THANKSGIVING. 



667 



and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered 

 in health and strength, and had all things in pood 

 plenty ; for as some were thus employed in affairs 

 abroad, others were exercised in fishing about codd, 

 and bass, and other fish of which they took good store, 

 of which every family had their portion. All the 

 somer ther was no waste. And now began to come in 

 store of foule, as winter approached, of which this 

 place did abound when they came first (but afterwards 

 decreased by degrees) and beside water foule ther was 

 great store of wild turkies of which they took many, 

 beside venison, etc. Beside they had about a peck of 

 meal a weeke to a person, or now, since harvest, Indian 

 com to that proportion." In this connection Edward 

 AVinslow described the public commemoration in the 

 following manner : " Our harvest being gotten in. our 

 Governor (William Bradford) sent four men on fowl- 

 ing, so that we uii.sht after a special manner rejoice 

 together alter we had gathered the fruit of our labors. 

 They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a 

 little help beside, served the company almost a week. 

 At which time, amongst otluT recreation we exercised 

 our arms, many of the Indians coming among us. am! 

 among the rest their greatest king Massasoyt, with 

 eouie 90 men, whom for three days we entertained and 

 feasted ; and they went out and killed 5 deer, which 

 they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our 

 Governor, and upon the Captain (Myles Standish) and 

 others. And although it be not always so plentiful as 

 it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of 

 God, we are so far from want that we often wish you 

 partakers of our plenty." The next Thanksgiving 

 day was in July, 1623. A long and severe drought 

 had prevailed, and the governor appointed a day of 

 fast in:; and prayer. During the prayer "soft, sweet, 

 and moderate showers" fell, continuing for two weeks. 

 The lasting and praying were changed into devout 

 timikMtviM, 



In tin,- Plymouth colony Thanksgiving days were 

 appointed for Id.'jl, |)',',X. aii'l II'.MI. ; md in the Massa- 

 chusetts Bay colony similar observances were held in 

 1633, 1634, 1637, 1*88, and !63'.l. The colony and 

 province of New York was not without its days of 

 praise and prayer. The Dutch governors proclaimed 

 such days in 1044, 104.'), I6.V>. and 1064. The English 

 governors followed the example of their prede. 

 in 176(1 and in 1775. Throughout the Revolution 

 Congress annually recommended days nf Thanksgiving. 

 In 1784 there was a day of general praise for the 

 return of i>eaee and liberty to the country. In ITv.i 

 Pres. Washington appointed a day of rejoicing for 

 the adoption of the Constitution. In 179.~> he issued 

 a call for a national thanksgiving : the preamble was 

 this: "When we review the calamities that afflict so 

 many other nations, the present condition of the United 

 States affords much matter of consolation and satisfac- 

 tion. Our exemption hitherto from foreign war; an 

 increasing prospect of the continuance of that exemp- 

 tion the great degree of internal tranquility we have 

 enjoyed the recent confirmation of that tranquility 

 by the supprcssio.) of an insurrection which so wan- 

 tonly threatened it the happy course of our public 

 affairs in general the unexampled prosperity of all 

 classes of our citizens arc eireaiMtMtOM which pecu- 

 liarly mark our situation with indication of the divine 

 beneficence to ward us. In such a state of things it is 

 in an especial manner our duty as a people, with rev- 

 erence and affectionate gratitude, to acknowledge our 

 many and great obligations to Almighty God, and to 

 implore him to continue and confirm the blessings we 

 experience. " On account of these reasons the Presi- 

 dent recommended "to all religious societies and de- 

 nominations and to all persons whomsoever, within 

 the United States, to *et apart and observe Thursday, 

 the 19th day of February next, as a day of public 

 thanksgiving and prayer, and on that day to meet 

 together and render sincere and hearty thanks to the 

 great Holer of nations for the manifold and signal 



mercies which distinguish our lot as a nation partic- 

 ularly for the possession of constitutions of govern- 

 ment which unite, and by their union establish, liberty 

 with order ; for the preservation of our peace, foreign 

 and domestic ; for the reasonable control which has 

 been given to a spirit of disorder in the suppression 

 of the late insurrection, and generally for the pros- 

 perous condition of our affairs, public and private ; 

 and at the same time, humbly and fervently to beseech 

 the kind Author ot these blessings graciously to pro- 

 Ion L' them to us ; to imprint on our hearts a deep and 

 solemn sense of our obligations to Him for them ; to 

 teach us rightly to estimate their immense value ; to 

 I .reserve us from the arrogance of prosperity and from 

 hazarding the advantages we enjoy by delusive pur- 

 suits ; to dispose us to merit the continuance of his 

 favors by not abusing them, by our gratitude for them, 

 and by a corresponding conduct as citizens and as men ; 

 to render this country more and more a propitious 

 asylum for the unfortunate of other countries, to ex- 

 tend among us true and useful knowledge, to diffuse 

 and establish habits of sobriety, order, morality, and 

 piety, and finally to impart all the blessings we poasess 

 or ask for ourselves to the whole family of mankind." 

 This proclamation followed the precedent . by which 

 Thursday had been uniformly designated by the gov- 

 ernors of the New England States as the day of thanks- 

 giving. In those States the Congregational Church 

 predominated. In 1789 the Prayer-bouk of the Prot- 

 estant Episcopal Church recognized the authority of 

 the civil government to appoint such a feast. The 

 custom went gradually to other States. In 1795 

 Gov. Jay, of New York, issued a proclamation of 

 thanksgiving, which was but slightly attended to. 

 A second trial was made by Gov. De Witt Clinton in 

 1817 and a hearty response was made. Since 1817 the 

 annual Thanksgiving lias been celebrated in the State 

 of New York with hardly a break. The State of 

 Pennsylvania followed soon afterward ; but the AVest- 

 ern States were more slow in adopting the custom. 

 Illinois, admitted as a State in 1818, did not appoint 

 a day of Thanksgiving until 184(1, the day named being 

 in December. The Southern States, owing to differ- 

 ence of climate and institutions, did not take kindly to 

 the custom which had originated in New England ; yet 

 in 1858 the governors of eight Southern States sent 

 forth proclamations for days of thanksgiving. 



Until the great national crisis of the civil war, with 

 the exception of Washington's administration, the cus- 

 tom was strictly confined to the will of the governors 

 of the respective States. During the civil war Pres. 

 Lincoln frequently appointed special days of thanks- 

 giving 'or national victories ; and more than once, 

 when the results of great battles were discouraging to 

 the Union cause, he appointed days of fasting and 

 prayer. In 1863 he issued a long proclamation, ap- 

 pointing the last Thursday of November as a day of 

 thanksgiving and prayer. The closing part of this 

 document was in these words : " I recommend to the 

 people of the United States that, while offering up the 

 ascriptions justly due to God for such singular deliver- 

 ances and blessings, they do also, with humble peni- 

 tence for our national pervcrscness and disobedience, 

 commend to his tender care all those who have be- 

 come widows, orphans, mourners, or suffere.':s in the 

 lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably en- 

 gaged ; 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, har- 

 mony, tranquility, and union." Since that year every 

 President of the United States has appointed the last 

 Thursday of November as a national day of thanksgiv- 

 ing, and nearly all the governors of the Stales have 

 followed with proclamations for their respective States. 



In the Protestant churches the religious observance 

 of Thanksgiving is provided for by the several congre- 

 gations and their ministers or other officers. Seldom 



