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When did the national day of Thanksgiving begin in the United States? After the United States had completed its Constitution and the new Congress was in session, the Congress proposed that the Bill of Rights be added to the Constitution as the first 10 amendments. (The Bill of Rights was one of the conditions for ratification.) Representative Elias Boudinot of New Jersey and Connecticut Congressman Roger Sherman proposed that President Washington declare a national day of Thanksgiving, with “one voice, in returning to Almighty God their sincere thanks for the many blessings He had poured down upon them.” So, on 26 November 1789, Washington declared the first national day of Thanksgiving. Of course, such a proclamation followed colonial American practices, which years earlier had offered thanksgiving to God for His faithful provision even in times of want. How deeply is this practice of a day of Thanksgiving rooted in American history?
Even before the Pilgrims reached the New World, the practice of Thanksgiving was part of colonial life. David D. Hall writes that “Twice en route the passengers [aboard the Mayflower] participated in a fast, and once (two days after sounding ground beneath the Arbella) a ‘thanksgiving.’ When the sailing season ended with all ships accounted for, ‘we had a day of thanksgiving in all the plantations.’” A settlement of French Huguenots, fifty years before the Pilgrims, established a colony near present-day Jacksonville, Florida, and declared a time of thanksgiving to God for His faithfulness.”
In 1610, after a hard winter called “the starving time,” the colonists at Jamestown called for a time of thanksgiving, even though the colony had been reduced from 409 to 60 survivors. They prayed for food and provisions that arrived from England a few days later. An annual commemoration of Thanksgiving was begun nine years later in 1619 in another part of the Virginia colony.
In 1621 the best known of the early Thanksgiving celebrations took place in Plymouth, following the harvest. One of the colony’s founders wrote of that day: “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 fruit of our labors. . . Many of the Indians coming amongst us, and the rest their greatest king, Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted. . . 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 plenty.”
None of these celebrations were national, of course, but each demonstrates strong roots in biblical Christianity. President Abraham Lincoln on 3 October 1863 declared that the last Thursday of November would be set aside as a nationwide celebration of thanksgiving. Listen to his proclamation: “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. . . I do, therefore, invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday in November next as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in heaven.” Every US President since Lincoln has followed suit. FDR changed the celebration to the third Thursday in November to provide more shopping between Thanksgiving and Christmas. In 1941 Congress re-established the fourth Thursday as the Day for Thanksgiving.
This 2008 Thanksgiving weekend is a time for us to renew our commitment to this deep-seated tradition of America. Many schoolchildren today are not even aware that Thanksgiving is rooted in the tradition of thanking God! It is imperative that we restore the original intent of Thanksgiving. Please be certain that you have taken time this Thanksgiving weekend to thank God for His providence, for His care and for His abundant provision. These early celebrations of Thanksgiving were expressions of deep gratitude to God for life itself. In a time of national crisis and fear, it is so important to turn our hearts and our minds back to God, the source of our blessing and our true security. Perhaps nothing symbolizes our deepest need than the need to give thanks to God at this time on national Thanksgiving. May the recognition of that need be the beginning of a national renewal and revival.
See the helpful article by Gary DeMar in Tabletalk (November 2001). |
