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| 1863 letter from Hale to Lincoln discussing Thanksgiving |
Sarah Josepha Buell
Hale (October 24,
1788 – April 30, 1879) was an American writer and an influential editor. She
was the author of the nursery rhyme "Mary
Had a Little Lamb".
Hale famously campaigned for the creation of the American holiday known
as Thanksgiving, and for the completion of the Bunker
Hill Monument.
Hale may be the individual most responsible for
making Thanksgiving a national holiday in
the United States; it had previously been celebrated mostly in New England.[25] Each
state scheduled its own holiday, some as early as October and others as late as
January; it was largely unknown in the American South. Her advocacy for the
national holiday began in 1846 and lasted 17 years before it was successful.[26] In
support of the proposed national holiday, Hale wrote letters to five Presidents of the United States: Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan,
and Abraham Lincoln. Her initial letters failed to
persuade, but the letter she wrote to Lincoln convinced him to support
legislation establishing a national holiday of Thanksgiving in 1863.[27] The
new national holiday was considered a unifying day after the stress of
the American Civil War.[28] Before
Thanksgiving's addition, the only national holidays celebrated in the United
States were Washington's Birthday and Independence Day.[29]
Hale also worked to preserve George
Washington's Mount Vernon plantation,
as a symbol of patriotism that both the Northern and Southern United States
could all support.[30]
Hale raised $30,000 in Boston for the completion of
the Bunker Hill Monument.[12][31] When
construction stalled, Hale asked her readers to donate a dollar each and also
organized a week-long craft fair at Quincy Market.[31] Described
as "'Oprah and Martha Stewart combined,'"
Hale's organization of the giant craft fair at Quincy Market "was much
more than a 'bake sale'"—"refreshments
were sold ... but they brought in only a fraction of the profit."[31] The
fair sold handmade jewelry, quilts, baskets, jams, jellies, cakes, pies, and
autographed letters from Washington, James Madison,
and the Marquis de Lafayette.[31][32] Hale
"made sure the 221-foot obelisk that commemorates the battle of Bunker
Hill got built."[31]
