1870s and the rare menu

President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed that Thanksgiving was a National Holiday in 1963, but it wasn't until 1870 that President Ulysses S. Grant made it a Federal holiday. During this decade there was a lot of variation in how the holiday was celebrated, which might explain the dearth of menus or "bills of fare" for the meal. A Thanksgiving dinner in New Englad probably looked very different than a Thanksgiving dinner in the South or in the Western Territories.

Thanksgiving Menus