Thanksgiving is a treasured national holiday in the United States, celebrated this year on Thursday, November 28, 2024. Its origins date back over four centuries to 1621, when the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony and the Wampanoag people shared an autumn harvest feast. This act of gratitude for survival and a bountiful harvest is recognized as one of the earliest Thanksgiving celebrations in American history.
The Pilgrims, who had arrived in Plymouth in December 1620, faced immense hardship. The brutal winter that followed claimed the lives of nearly half their community due to scarce food and freezing conditions. By spring, the Wampanoag people, led by Chief Massasoit and guided by interpreter Squanto, extended their assistance to the settlers. They taught the Pilgrims vital skills in farming, hunting, and fishing, ensuring their survival. The result of this cooperation was a three-day feast featuring wild game, seafood, corn, squash, and other local produce. This first Thanksgiving marked a rare moment of harmony between two cultures.
Although Thanksgiving celebrations continued sporadically in various colonies, it wasn’t until President George Washington’s 1789 proclamation that a national day of thanks was first formally observed. However, the holiday fell out of favor during the early 19th century.
It was Sarah Josepha Hale, the editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, who tirelessly campaigned for a national Thanksgiving holiday. She envisioned it as a unifying tradition during the divisive years of the Civil War. Her efforts bore fruit in 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln, seeking to inspire national unity, proclaimed the last Thursday of November as a day of thanksgiving. President Franklin D. Roosevelt later adjusted the date to the fourth Thursday of November in 1942, where it has remained ever since.
Here is Abraham Lincoln’s official proclamation in its entirety:
Washington, D.C.
October 3, 1863
By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.
In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.
Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of 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.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth.
By the President: Abraham Lincoln
William H. Seward,
Secretary of State
Let this Thanksgiving serves as a reminder to reflect on the blessings in our lives; family, friends, health, and the freedom to gather and give thanks. It is a time to cherish connections and to extend kindness and generosity to those in need. From food drives to community dinners, the holiday inspires countless acts of goodwill.
As you celebrate Thanksgiving 2024, take a moment to appreciate the shared history that binds us together, even in our differences, and the traditions that keep gratitude at the heart of our communities.
Happy Thanksgiving!