The National Thanksgiving Proclamation was the first presidential proclamation of Thanksgiving in the United States. President George Washington declared Thursday, November 26, 1789 as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer.

Background

Setting aside time to give thanks for one's blessings, along with holding feasts to celebrate a harvest, are both practices that long predate the European settlement of North America. The first documented thanksgiving services in territory currently belonging to the United States were conducted by Spaniards[1] and the French[2] in the 16th century. Thanksgiving services were routine in what became the Commonwealth of Virginia as early as 1607,[3] with the first permanent settlement of Jamestown, Virginia holding a thanksgiving in 1610.[1] In 1619, the Berkeley Hundred colony held a service on December 4, 1619, to celebrate "the day of our ship's arrival" and proclaimed the date would be "yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to the Almighty God."[4] The colony was wiped out shortly after, in March 1622, with some inhabitants being massacred, and the rest fleeing.[5] The generally referenced 'First Thanksgiving' occurred on Plymouth Colony, shortly after the colonists first successful harvest in autumn of 1621. They celebrated for three straight days[6] with their Native American neighbors with whom they had signed a mutual protection treaty the Spring before.

In 1723, Massachusetts Bay Governor William Dummer proclaimed a day of thanksgiving on November 6.[7] The first proclamation in the independent United States was issued by John Hancock as President of the Continental Congress as a day of fasting on March 16, 1776.[8] The first national Thanksgiving was celebrated on December 18, 1777, and the Continental Congress issued National Thanksgiving Day proclamations each year between 1778 and 1784.[9] There were no national thanksgiving day proclamations from 1785 to 1788.

The First Presidential National Day of Thanksgiving

In Congress, Elias Boudinot introduced a resolution to create a joint committee to "wait on the President of the United States, to request that he would recommend to the people a day of public prayer and thanksgiving,"

The resolution was opposed by Anti-Federalists, who opposed increased power of the central government. Chief among the opposition were Aedanus Burke, and Thomas Tudor Tucker. Burke was of the opinion that the holiday was too "European." He "did not like this mimicking of European customs, where they made a mere mockery of thanksgivings." Burke was referencing the fact that at thanksgivings, both sides of a war often sang Te Deum, a hymn of praise. He was objecting that both the winners and losers in a war gave thanksgiving. Tucker however, felt that the federal government did not have the power to propose a day of thanksgiving. He was of the opinion that "If a day of thanksgiving must take place, let it be done by the authority of the States." Tucker also worried about the separation of church and state, as in his opinion, proclaiming a day of thanksgiving was a religious matter.[10]

In the end, the resolution passed the House and the Senate, and a committee of Elias Boudinot, Roger Sherman, Peter Silvester, William Samuel Johnson, and Ralph Izard delivered the message to Washington on or before September 28, 1789.[10] President Washington noted that "both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested [him] 'to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer.'" It was formally declared on November 26 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."[11] President George Washington made this proclamation on October 3, 1789 in New York City.[12][13]

On the day of thanksgiving, Washington attended services at St. Paul's Chapel in New York City, and donated beer and food to imprisoned debtors in the city.[14]

Text

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 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 third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

— George Washington

Aftermath

George Washington proclaimed a second day of Thanksgiving in 1795, following the defeat of the Whiskey Rebellion. After Washington left office, John Adams, James Madison, and others intermediately declared days of Thanksgiving.[14] Several presidents opposed days of national thanksgiving, with Thomas Jefferson openly denouncing such a proclamation.[15] By 1855, 16 states celebrated Thanksgiving (14 on the fourth Thursday of November, and two on the third). However, it was not until 1863 that Abraham Lincoln established the regular tradition of observing days of national thanksgiving.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 "Thanksgiving". The Teachers Page. Library of Congress. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  2. ↑ Davis, Kenneth C. (November 25, 2008). "A French Connection". Nytimes.com. Retrieved August 21, 2017
  3. ↑ Morill, Ann "Thanksgiving and Other Harvest Festivals" Infobase Publishing, ISBN 1-60413-096-2p.33
  4. 1 2 "A History of the Thanksgiving Holiday | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History". www.gilderlehrman.org. 2012-02-29. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
  5. ↑ "Jamestown at 400: Caught Between a Rock and a Slippery Slope". historynewsnetwork.org. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
  6. ↑ Chan, Melissa. "What We Really Know About the First Thanksgiving". Time. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
  7. ↑ "Thanksgiving Proclamation 1723 by Massachusetts Bay Governor William Dummer" (PDF). Pilgrim Hall Museum.
  8. ↑ Klos, Stanley. "Thanksgiving Day Proclamations". Presidential Thanksgiving Proclamations. Historic.us. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  9. ↑ "Continental Congress Thanksgiving Proclamations 1778 1784" (PDF). Pilgrim Hall Museum.
  10. 1 2 Melanie Kirkpatrick (11 October 2016). Thanksgiving: The Holiday at the Heart of the American Experience. Encounter Books. pp. 55–59. ISBN 978-1-59403-894-5.
  11. ↑ "About this Collection - George Washington Papers". The Library of Congress. Retrieved 2017-09-02.
  12. ↑ "The National Archives Celebrate Thanksgiving". National Archives. 2013.
  13. ↑ "Rediscovering George Washington" PBS
  14. 1 2 "Thanksgiving". George Washington's Mount Vernon. Retrieved 2017-09-02.
  15. ↑ Charles Panati (15 August 2016). Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things. Book Sales. p. 66. ISBN 978-0-7858-3437-3.
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