Thanksgiving

We all know the first Thanksgiving was the of fall1621. It was a three day harvest festival to celebrate the survival of the horrible first winter and the abundance of food from that summer’s harvest. Of course it was a celebration consisting of the Pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians together. So why don’t we get three days off? And no, Black Friday can’t be considered part of the Thanksgiving holiday unless you are a retailer! Read Robert Freer;s article below to read about the actual path Thanksgiving took to finally become a National holiday in 1941.

Robert E. Freer, Jr., President of The Free Enterprise Foundation

Devoid of the commercialism of the yuletide season, Thanksgiving, has always been my favorite time of year. It is an annual gift we give ourselves before succumbing to the frantic dash to the end of the year and the challenges that await us there. No gifts other than a giving attitude are required at the Thanksgiving table. Just bring your love for your family and your prayerful thanks for our bounty and soak in the reciprocated feelings of those you care for the most. As we prepare for this special time, let’s reflect upon the many blessings of this land and carry with us into the New Year what is at the heart of this uniquely American holiday.

385 years ago, 46 hearty settlers in what is now Massachusetts, survivors of the horrible winter of 1620-21, joined with 91 Wampanoag Indians for a three day harvest festival to celebrate their survival and the Indian kindness that had made the difference. After their struggles, these pilgrims had much for which to be thankful. Their harvest, after their near starvation the previous winter, had been bountiful, and it seemed their foothold in this new land was now secure.

It cannot be said, however, that the holiday was an instant "hit". It was repeated in 1623 but not again until 1676. In October of l777, and in 1789, more than a hundred years later, George Washington, called the new nation to celebrate a national day of Thanksgiving. His message for 1789 was particularly eloquent. In setting Thursday, November 26, 1789 as a "day of Service" to that ..."Great and Glorious Being who is the...author of all the good that was, that is or that will be," Washington proclaimed it was the "duty of all nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits and humbly to implore His protection and favor." But again the holiday was to fall into neglect until rescued in the midst of that horrible war that would finally complete the promise of our War for Independence.

President Lincoln, not long after the Battle at Gettysburg, called for the last Thursday in November to be a day of "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father" who has provided the "large increase in freedom." His call restored Thanksgiving to a prominence from which it has not receded. It did take until 1941, however, for Congress to officially sanction the day as a national holiday.

Our presidents ever since have recognized the holiday with messages calling for our prayer and thanksgiving. Some messages have been more notable than others. In words to be echoed by his cousin three decades later, Theodore Roosevelt reminded the nation in 1901, "Let us remember that as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips and shows itself in deeds". Again in 1905, he added, "....We are not threatened by foe from without. The foes from whom we should pray to be delivered are our own passions, appetites and follies, and against these there is always need that we should war."

Cousin Franklin, in a similar vein thirty years later, urged the nation to prayer as follows: "During the past year we have been given courage and fortitude to meet the problems which have confronted us in our national life. Our sense of social justice has deepened. We have been given vision to make new provisions for human welfare and happiness, and in a spirit of mutual helpfulness, we have cooperated to translate vision into reality. More greatly have we turned our hearts and minds to things spiritual. We can truly say, 'What profiteth it a nation if it gain the whole world and lose its own soul.’ With gratitude in our hearts for what has already been achieved, may we, with the help of God, dedicate ourselves anew to work for the betterment of mankind."

Through wars, depressions, and the challenge of our western migration, our presidents have in their Thanksgiving messages called for us to be mindful of that eternal Power that binds us together and makes this nation of immigrants "special". Three centuries apart John Winthrop and Ronald Reagan would speak in similar terms to the special nature of this land we call our home. John Winthrop in the following stark words called us to our duty:

"For we must consider that we shall be as a City Upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us; so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us,. ..we shall shame the faces of many of God's worthy servants and cause their prayers to be turned into curses until we be consumed out of the good land whether we are going..."

Winthrop’s “City Upon a Hill” became Ronald Reagan's "Shining City on a Hill" and should be considered the harvest of John Winthrop's "Covenant". To John Winthrop, as to Ronald Reagan, both Roosevelts, Lincoln, Washington and thousands upon thousands of our settlers throughout the centuries, America beckons as the home of the New Testament, a land inclusive of all people thirsting to be free and to pursue their worship as they will.

Following this recent hard fought national election, we are not so much a nation of blue states and red, but citizens still thirsting to achieve that one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all to which we pledge our allegiance. While the quest is not yet achieved, nor may it ever be fully realized, we, as a people are freer than anyplace on earth to work toward that goal. The covenant continues so long as we strive with God's help towards that Shining City on a Hill.

Copyright © 2007 by Robert E. Freer, Jr. All rights reserved

About the author: Robert E. Freer, Jr. is President of The Free Enterprise Foundation. He is a Visiting Professor, at The Citadel and elected in 2005 to be their first John S. Grinalds Leader in Residence. A regular contributor to the Mercury, He can be reached by E-mail at The Citadel . Copies of his earlier columns can be found The Free Enterprise Foundation.

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