November 16, 2005 Giving Thanks By Stan Dyer Ever since man moved away from the hunter/gatherer existence into the agrarian form of providing sustenance, people have been taking time to give thanks for bountiful harvests, helpful friends, and the blessing of continued life. In North America, the tradition began long before the first explorers blazed trails. It continues in various forms through to the present. Today, with all of our abundance, the reasoning of a holiday to give thanks fades and the holiday seems out of place. Yet, a little knowledge of history restores the truth about giving thanks, and helps reveal how we have as much to be thankful for today as we ever did. Native Americans knew that winters could be long, cold and cruel. The cold months did not always provide good hunting, and stored foods might mean the difference between life and death. They celebrated both the planting and the harvest. They hoped these celebrations would ensure bountiful crops year after year. The first known observance of Thanksgiving Day by immigrant settlers was a religious ceremony. On May 27, 1578, settlers in Newfoundland paused to give thanks for their survival. Earlier Spaniards probably celebrated some type of Thanksgiving, but there is no known record. Settlers in North America usually gave thanks for supply ships arriving in the spring just as food stores ran out. Most Americans learn in school about the drought of 1623 at Plymouth, Massachusetts that left colonists in dire straights. Captain Miles Standish saved the day with a shipload of food staples and the news that a Dutch supply ship would soon follow. A day of Thanksgiving and Prayer held June 30, 1623 marked the colonists’ deliverance and salvation. This appears to be the origin of the modern celebration. An official holiday designation came later. During the Revolutionary War in 1777, barefoot troops walking through snow on their way to winter quarters at Valley Forge stopped to give thanks. Along with George Washington, troops with little food, little clothing, and no shelter faced the bitter prospect of waiting out the winter months until spring. They were thankful for the opportunity for freedom. In 1789, at the urging of Representative Elias Boudinot of Massachusetts, this nation celebrated its first official Thanksgiving Day, celebrating divine intervention and the chance to create a new Constitution to preserve their hard won freedom on November 26 by presidential order of George Washington. Each of the next Presidents, except for Thomas Jefferson, followed suit with a similar presidential order and celebration. Jefferson refused, stating his sentiment that such a holiday violated Constitutional guidelines concerning separation of church and state. The last presidential proclamation of a day of Thanksgiving came April 13, 1815 from President James Madison. The official holiday would disappear until the middle of the American Civil War. In 1827, Sarah Josepha Hale revived the subject in her women’s magazines. She wrote articles, petitioned elected officials and openly crusaded for the return of the holiday, all to no avail. Ms. Hale needed the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg to make her voice heard. The three-day battle beginning July 1, 1863 claimed over 50,000 American casualties, (by comparison, the entire Viet Nam conflict claimed 58,000). President Abraham Lincoln declared an annual day of Thanksgiving be observed every fourth Thursday in November. This was the same year and month that Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg Address. In 1939, President Franklin Roosevelt changed Thanksgiving Day to the third Thursday of November in order to give Depression Era merchants extra shopping days before Christmas. This action met with opposition from people who scheduled events, football games and parades to coincide with the former date. Congress returned the date back to the fourth Thursday in 1941, less than two weeks before the raid on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and the entrance of America into World War II. The date remains the same to this day. These days, we sit down with family, friends, food and football. The idea of thanks is somewhat lost, or at least blurred. Most of us don’t have to struggle for food, clothing, and shelter, and many of us share what we can with others. It’s because we are Americans. Thanksgiving in America is a celebration of America and a giving of thanks to all the people that come together and work together to make this the wealthiest nation in the world with the most bounty and the most opportunity. It’s a celebration of our history as a nation and all of the sacrifice made then and now to preserve this unique “Great Experiment” and the first modern republic. This Thanksgiving, celebrate your family, celebrate your friends, and celebrate American abundance. Watch a football game, and eat a plate of American History, but be sure to give thanks in any way you see fit for the opportunity and the freedom. Today, as much as ever, we have plenty of reason to give thanks.
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