#TIL #Thanksgiving #HistoryFacts
Did you know that when Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving a national holiday, he didn’t mention the Pilgrims, Plymouth Rock, or Native Americans? 🦃🍂 This lesser-known fact about the history of Thanksgiving is quite surprising, considering how these elements are commonly associated with the holiday. Let’s dive into the fascinating details of this historical tidbit and learn more about the creation of Thanksgiving as a national holiday.
When President Lincoln proclaimed a national day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens” on October 3, 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, he didn’t mention the historical events that are often linked to Thanksgiving. Instead, his declaration focused on giving thanks for the blessings of the Union’s progress and the opportunities for peace and national prosperity.
So, why did Lincoln leave out the traditional aspects of Thanksgiving that we’re so familiar with today? There are a few theories as to why he chose not to mention the Pilgrims and Native Americans in his proclamation. One possibility is that Lincoln’s focus was on promoting unity and gratitude during a time of great national strife, and he may have wanted to avoid highlighting a particular group or event that could cause division. Additionally, Lincoln wanted to emphasize the spiritual significance of the holiday, rather than its historical origins.
It’s worth noting that Thanksgiving had already been celebrated by various states and communities before Lincoln’s proclamation. However, it wasn’t until 1941 that Thanksgiving was officially designated as the fourth Thursday in November by Congress, thanks to the lobbying efforts of the retail industry to extend the holiday shopping season. Regardless of its historical origins, Thanksgiving has evolved into a time for gathering with loved ones, giving thanks, and enjoying a hearty feast.
While the traditional narrative of the Pilgrims and Native Americans sharing a meal at Plymouth Rock has become deeply ingrained in American culture, it’s important to recognize that the history of Thanksgiving is more complex and multifaceted. The holiday has been shaped by a variety of influences, from religious observances to cultural traditions, and its meaning continues to evolve with each passing generation.
Ultimately, the way we celebrate and understand Thanksgiving today is a reflection of the diverse experiences and perspectives that have contributed to its evolution. Whether we gather around the table with family, volunteer at a local charity, or simply take a moment to reflect on our blessings, Thanksgiving is an opportunity to pause and express gratitude for the abundance in our lives.
As we enjoy the holiday season, it’s important to remember that the spirit of Thanksgiving extends beyond its historical origins and encompasses a spirit of generosity, compassion, and unity. Whether we choose to incorporate traditional dishes like turkey and pumpkin pie into our celebrations or put our own unique spin on the holiday, Thanksgiving is a time to come together and express gratitude for the blessings in our lives.
So, as we prepare to gather with loved ones and give thanks this Thanksgiving, let’s take a moment to appreciate the rich history and diverse traditions that have shaped this beloved holiday. And who knows, maybe the next time we sit down for a Thanksgiving feast, we’ll be inspired to share this fascinating tidbit about President Lincoln and the origins of the national holiday. 🍁🎩
Source: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/proclamation-118-thanksgiving-day-1864
No, he did not. But he did acknowledge the Almighty God – something half of Washington conveniently forgets.
Yeah, they were viewed as the bad guys. That’s the sad reality of history.
Never thought he did
They didn’t mention fireworks, swimming, or puking behind the garage so your wife doesn’t hear on the original Independence Day
AI summarized it and provided context:
“This passage is a portion of a Thanksgiving proclamation given by President Abraham Lincoln on October 3, 1863. In it, Lincoln reflects on the blessings bestowed upon the nation by God during a time of civil war. He expresses gratitude for the protection provided against external threats, the victories achieved over the enemy, and the good health enjoyed by the citizens, soldiers, and sailors. Lincoln acknowledges the increase in population through emancipation and immigration, the prosperity brought by new sources of wealth, and the resilience of the American people in the face of the ongoing war. He designates the last Thursday in November as a national day of thanksgiving and urges citizens to offer prayers for peace, unity, and harmony throughout the land.”
Lincoln’s original proclamation for Thanksgiving was a prayer for relief for all the widows, orphans, mourners and sufferers in the country.
His statement frames America as a family consumed in a bitter but necessary family struggle, which fits in sad irony with the familial aspects of the holiday. Sad irony was Lincoln’s jam.
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. Anyone have good info on when and how it starting being about pilgrims and native americans and all that lore?
Eric Sloane, an author on early America, talks about how there actually used to be several Thanksgiving celebrations throughout the year. The harvest celebration became modern thanksgiving, Easter likely took the place of the spring Thanksgiving, and we mostly did away with the other time of the year ones.
For those who don’t know the true history of thanksgiving, US Historian Heather Cox Richardson wrote about it a few years ago:
Thanksgiving itself came from a time of violence: the Civil War.
The Pilgrims and the Wampanoags did indeed share a harvest celebration together at Plymouth in fall 1621, but that moment got forgotten almost immediately, overwritten by the long history of the settlers’ attacks on their Indigenous neighbors.
In 1841 a book that reprinted the early diaries and letters from the Plymouth colony recovered the story of that three-day celebration in which ninety Indigenous Americans and the English settlers shared fowl and deer. This story of peace and goodwill among men who by the 1840s were more often enemies than not inspired Sarah Josepha Hale, who edited the popular women’s magazine Godey’s Lady’s Book, to think that a national celebration could ease similar tensions building between the slaveholding South and the free North. She lobbied for legislation to establish a day of national thanksgiving.
And then, on April 12, 1861, southern soldiers fired on Fort Sumter, a federal fort in Charleston Harbor, and the meaning of a holiday for giving thanks changed.
Southern leaders wanted to destroy the United States of America and create their own country, based not in the traditional American idea that “all men are created equal,” but rather in its opposite: that some men were better than others and had the right to enslave their neighbors. In the 1850s, convinced that society worked best if a few wealthy men ran it, southern leaders had bent the laws of the United States to their benefit, using it to protect enslavement above all.
In 1860, northerners elected Abraham Lincoln to the presidency to stop rich southern enslavers from taking over the government and using it to cement their own wealth and power. As soon as he was elected, southern leaders pulled their states out of the Union to set up their own country. After the firing on Fort Sumter, Lincoln and the fledgling Republican Party set out to end the slaveholders’ rebellion.
The early years of the war did not go well for the U.S. By the end of 1862, the armies still held, but people on the home front were losing faith. Leaders recognized the need both to acknowledge the suffering and to keep Americans loyal to the cause. In November and December, seventeen state governors declared state thanksgiving holidays.
New York governor Edwin Morgan’s widely reprinted proclamation about the holiday reflected that the previous year “is numbered among the dark periods of history, and its sorrowful records are graven on many hearthstones.” But this was nonetheless a time for giving thanks, he wrote, because “the precious blood shed in the cause of our country will hallow and strengthen our love and our reverence for it and its institutions…. Our Government and institutions placed in jeopardy have brought us to a more just appreciation of their value.”
The next year Lincoln got ahead of the state proclamations. On July 15 he declared a national day of Thanksgiving, and the relief in his proclamation was almost palpable. After two years of disasters, the Union army was finally winning. Bloody, yes; battered, yes; but winning. At Gettysburg in early July, Union troops had sent Confederates reeling back southward. Then, on July 4, Vicksburg had finally fallen to U. S. Grant’s army. The military tide was turning.
President Lincoln set Thursday, August 6, 1863, for the national day of Thanksgiving. On that day, ministers across the country listed the signal victories of the U.S. Army and Navy in the past year and reassured their congregations that it was only a matter of time until the United States government put down the southern rebellion. Their predictions acknowledged the dead and reinforced the idea that their sacrifice had not been in vain.
In October 1863, President Lincoln declared a second national day of Thanksgiving. In the past year, he declared, the nation had been blessed.
In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, he wrote, Americans had maintained their laws and their institutions and had kept foreign countries from meddling with their nation.
They had paid for the war as they went, refusing to permit the destruction to cripple the economy. Instead, as they funded the war, they had also advanced farming, industry, mining, and shipping. Immigrants had poured into the country to replace men lost on the battlefield, and the economy was booming.
And Lincoln had recently promised that the government would end slavery once and for all. The country, he predicted, “with a large increase of freedom,” would survive, stronger and more prosperous than ever. The president invited Americans “in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea, and those who are sojourning in foreign lands” to observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving.
The following year, Lincoln proclaimed another day of Thanksgiving, this time congratulating Americans that God had favored them not only with immigration but also with the emancipation of formerly enslaved people. “Moreover,” Lincoln wrote, “He has been pleased to animate and inspire our minds and hearts with fortitude, courage, and resolution sufficient for the great trial of civil war into which we have been brought by our adherence as a nation to the cause of freedom and humanity, and to afford to us reasonable hopes of an ultimate and happy deliverance from all our dangers and afflictions.”
In 1861, Americans went to war to keep a cabal from taking control of the government and turning it into an oligarchy. The fight against that rebellion seemed at first to be too much for the nation to survive. But Americans rallied and threw their hearts into the cause on the battlefields even as they continued to work on the home front to create a government that defended democracy and equality before the law.
And they won.
When he mentions immigration, he means locking them up in cages, right?
If only he’d stuck with Plymouth and stayed away from Ford’s theatre.
It was 1864. We can forgive a man for skipping some details when he’s got more pressing problems.
Good, Plymouth is an awful place.
next youre gonna tell me “under god” wasnt originally in the pledge of allegiance!
I just think of Massachusetts and buckled shoes before everyone totally forgets what it’s about and stampedes the nearest Best Buy for cheap TVs.
Thanksgiving is just the fall harvest holiday that pretty much every society winds up inventing, but later just added nationalist mythos…
Lincoln also made no mention of *codified*.
>a day of thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God, the beneficent Creator and Ruler of the Universe. And I do further recommend to my fellow-citizens aforesaid that on that occasion they do reverently humble themselves in the dust and from thence offer up penitent and fervent prayers and supplications to the Great Disposer of Events for a return of the inestimable blessings of peace, union, and harmony throughout the land which it has pleased Him to assign as a dwelling place for ourselves and for our posterity throughout all generations.
I have a feeling this is going to be more controversial than thanking the Indians for welcoming us to North America
So it truly is about giving thanks for what’s good, and everyone whining about it because the background mythos tentatively relates to a time before native/immigrant relations went to shit should stop being miserable scrooges.
One of many reasons I don’t celebrate it
AND NOTHING ABOUT BELT BUCKLE HATS. Whoever came up with that shit?
He did praise immigrants and freedmen though.
> It has pleased Almighty God to prolong our national life another year, defending us with His guardian care against unfriendly designs from abroad and vouchsafing to us in His mercy many and signal victories over **the enemy, who is of our own household.**
160 years old and, somehow, still topical.
The story hadn’t been made up yet