On November 26, 1789, the nation celebrated Thanksgiving for the first time under a presidential proclamation. Decades later, President Lincoln issued a similar proclamation that made the holiday permanent.
On July 7, 1942, the US issued its first stamp with foreign characters as part of the design. US #906 was issued to commemorate the fifth anniversary of China’s resistance against the Japanese Empire in the early days of World War II. The 5¢ denomination would have paid for a first-class letter to China.
On May 3, 1861, General-in-Chief Winfield Scott presented a plan to end the Civil War without a great loss of life – it was later dubbed the “Anaconda Plan.”