ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on the last three of Sarah Josepha Hale's accomplishments, all of which were campaigns for support of a specific cause with tangible, measurable results that can be attributed directly to Hales efforts. It demonstrates that Hale adopted a tactic in her Mount Vernon and Thanksgiving campaigns. Citizens of Boston aimed to erect a 220foot obelisk to commemorate the Revolutionary War battle of Bunker Hill. She emphasized that the amount she requested was modest and worked to demonstrate that the charity fit with the audiences values by emphasizing the noble, patriotic, and Christian nature of the endeavor. Moral guardian and True Womanhood appeals used during the Mount Vernon campaign were similar to those employed to raise funds for the Bunker Hill Monument. Hale drew comfort from the idea of Thanksgiving once the Civil War had begun. Finally, in the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln acquiesced, and in 1863 declared a national day of Thanksgiving.