What is Thanksgiving?
Answer
A day to give thanks for harvests and blessings
Explanation
Thanksgiving is a federal public holiday observed on the fourth Thursday in November, set aside as a day to give thanks for the harvest and for the year's blessings. The holiday traces its modern form to a presidential proclamation issued by Abraham Lincoln on October 3, 1863, in the middle of the Civil War, designating the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. Lincoln's proclamation, drafted by Secretary of State William Seward, was responding to a long campaign by Sarah Josepha Hale, the editor of Godey's Lady's Book, who had advocated for a national thanksgiving day for nearly two decades. Lincoln issued the proclamation just over two months after the Union victory at Gettysburg, framing gratitude as an act of national unity at a moment of bitter division.
Federal observance was made permanent and standardized on the fourth Thursday in November by Public Law 77-379, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on December 26, 1941, after several years of confusion caused by Roosevelt's earlier attempts to move the holiday earlier in the calendar to lengthen the Christmas shopping season. The holiday is codified at 5 U.S.C. section 6103 and is one of eleven federal public holidays.
The colonial reference point is the three-day harvest feast held in Plymouth Colony in autumn 1621, attended by approximately 50 surviving Pilgrims and about 90 Wampanoag people under the leadership of Massasoit, described in a 1622 letter by Plymouth colonist Edward Winslow. That feast was not called Thanksgiving and was not annual. The Continental Congress and various early presidents proclaimed days of thanksgiving on a one-time basis, including George Washington's November 26, 1789 national thanksgiving for the new Constitution.
Customary observances include a large family meal centered on roast turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and pumpkin pie; the watching of NFL football and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City (held since 1924); volunteering at food banks and homeless shelters; and the presidential turkey pardoning ceremony at the White House. The holiday is sometimes called the most American of holidays because it is shared widely across regional, ethnic, and religious lines.
Why this matters for your test
Understanding what Thanksgiving is allows applicants to participate in a holiday observed by virtually every American household, plan around major closures, and connect to an American tradition of gratitude that has been formalized through presidential proclamations and congressional legislation since the founding era.
Source: USCIS 128 Civics Questions (2025)
