The woman we owe our modern Thanksgiving to is Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of the popular 19th century magazine Godey’s Lady’s Book (and author of the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”) In 1846, she decided that Thanksgiving should be revived and made into an annual national holiday. She spent the next 17 years writing to state and national government officials to plead her case. (Pictured on the right is one of her letters to President Abraham Lincoln, advocating for Thanksgiving.)

Finally, in 1863, President Lincoln acquiesced. From that year forward, the United States would often celebrate Thanksgiving on a Thursday in November, though the week of the holiday shifted and it was not a fixed national holiday.