Thanksgiving

The American custom of Thanksgiving dates back to the 1621 harvest feast celebrated by the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians. Throughout the colonial period, days of thanksgiving were celebrated regionally. The thirteen states first celebrated Thanksgiving together in 1777. General George Washington, upon the recommendation of the Continental Congress, issued general orders designating “that Thursday the 18th. day of December next be set apart for Solemn Thanksgiving and Praise; that at one time, and with one voice, the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts.” In 1789, Washington became the first American president to proclaim “a day of public thanksgiving and prayer.”

Beginning in 1846, with tensions over slavery rising between the North and South, the editor of the popular magazine Godey’s Lady’s Book, Sarah Josepha Hale, lobbied the president and state governors to proclaim the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. She hoped this would achieve a “moral and social reunion” of the nation. Although some presidents issued proclamations, Thanksgiving was not celebrated annually until 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln declared a national day of Thanksgiving following the Union victory at Gettysburg. This occasion began the tradition of setting aside the last Thursday of November to give thanks and celebrate the blessings of the country.

In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt attempted to move Thanksgiving to the third week in November in order to lengthen the Christmas shopping season. This break with tradition was so unpopular that Roosevelt signed a law in 1941 permanently establishing Thanksgiving as a national holiday to be celebrated each year on the fourth Thursday in November.

Today, Thanksgiving is recognized as a truly American tradition, which reminds us all of the importance of family and community as well as nation.