Thanksgiving:
The Oldest American Celebration
by David Barton
“O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.”
(1 Chronicles 16:34)
Celebrating Thanksgiving as a time to focus on God and His blessings dates back almost four centuries in America. Although such celebrations occurred as early as 1607 at Cape Henry, Va., our current tradition of Thanksgiving came to us from the Pilgrims.
Sailing from England on Sept. 6, 1620, the Pilgrims spent two months braving the harsh elements of a storm-tossed sea. After finally landing and going ashore at Plymouth Rock, they held a prayer service, then began hastily building shelters. But nothing prepared them for the bitter winter ahead. Before spring half of them had died.
Yet through perseverance in prayer and the help of neighboring Indians, they reaped a bountiful harvest the following summer. In the fall of 1621, the grateful Pilgrims declared a three-day feast to thank God and celebrate with their Native American friends. America’s first Thanksgiving festival began an annual tradition that slowly spread to other New England colonies.
A National Day of Thanksgiving
The first national Thanksgiving occurred in 1789. According to the Congressional Record for Sept. 25 of that year, immediately after approving the Bill of Rights: “Mr. Elias Boudinot said he could not think of letting the congressional session end without offering an opportunity to all the citizens of the United States of joining with one voice in returning to Almighty God their sincere thanks for the many blessings He had poured down upon them.”
He moved that the following resolution be delivered to President George Washington:
Resolved, That a joint committee of both Houses be directed to wait upon the President of the United States to request that he would recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer…. Mr. Roger Sherman justified the practice of thanksgiving not only as a praiseworthy one in itself but also as warranted by a number of precedents in Holy Writ…. This example he thought worthy of a Christian imitation on the present occasion.
The president heartily concurred with the congressional request, declaring:
Continued on page 25
*********************************Additional Quote:
"Congress recommends a day of…thanksgiving and praise so that the people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts…and join…their prayers that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, to forgive our sins and…to enlarge His kingdom which consists in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost."
—Continental Congress, 1777
(Samuel Adams and Richard Henry Lee)
NOV '13 : BVOV : 24
