THANKSGIVING
Background and Proclamations
Throughout America's history there have been champions of freedom who
bore a dramatic influence in the rise of freedom in America. I wish to honor these Christian leaders with
this report.
William Bradford
Gov. Bradford came to America
on the Mayflower with his wife Dorothy, who drowned on December 7,
1620, when the ship was anchored in Provincetown Harbor. Despite the anguish of losing his wife, Gov.
Bradford wrote “Of Plymouth Plantation” which gave the
account of the Plymouth Colony.
The colonists celebrated with a feast in
1621, as Indian chiefs Massassoit, Squanto and Samoset and many of
their men joined with the Pilgrims for a three-day event.
In 1623, the notion of Thanksgiving was
born as Gov. William Bradford declared:
“Inasmuch as the great Father has given us
this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, beans,
squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound
with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as he has
protected us... has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted
us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own
conscience.”
This
man of faith proclaimed that November 29, 1623 (their third year on the
new continent) serve as a day for “render[ing] thanksgiving to ye Almighty
God for all His blessings.”
George Washington
Throughout the 1700s, individual colonies initiated individual
days of thanksgiving each year. Informal
Thanksgiving festivities were held in 1777 throughout the colonies as a
form of celebrating the surrender of British.
But in 1789, military hero George Washington, who was serving as America’s first president, declared
that America
should officially honor God with a National Day of Thanksgiving. Recalling the many blessings on the young
nation, President Washington wrote a proclamation setting aside
Thursday, November 26 as “A Day of Publick Thanksgiving and Prayer.”
Signed on October 3, 1789, the decree designated the day “to be
observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal
favors of Almighty God.” It was an
important declaration that reminded all Americans throughout the young
nation that God had indeed blessed them with the gift of freedom.
Abraham Lincoln
On October 3, 1863, with our nation embroiled in a bitter conflict that
set brother against brother, President Abraham Lincoln issued a
proclamation calling for a national Thanksgiving holiday to take
place on the fourth Tuesday of November. This
great man, noting the “severity” of the war, said the nation needed
to turn its collective hearts heavenward in the time of national
struggle.
“No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out
these great things,” President Lincoln wrote. “They
are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing
with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered
mercy.” He noted that the way to
bring the nation back to unity was by imploring “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.”
What truly inspiring words these are. And
they remain pertinent today as our nation is embroiled in a type of war
Mr. Lincoln could have never imagined.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday to the third
Thursday of November (to extend the Christmas shopping season and boost
the economy). After a storm of protest, Roosevelt
changed the holiday again in 1941 to the fourth Thursday in November,
where it stands today.
On Thanksgiving Day 1943, with the world at war, President Franklin D.
Roosevelt issued this proclamation:
“God’s help to us has been
great in this year of march towards world-wide liberty.
In brotherhood with warriors of other United Nations
our gallant men have won victories, have freed our homes from fear,
have made tyranny tremble, and have laid the foundation for freedom of
life in a world which will be free.”
Several other presidents issued Thanksgiving proclamations. In 1898, President
William McKinley said the blessings on the nation should “inspire
us with gratitude and praise to the Lord of Hosts ….”
In 1917, President Woodrow
Wilson described the annual tradition of giving “in
praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God for His many blessings and
mercies to us as a nation.”
And in 2001, President George W. Bush
issued his proclamation, saying:
“In thankfulness and humility, we
acknowledge, especially now, our dependence on One greater than
ourselves. … May Almighty God, who is our refuge and our strength in
this time of trouble, watch over our homeland, protect us, and grant us
patience, resolve, and wisdom in all that is to come.”
This year, as we celebrate Thanksgiving 381 years after Gov. Bradford’s
first official proclamation, we continue to see an aggressive assault
on the Judeo-Christian values that served as a foundation for the young
nation. As we can see from the writings of
great men of the past, these values have sustained and strengthened our
nation at critical times.
It is imperative that those who understand the Christian heritage of
this nation ensure that future generations have the ability to defend
Thanksgiving and other God-inspired celebrations and observances that
define our nation against those forces that wish to drive us into
oblivion.
