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The First Thanksgiving
A compilation
of information and stories from the original day of thanks.
THE FIRST THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION - JUNE 20,
1676: "The Holy God having by a long and
Continual Series of his Afflictive dispensations in and by the present War
with the Heathen Natives of this land, written and brought to pass
bitter things against his own Covenant people in this wilderness, yet so that
we evidently discern that in the midst of his judgments he hath remembered
mercy, having remembered his Footstool in the day of his sore displeasure
against us for our sins, with many singular Intimations of his Fatherly
Compassion, and regard; reserving many of our Towns from Desolation
Threatened, and attempted by the Enemy, and giving us especially of late with
many of our Confederates many signal Advantages against them, without such
Disadvantage to ourselves as formerly we have been sensible of, if it be the
Lord's mercy that we are not consumed, It certainly bespeaks our positive
Thankfulness, when our Enemies are in any measure disappointed or destroyed;
and fearing the Lord should take notice under so many Intimations of his
returning mercy, we should be found an Insensible people, as not standing
before Him with thanksgiving, as well as lading him with our Complaints in
the time of pressing Afflictions:
“The Council has
thought meet to appoint and set apart the 29th day of this instant June, as a
day of Solemn Thanksgiving and praise to God for such his Goodness and Favour, many Particulars of which mercy might be
Instanced, but we doubt not those who are sensible of God's Afflictions, have
been as diligent to espy him returning to us; and that the Lord may behold us
as a People offering Praise and thereby glorifying Him; the Council doth
commend it to the Respective Ministers, Elders and people of this
Jurisdiction; Solemnly and seriously to keep the same Beseeching that being perswaded by the mercies of God we may all, even this
whole people offer up our bodies and soulds as a
living and acceptable Service unto God by Jesus Christ.” _______________________________________________________
The First Thanksgiving Proclamation
(June 20, 1676)
On June 20, 1676, the governing council of Charlestown, Massachusetts,
held a meeting to determine how best to express thanks for the good fortune
that had seen their community securely established. By unamimous
vote they instructed Edward Rawson, the clerk, to proclaim June 29 as a day
of thanksgiving, our first.
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Understanding
Thanksgiving
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. The Pilgrims had earlier left England in 1608, as the Church of
England had curtailed their freedom to worship according to their individual
consciences.
The Pilgrims had settled in Holland for twelve years, where they found
spiritual liberty in the midst of a disjointed economy (which failed to
provide adequate compensation for their labors) and a dissolute, degraded,
corrupt culture (which tempted their children to stray from faith). 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. While still
anchored at Provincetown
harbor, their Pastor John Robinson counseled, "You are become a body
politic ... and are to have only them for your... governors which yourselves
shall make choice of."
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, there were some 50,000 American casualties at the Battle of
Gettysburg, and President Lincoln traveled to the field of battle some four
months afterward 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, tranquillity, 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. The humble, grateful spirit attendant to those celebrations was
expressed in such statements as this by Theodore Roosevelt: "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."
However, in 1939, 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 subsume
Thanksgiving for commercial interests foretold much of the secular inversion
of "thanksgiving" to come. In autumns we now exist amid the
oppression of crass 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 in England. And,
at all times we move amid the seduction of cultural decadence in our everyday
lives, again remarkably similar to that tempting our Pilgrim forebears and
their families in Holland.
Nevertheless, for all the decay and dissolution assailing us, we are still at
our core, a nation deeply blessed by God. In our age of great, widespread
physical and material comfort, and sensory satiety and satiation, 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 grant us
patience and perseverance in the unexpected turns and tests of our age. 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.
And let us always approach our Heavenly Father with true thankfulness -- not
just today, but every day -- not only in our triumphs, but also in our trials
-- 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
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