It
is The Federalist tradition to recount the origins of our Day of
Thanksgiving, that we may celebrate the holiday as our forebears did,
in humble acknowledgment and heartfelt gratitude for God's many
blessings upon His people and our nation. We set aside, for this week,
the mundane dispatches exposing the adversaries of our freedom, that we
may focus respectfully on the origins of our freedom.
The
celebration we now popularly regard as the "First Thanksgiving" was the
Pilgrims' three-day feast celebrated in early November of 1621
(although a day of thanks in America was observed in Virginia at Cape
Henry in 1607). The first Thanksgiving to God in the Calvinist
tradition in Plymouth Colony was actually celebrated during the summer
of 1623, when the colonists declared a Thanksgiving holiday after their
crops were saved by much-needed rainfall.
The
Pilgrims left Plymouth, England, on September 6, 1620, sailing for a
new world that offered the promise of both civil and religious liberty.
For almost three months, 102 seafarers braved harsh elements to arrive
off the coast of what is now Massachusetts, in late November of 1620.
On December 11, prior to disembarking at Plymouth Rock, they signed the
"Mayflower Compact," America's original document of civil government
and the first to introduce self-government.
The
Pilgrims were Separatists, America's Calvinist Protestants, who
rejected the institutional Church of England. They believed that the
worship of God must originate in the inner man, and that corporate
forms of worship prescribed by man interfered with the establishment of
a true relationship with God. The Separatists used the term "church" to
refer to the people, the Body of Christ, not to a building or
institution. As their Pastor John Robinson said, "[When two or three
are] gathered in the name of Christ by a covenant made to walk in all
the way of God known unto them as a church...."
Upon
landing in America, the Pilgrims conducted a prayer service, then
quickly turned to building shelters. Starvation and sickness during the
ensuing New England winter killed almost half their population, but
through prayer and hard work, with the assistance of their Indian
friends, the Pilgrims reaped a rich harvest in the summer of 1621. Most
of what we know about the Pilgrim Thanksgiving of 1621 comes from
original accounts of the young colony's leaders, Governor William
Bradford and Master Edward Winslow, in their own hand.
"They begane now to
gather
in ye small harvest they had, and to fitte up their houses and
dwellings against winter, being well recovered in health &
strenght, and had all things in good plenty; for some were thus
imployed in affairs abroad, others were excersised in fishing, aboute
codd, & bass, & other fish, of which yey tooke good
store, of which every family had their portion. All ye somer ther was
no wante. And now begane to come in store of foule, as winter
aproached, of which this place did abound when they came first (but
afterward decreased by degree). And besids water foule, ther was great
store of wild Turkies, of which they took many, besids venison,
&c. Besids they had aboute a peck a meale a weeke to a person,
or now since harvest, Indean corne to yt proportion. Which made many
afterwards write so largly of their plenty hear to their freinds in
England, which were not fained, but true reports."
—W.B.
(William Bradford)
"Our Corne did
proue well,
& God be praysed, we had a good increase of Indian Corne, and
our Barly indifferent good, but our Pease not worth the gathering, for
we feared they were too late sowne, they came vp very well, and
blossomed, but the Sunne parched them in the blossome; our harvest
being gotten in, our Governour sent foure men on fowling, that so we
might after a more speciall manner reioyce together, after we had
gathered the fruit of our labors; they foure in one day killed as much
fowle, as with a little helpe beside, served the Company almost a
weeke, at which time amongst other Recreations, we exercised our Armes,
many of the Indians coming amongst vs, and among the rest their
greatest King Massasoyt, with some nintie men, whom for three dayes we
entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed fiue Deere, which
they brought to the Plantation and bestowed upon our Governour, and
upon the Captaine, and others. And although it be not alwayes so
plentifull, as it was at this time with vs, yet by the goodneses of
God, we are so farre from want, that we often wish you partakers of our
plenty."
—E.W. (Edward Winslow) Plymouth, in New England,
this 11th of December, 1621.
The feast included foods suitable for a head table of
honored
guests, such as the chief men of the colony and Native leaders
Massasoit ("Great Leader" also known as Ousamequin "Yellow Feather"),
the sachem (chief) of Pokanoket (Pokanoket is the area at the head of
Narragansett Bay). Venison, wild fowl, turkeys and Indian corn were the
staples of the meal, which likely also included other food items known
to have been aboard the Mayflower or available in Plymouth, such as
spices, Dutch cheese, wild grapes, lobster, cod, native melons, pumpkin
(pompion) and rabbit.
By
the mid-17th century, the custom of autumnal Thanksgivings was
established throughout New England. Observance of Thanksgiving
Festivals began to spread southward during the American Revolution, as
the newly established Congress officially recognized the need to
celebrate this holy day.
The first Thanksgiving
Proclamation was issued by the revolutionary Continental Congress on
November 1, 1777. Authored by Samuel Adams, it was one sentence of 360
words which read in part:
"Forasmuch as it is
the indispensable duty
of all men to adore the superintending providence of Almighty God; to
acknowledge with gratitude their obligation to him for benefits
received....together with penitent confession of their sins, whereby
they had forfeited every favor; and their humble and earnest
supplications that it may please God through the merits of Jesus
Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of remembrance.....it
is therefore recommended...to set apart Thursday the eighteenth day of
December next, for solemn thanksgiving and praise, that with one heart
and one voice the good people may express the grateful feeling of their
hearts and consecrate themselves to the service of their Divine
Benefactor...acknowledging with gratitude their obligations to Him for
benefits received....To prosper the means of religion, for the
promotion and enlargement of that kingdom which consisteth 'in
righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost'."
It was one-hundred and eighty years after
the first day of thanksgiving in America, that our Founding Fathers
officially recognized the day by proclamation of the Constitutional
government. Soon after adopting the Bill of Rights, a motion in
Congress to initiate the proclamation of a national day of thanksgiving
was approved.
Congressional
Record, September 25, 1789
"Mr. [Elias]
Boudinot (who was the President
of Congress during the American Revolution) said he could not think of
letting the congressional session pass over without offering an
opportunity to all the citizens of the United States of joining with
one voice in returning to Almighty God their sincere thanks for the
many blessings He had poured down upon them. With this view, therefore,
he would move the following resolution:
Resolved, That a
joint committee of both
Houses be directed to wait upon the President of the United States to
request that he would recommend to the people of the United States a
day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging
with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God....
"Mr. [Roger]
Sherman (a
signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution)
justified the practice of thanksgiving on any signal event not only as
a laudable one in itself, but as warranted by a number of precedents in
Holy Writ....This example he thought worthy of a Christian imitation on
the present occasion; and he would agree with the gentleman who moved
the resolution....The question was put on the resolution and it was
carried in the affirmative."
This resolution was delivered to President George
Washington,
who readily agreed with its suggestion and put forth the following
proclamation by his signature:
A NATIONAL
THANKSGIVING
Whereas it is the
duty of all nations to
acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be
grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and
favor; and
Whereas
both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me
"to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public
thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful
hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by
affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of
government for their safety and happiness":
Now, therefore, I
do recommend and assign
Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of
these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the
Beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be;
that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble
thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country
previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold
mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the
course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of
tranquillity, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the
peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to
establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and
particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and
religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of
acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the
great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.
And also that we
may then
unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplication to the great
Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and
other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private
stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and
punctually; to render our national government a blessing to all the
people by constantly being a government of wise, just and
constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to
protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have
shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace,
and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and
virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally,
to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He
alone knows to be best.
Given under my
hand, at the city of New
York, the 3d day of October, AD 1789
George
Washington
After 1815, prophetically, there were no further annual
proclamations of Thanksgiving until the Civil War, when Abraham Lincoln
declared November 26, 1863, the last Thursday in November, a Day of
Thanksgiving. In early July of 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg had
occurred, taking some 60,000 American lives, and President Lincoln
traveled to the battlefield four months afterward, in November, to
deliver the "Gettysburg Address." Deeply moved by the sacrifice of
these soldiers, Lincoln first committed his life to Christ while
walking among the graves there. He later explained:
"When I left
Springfield
[to become President] I asked the people to pray for me. I was not a
Christian. When I buried my son, the severest trial of my life, I was
not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of
thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to
Christ."
During
this time of internal strife in the United States, and at this turning
point in his own spiritual life, President Lincoln issued the following
proclamation.
PROCLAMATION
OF THANKSGIVING BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The year that is
drawing
toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful years
and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed
that we are prone to forget the Source from which they come, others
have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can
not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually
insensible to the ever-watchful providence....
In the midst of a
civil war
of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to
foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has
been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws
have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere,
except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been
greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.
Needful diversions
of
wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the
national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship;
the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as
well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more
abundantly than theretofore.
Population has
steadily increased
notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege,
and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of
augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of
years with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel
hath devised nor hath any
mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts
of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins,
hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper
that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged,
as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do
therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States,
and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign
lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a
day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in
the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the
ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and
blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national
perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who
have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable
civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore
the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation
and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine
purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and
union.
In
testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.
Abraham
Lincoln
(October 3, 1863, passed by an Act of Congress.)
That proclamation was repeated for the following 75
years by
every subsequent president, until 1939, when Franklin D. Roosevelt
moved Thanksgiving Day up one week earlier than had been tradition, to
appease merchants who wanted more time to feed the growing
pre-Christmas consumer frenzy. Folding to congressional pressure two
years later, Roosevelt signed a resolution returning Thanksgiving to
the fourth Thursday of November, as Congress in 1941 permanently set
the fourth Thursday of each November as our national day of
Thanksgiving.
Roosevelt's inclination to
manipulate Thanksgiving for commercial interests foretold much of the
secular nature of "thanksgiving" to come. But, amid the oppression of
secular materialism in advance of that December day when we give thanks
for the birth of Christ, oppression vastly different but somehow
remarkably similar to that experienced by our Pilgrim forefathers, we
are still at our core, a nation deeply blessed by God. In our age of
great, widespread physical and material comfort, our deepest deficits
are spiritual ones -- most especially, a lack of accurate perception of
the depth and breadth of the bounties that God alone has bestowed upon
us. Too often, we look to government as the provider and guarantor of
the many blessings we enjoy, rather than to our Heavenly Father. And,
also too often, we forget to gratefully cherish the best of our
national blessings, that liberty for which our Pilgrim forebears were
willing to risk all comfort and security. As Abraham Lincoln noted so
many years ago,
"...[It is]
announced in the Holy Scriptures
and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is
the Lord....It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be
solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and
one voice, by the whole American people."
On this Day of Thanksgiving, may God rest your heart and
mind,
may He bless and keep you and your family, and may He continue to
extend His blessings upon our great nation, guiding us one and all by
His Word. May He impress upon us the spirit of our forefathers, their
soul-deep craving for freedom, expressed with courage and wisdom, as we
meet the particular challenges of our days.
"No people on earth
have
more cause to be thankful than ours, and this is said reverently, in no
spirit of boastfulness in our own strength, but with the gratitude to
the Giver of good who has blessed us."
—Theodore Roosevelt
And let us always approach our Heavenly
Father with true thankfulness – not just today, but every day – by
acknowledging our utter dependence on Him to supply our wants and
needs, for in Him we live and move and have our being. Even
self-reliance is, at its root, reliance on Him:
"Be anxious for
nothing,
but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let
your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which
surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus."
—Philippians 4:6-7
From
the Publisher, the Editorial Board and The Federalist staff.
(Reprint permission granted.)
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