Thanksgiving in the United States

THANKSGIVING IN THE UNITED STATES

ADVANCEMENT OPPORTUNITY

Since the settlement of the colonies, Americans were familiar with setting aside days of thanksgiving, prayer, and fasting in response to significant events.

Americans traditionally recognize the "first" Thanksgiving as having taken place at Plymouth colony in the autumn of 1621. The Separatist Puritan settlers of Plymouth, known as Pilgrims, held a feast after their first harvest as a way of thanking God for their blessings. Invited to their observance were members of the neighboring Wampanoag tribe, among whom such a harvest celebration was neither unfamiliar nor uncommon. The 1621 thanksgiving celebration, however, did not become an annual event; rather, residents of Plymouth and the other colonies held days of thanksgiving and/or fasting over the years, at different times of year for a variety of reasons.

During the American Revolution, the practice continued. Colonial legislatures set aside days of prayer to recognize military victories against the British army. After British General John Burgoyne surrendered to the Americans at Saratoga, New York, in October 1777, the Continental Congress suggested that a national day be set aside to recognize the victory. Commander of the Continental Army, General George Washington agreed, proclaiming December 18, 1777 as the first national Thanksgiving Day. The Continental Congress supported similar thanksgiving proclamations through 1784.

In 1789, Congress persuaded the newly elected President Washington to issue a proclamation on October 3, 1789, designating Thursday, November 26 as a national day of thanks. In his proclamation, Washington declared that such a day should exist to give thanks for having achieved independence and establishing the constitutional government.

The 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation, however, did not establish a permanent federal holiday. Later presidents, including John Adams and James Madison, declared days of thanksgiving as well. But it was not until the Civil War of the 1860s that President Lincoln initiated a regular observance of Thanksgiving in the United States and took steps towards designating it a permanent federal holiday.

The Objective:

Read the three Primary Source Document excerpts found on the webpage (A, B, and C). These documents help generate an understanding about how Thanksgiving in the United Statesdevelopedover the years. After reading the documents, complete the PSA form (also on the webpage) by typing in your answers. The PSA form must be completed and submitted by Monday, November 19. The point value for advancement will be set at 30/30.

Since this is an advancement opportunity, it is not necessary for you to do.

Primary Source Document A

1621 Pilgrim Thanksgiving feast in Plymouth, Massachusetts as described in the following accounts:

William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation:

They began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up their houses and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered in health and strength and had all things in good plenty. For as some were thus employed in affairs abroad, others were exercised in fishing, about cod and bass and other fish, of which they took good store, of which every family had their portion. All the summer there was no want; and now began to come in store of fowl, as winter approached, of which this place did abound when they came first (but afterward decreased by degrees). And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides, they had about a peck a meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to the proportion. Which made many afterwards write so largely of their plenty here to their friends in England, which were not feigned but true reports.

Edward Winslow, Mourt's Relation:

Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruits of our labor. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which we brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.

Primary Source Document B

On October 3, 1789, President George Washington made the following proclamation and created the first Thanksgiving Day under the newly created United States of America:

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 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, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, 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 hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications 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 unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease 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 third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

Primary Source Document C

President Abraham Lincolnproclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated on the final Thursday in November 1863. The document, written by Secretary of State William Seward, reads as follows:

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields 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 cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled 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 theatre of military conflict; while that theatre 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 defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had 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 heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; 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 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.

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lordone thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth."

Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln, October 3, 1863

Primary Source Analysis

DOCUMENT ONE (Check one):
___ Newspaper
___ Letter
___ Patent
___ Memorandum / ___ Map
___ Speech
___ Press release
___ Report / ___ Advertisement
___ Congressional record
___ Census report
___ Other (Specify):
1. / DATE(S) OF DOCUMENTS:
2. / AUTHORS (OR CREATORS) OF THE DOCUMENTS:
3. / FOR WHAT AUDIENCE WERE THESES DOCUMENTS WRITTEN?
DOCUMENT TWO (Check one):
___ Newspaper
___ Letter
___ Patent
___ Memorandum / ___ Map
___ Speech
___ Press release
___ Report / ___ Advertisement
___ Congressional record
___ Census report
___ Other (Specify):
1. / DATE(S) OF DOCUMENT:
2. / AUTHOR (OR CREATOR) OF THE DOCUMENT:
3. / FOR WHAT AUDIENCE WAS THE DOCUMENT WRITTEN?
DOCUMENT THREE (Check one):
___ Newspaper
___ Letter
___ Patent
___ Memorandum / ___ Map
___ Speech
___ Press release
___ Report / ___ Advertisement
___ Congressional record
___ Census report
___ Other (Specify):
1. / DATE(S) OF DOCUMENT:
2. / AUTHOR (OR CREATOR) OF THE DOCUMENT:
3. / FOR WHAT AUDIENCE WAS THE DOCUMENT WRITTEN?
4. / DOCUMENT INFORMATION (There are many possible ways to answer A-D.)
A. QuoteONE thing from each author that helps sum up the main focus of the
documents and explain why that quote is a valid one to choose.
B. As expressed in these documents,Thanksgiving has become one of the major
holidays of the year. Why do you think it became important for our country to
focus on a day of thanks?
C. What evidence (in this case a quote) in any of these documents helps verify or
support your answer in section B above?
D. List two things these documents tell you about life in the United States in the 17th
through 19th centuries.