Thanksgiving Should be on Friday

If you're going to chose some arbitrary day of the week for a holiday, then it should be Friday or Monday. Thursday makes no sense at all, since most people will have to work on the Friday!

But here's how it happened to be Thursday:

Colonial Governor Jonathan Belcher's 1749 Thanksgiving Day Proclamation established Thursday, November 23 as a Thanksgiving Day.

George Washington was the first president to declare a Thanksgiving holiday He probably followed Belchers lead, because he chose Thursday November 26 1789.

The actual day that Thanksgiving is celebrated was often different in different states. And it still took a presidential proclamation to organize the nation to celebrate on a particular day.

In 1863, during the Civil War, President Lincoln gave his Thanksgiving Proclamation, declaring the last Thursday in November a day of thanksgiving. Lincoln probably choose Thursday to coincide with Washington's date.

In 1939, 1940, and 1941 Franklin D. Roosevelt, seeking to lengthen the Christmas shopping season, proclaimed Thanksgiving the third Thursday in November. Controversy followed, and Congress passed a joint resolution in 1941 decreeing that Thanksgiving should fall on the fourth Thursday of November, where it remains....

Thanks Belcher Foundation