Abraham Lincoln wanted Thanksgiving to be celebrated in August

A lot of us are focused on how cold it is this Thanksgiving, but if Abraham Lincoln had gotten his way we might have been sweating instead.

The original Thanksgiving Proclamation, issued by the 16th president back in 1863, suggested August 6 as the national day of Thanksgiving.
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The holiday had been celebrated since colonial times, but each state set aside its own date to observe the occasion.

This proclamation was the first to make it a national holiday. But the original date didn't last long.

A few months later, President Lincoln issued a second proclamation, changing the date to November.

The manuscript sat on a shelf, undiscovered, for decades.
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It now for sale for $18,500.



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