Remember the nursery rhyme, "Mary Had A Little Lamb'? Sarah Joespha Hale is the author of this nostalgic  poem and the lady responsible for making Thanksgiving a national holiday in America.

Sarah Hale, an American writer, influential editor and an ambitious women campaigned for nearly 20 years to make Thanksgiving a national holiday.

She began her quest in 1846 and wrote several letters to five different Presidents of United States, Zachary Taylor, Millard Filmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan and Abraham Lincoln. She eventually managed to convince Lincoln that Thanksgiving will be much needed celebration after the Civil War; the only national holidays celebrated at that time was Washington's birthday and Independence day.

Here's a sneak peak of what she wrote in that historical letter to Lincoln:

"Now the purpose of this letter is to entreat President Lincoln to put forth his Proclamation, appointing the last Thursday in November (which falls this year on the 26th) as the National Thanksgiving for all those classes of people who are under the National Government particularly, and commending this Union Thanksgiving to each State Executive: thus, by the noble example and action of the President of the United States, the permanency and unity of our Great American Festival of Thanksgiving would be forever secured.

An immediate proclamation would be necessary, so as to reach all the States in season for State appointments, also to anticipate the early appointments by Governors.[3]

Excuse the liberty I have taken.

With profound respect

Yrs truly

Sarah Josepha Hale,"

Source

This is how Thanksgiving, became a integral part of American society and a much awaited celebration followed by heaps of holiday shopping...remember Black Friday? There are many more interesting facts about Thanksgiving, here are some of them:

• Initially, Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November as the national holiday of Thanksgiving, but later President Franklin Roosevelt clarified that the fourth Thursday of every November will be celebrated as Thanksgiving, in spite of occasional fifth Thursday.

• The change in date was an effort to boost economy with the intention of extending Christmas shopping by a week. In 1939, 1940 and 1941, there were 5 Thursdays in November, and shifting this date to second last Thursday meant an entire week left for holiday shopping. Although not many states went along with this idea, therefore, in 1941 this issue was settled in Congress once and for all...rest is history.

• This year, about 248 million Turkeys are expected to be carved in United States alone, which is 2% more than last year. 

• Turkeys can fly, but its only wild turkeys who can fly up to 55 miles per hour. Domestic turkeys however, are so fat that they find mating to be an impossible task; poor things have to be artificially inseminated. 

• It is said that the only things served on first Thanksgiving dinner were deer, various fowls, flint corn, chestnuts, goat cheese, maple syrup, honey and different types of fish.

• It was Sarah Hale, who made turkey, pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes a traditional menu for Thanksgiving. She wrote several editorials outlining various recipes that can be prepared for Thanksgiving dinner. 

• Benjamin Franklin wanted to declare turkey as the national bird of America.

• Each year there are two lucky turkeys who don't make it to the dinner table. As per the tradition started by President Harry Truman, National Turkey Federation presents two live turkeys to the president of USA who receive a presidential pardon.

• Macy's traditional Thanksgiving Parade started in 1924. The very first parade used live animals instead of floats, these animals were borrowed from the Central Park Zoo in New York. These live animals were eventually replaced by animal-shaped balloons, thanks to Goodyear who created Felix The Cat balloon, who made its debut in 1927.

• Since Canada is a colder place than America, they celebrate Thanksgiving a month early, i.e. second Monday of October.

• Americans love to travel during Thanksgiving, it is the busiest travel day of the year, beating Christmas and New Year Eve.

• 99.7% of Turkey is imported into the US from Canada amounting to a value $77.8 million.

• In 2010, North Carolina produced the maximum amount of sweet potatoes: 972 million pounds. 

• It is estimated that 750 million pounds of cranberry will be produced in 2011. Wisconsin is expected to leave all the states behind in production of cranberries with around 430 million pounds of production. 

• According to a study by National Turkey Association in 2007, Americans ate 690 million pounds of turkey, which is equal to the weight of entire population of Singapore.