the Great Depression. Roosevelt’s plan, known  as Franksgiving, was met with vehement opposition. In 1941 the president signed a bill making Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday in November.

Source: History.com