The impiety of many of our country's present leaders makes it easy to forget that the United States was once governed by devout men who acknowledged the one true God and their debt to Him in everything. These statesmen were courageously unafraid to give public thanks to God. It is refreshingly edifying to review the role our founders played in establishing Thanksgiving Day.

The holiday we celebrate now has its roots in Massachusetts Governor William Bradford's proclamation of the first Thanksgiving Day on November 29, 1623. He ordered a public ceremony to "render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings." However, that was not the first thanksgiving on our nation's soil. Long before, on September 8, 1565, Spanish explorers celebrated Mass in gratitude for their safe arrival at what is now St. Augustine, Florida. Another Mass of thanksgiving was celebrated by Spanish explorers in present-day Texas on April 30, 1598. The first official Thanksgiving ceremony in the American colonies was December 4, 1619, when English settlers arrived at the Berkeley Hundred settlement in Virginia. So Bradford was only following honorable suit.

The infant nation continued the practice. Thomas Jefferson introduced a resolution in the Virginia Assembly in 1774 calling for a Day of Fasting and Prayer, as did Richard Henry Lee in 1777. The governor of New Hampshire, John Langdon, proclaimed official days of thanksgiving, fasting, and prayer in 1785 and 1786. Massachusetts Governor John Hancock issued A Proclamation for a Day of Thanksgiving on November 8, 1783, to celebrate victory of the colonies in the Revolutionary War because, "the Interposition of Divine Providence in our Favor hath been most abundantly and most graciously manifested, and the Citizens of these United States have every Reason for Praise and Gratitude to the God of their salvation."

Congress also acted nobly in those days. The Continental Congress issued the First National Proclamation of Thanksgiving to all colonies to thank God for victory at Saratoga during the Revolutionary War. It established Thursday, December 18, 1777 as a day of "solemn thanksgiving and praise," to show gratitude to Almighty God, reminding Americans that "it is the indispensable duty of all men to adore the superintending Providence of Almighty God [and] to acknowledge with gratitude their obligation to Him for benefits received." The proclamation called upon citizens to "consecrate themselves to the service of their Divine Benefactor" and to confess their "manifold sins" and beg God to "mercifully forgive and blot them out of remembrance." It also asked God's continued blessings and recommended that everyone abstain from servile labor, as would be "unbecoming ... on so solemn an occasion." Three years later, on October 18, 1780, the Continental Congress issued a similar proclamation after Benedict Arnold's traitorous plans were exposed.

Congress unanimously approved yet another National Day of Thanksgiving on September 25, 1789, calling for public prayer. President George Washington also signed a "National Thanksgiving Proclamation" on January 1, 1795, pointing to, "Our duty as a people, with devout reverence and affectionate gratitude, to acknowledge our many and great obligations to Almighty God, and implore Him to continue and confirm the blessings we experienced."

Thanksgiving Day was officially set on the last Thursday of November in 1863 when Congress passed an act signed by President Abraham Lincoln, who said, "[It is] announced in Holy Scripture 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."

By 1939, times had changed. Thanksgiving was no longer about giving thanks but about ringing in the Christmas shopping season. Retailers pressured President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to change Thanksgiving from the last Thursday of November (which fell on November 30 that year) to the fourth Thursday so they could have an extra week to peddle their Christmas wares. He did so to the confusion of many, since calendars, and school and vacation schedules, were already set according to tradition. About half of the country celebrated one week before the other half, while Texas and Colorado celebrated both dates. The next year was just as confusing, so Congress stepped in to clear things up. It approved a 1941 joint resolution that Thanksgiving Day would always be observed on the fourth Thursday of November. The resolution became law in 1977 (Public Law 77-379), declaring "the fourth Thursday of every November: A National Day of Thanksgiving." What a pitiful contrast to the inspiring tributes made by our founders in regard to what should be a God-centered holiday.

The tombstone of Governor William Bradford is inscribed in Latin: "What our fathers with so much difficulty attained do not basely relinquish." That is sound advice! We should not basely relinquish our Christian heritage to materialism or to the modern idea that a nation belongs to the people who live here now rather than those who helped build her. On this Thanksgiving Day, as we thank God for our great nation, let us beg Him to convert our leaders into models of those godly statesmen of yore.

Sources: Federer, William J. America's God and Country: Encyclopedia of Quotations. Amerisearch, Inc. 1999.
Walls, Lt. Col. Timothy. "Giving Thanks is Tradition that Began with Pioneers," Hawaii Army Weekly, December 5, 2008.

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Digby said:

Whose God? When Jefferson was President, he expressed some hesitancy to endorse proclamations of this sort. Jefferson wrote in a letter to Reverend Samuel Miller on January 23, 1808, in response to Miller's proposal that he "recommend" a national day of fasting and prayer: "I consider the government of the United States as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises...Certainly no power to prescribe any religious exercise, or to assume authority in religious discipline, has been delegated to the general government. ...But it is only proposed that I should recommend, not prescribe a day of fasting and prayer. That is, that I should indirectly assume to the United States an authority over religious exercises, which the Constitution has directly precluded them from...civil powers alone have been given to the President of the United States and no authority to direct the religious exercises of his constituents." - Thomas Jefferson God? Whose God? Mine, yours, his, hers.....? Oh, As Jefferson penned in our Declaration of Independence...."Nature's God" I cannot think of a description of God that could encompass so many possibly different Gods. Today, I'm thankful that ours founded, a "free nation" where congress nor the executive may appoint any religion that of the state. Not Christianity, not Islam, not Judaism, not Hinduism, not Buddhism..........none of them. In our country, you can worship, or not, as you wish without fear of hypocrytes reigning stones upon you in a fit of misguided rage... That, my friends, is something to be thankful for....

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November 26, 2009
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Brett said:

... Digby, Hear hear! I mostly agree with you. Christians are "citizens of heaven" and are to be no part of this world. They are, however "in the world". Christ said we are in the world, but are not part of it. The Christian State isn't scriptural in my learned opinion. Christians are to be unified in thought, Christ-like, not divided between "republican/democrat/liberal" nonsense. Their King and Law giver is Jesus, period. This country was founded on freedom, this is true, you think along the lines of Thomas Paine. "who's God"? sorry to say, but this seems to be a atheist/communist question and undermines the ideology of "God" based rights. Are you against "God given" rights also? If you are, you must then believe all our actions are based on government privilege. To the question "who's God" Christians believe Jesus Christ is Lord based on His testimony for which he was killed on a cross. It is His testimony that the world hates because He did indeed claim a monopoly on our approach to God. It is to be through Him, period. Jesus taught that the world would hate us because it hated Him before it hated us. You have to wonder why would Jesus be hated, except for speaking truth to power. Still, we must be careful, if God (who's God?) will not rule us, a tyrant will. A last observation, I understand that Obama has publically declared that the United States is not a Christian nation. Well ok then stop honoring it's "Christian" holidays. I'm waiting for the atheist to sue the Post office for being closed Christmas day, and for suing the school system for taking "Easter" and Xmas" breaks. Of course it won't do that, it would rather "redefine" these holidays to some "national" holiday like it did to thanksgiving. What this does is transfer the glory from being given to God, to being given to the State! Familiar pattern? Peace

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November 26, 2009
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Bonnie said:

Proclamation, part 1 By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation. 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.

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November 26, 2009
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Bonnie said:

Proclamation, part 2 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 shewn 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. Go: Washington

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November 26, 2009
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K said:

... Digby you are right at the time of our founding fathers the divisions were puritan, pilgrim, quaker....all fleeing religious persecution in Europe for religious freedom in America. Our founders firmly believed in religious freedom. God is purposely not defined but purposely acknowledged.....every creature on the earth has a God that he worships....whether he acknowledges him or not..... "Thanksgiving is a time when the world gets to see just how blessed and how workable the Christian system is. The emphasis is not on giving or buying, but on being thankful and expressing that appreciation to God and to one another. " John Clayton Another blessing of the Christian system is free will.... praise or don't praise, "as for me and my house, we will praise the Lord" at this time we give thanks to God...

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November 29, 2009
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K said:

... Brett, I was recently invited to a Winter solstice party. I called my friend and asked her why she picked this theme....she said that she didn't want to offend anyone by choosing a religious theme....However celebrating the solstice is a fundamental part of several religions worshiping the Earth and Nature. She was shocked to learn of its origins....our "de-christianizing" of our holidays is only reverting back to older religious celebrations. Our country was founded on religious tolerance. It was founded on the principle that people should be able to worship their god openly and freely without fear of persecution. Christianity embraces the idea of freedom, free will. Each man is free to follow Christ or not. When did this become so offensive?

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November 29, 2009
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