Though we have images of the Puritans and Native Americans sharing a harvest feast, Thanksgiving wasn't marked on a special day until 1863.

Prior to that - President George Washington issued a proclamation naming Thursday, November 26, 1789, as an official holiday of “sincere and humble thanks.” The nation then celebrated its first Thanksgiving under its new Constitution - but it wasn't consistently observed nationwide.

It was President Lincoln who chose to announce, in the midst of the Civil War, a national day of thanksgiving that would be marked on the last Thursday in November.

Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt, in December 1941, signed the legislation making Thanksgiving into a legal holiday on the fourth Thursday in November.