## Thanksgiving: An American Holiday, An American History

by Diana Karter Appelbaum

Facts on File Publications 1984

CHAPTERS 4 AND 5: EIGHTEENTH CENTURY AND EARLY-NINETEENTH CENTURY
PRESIDENTIAL IDEAS ON THANKSGIVING

# The Beginnings of Rebellion

Page 42

March 22, 1765, the infamous Stamp Act. This tax, assessed by means of a
revenue stamp affixed to papers of all kinds . . . was the first
instance of parliamentary imposition on the colonies of a levy other
than customs duties . . . .

When the time for Thanksgiving 1765 came around, Governor Thomas Fitch
of Connecticut issued a proclamation suggesting that thanks be offered
only "for the Continuation of those Privileges civil and religious which
we still enjoy." . . . .

Repeal, when it came in March 1766, was greeted with rejoicing
throughout the colonies and by a round of public thanksgivings in New
England . . . .

# Victory: A Reason for Thanksgiving

Page 47-51

Thanksgiving Day 1777, the first such celebration ever proclaimed by a
national authority for all 13 states, was more the continuation of an
old custom than an extension of the New England Thanksgiving holiday. It
was a special thanksgiving, kept for special causes. The victory at
Saratoga was a stunning success for the army of the infant republic, and
a special day of thanks was in order. Delegates to the Continental
Congress viewed the appointment as just such a special thanksgiving,
voting to appoint a committee to "set apart a day for Thanksgiving, for
the signal success lately obtained over the enemies of these United
States." . . . .

Thanksgiving Day, December 18, 1777, was likewise treated as a special
thanksgiving by New Englanders who celebrated their annual holiday
first---Connecticut and Massachusetts on November 20 and New Hampshire
and Vermont on December 4---and then joined the other colonies in a
holiday of special thanksgiving that ministers made the occasion for
patriotic sermons.

While the Thanksgiving Day declared by the Continental Congress was in
the tradition of special days of thanks, the proclamation, written by a
committee chaired by Samuel Adams of Massachusetts, contained overtones
of New England's annual holiday. . . .

Congress concurred with Washington's decision to hold a special
thanksgiving in honor of the French alliance, declaring special
thanksgiving in honor of the French alliance, declaring Thursday,
December 30, 1778, a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God for "disposing
the heart of a powerful monarch to enter into an alliance with us, and
aid our cause."

While the proclamation of 1777 can best be considered to have been a
special thanksgiving for the victory at Saratoga, this proclamation of
1778, the second by the Continental Congress, was for a thanksgiving
completely in the New England style. A special thanksgiving for the
French alliance would have been set in May or June. Instead, Congress
designated a Thursday in autumn to give thanks for the alliance, for
sundry victories, for the continuing union of the states, and to pray
that schools, trade, husbandry, manufactures and piety might flourish. .
. .

An annual Thanksgiving proclamation by the Continental Congress was fast
becoming a tradition. On December 9, 1779, and December 7, 1780, the
United States joined in celebrating Thanksgiving Day by congressional
proclamation. Special thanks were given for the rescue of "the army from
imminent dangers at the moment when treason was ripened for execution"
in the 1780 proclamation, written only a month after the capture of
Major John Andre foiled Benedict Arnold's plan to deliver West Point to
the British. But this was only one of many causes for gratitude listed
in the proclamation. These were thanksgiving days set to give thanks for
the ordinary blessings of health and good harvests, as well as for
continuing success in the war for independence.

# A Thanksgiving for Peace 

Page 52-3

On October 19, 1781, the British army surrendered at Yorktown. . . . On
October 24, two days after Philadelphia received news of the victory,
its members adjourned at two o'clock and marched in procession to attend
a special service of thanksgiving at the nearby Dutch Lutheran Church.
Two days later the committee that had been appointed in September to
write the annual Thanksgiving proclamation returned a document to
Congress authorizing a Thanksgiving Day for December 13, 1781 . . . .

Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1782, was celebrated by 13 states
grateful for peace, but still without a treaty officially ending the
war. . . .

The Continental Congress set December 11, 1783, and October 19, 1784 as
Thanksgiving days in gratitude for peace. Thanksgiving 1784 was the
seventh in a series of thanksgivings proclaimed by the Continental
Congress in the New England tradition of setting aside on Thursday every
autumn as a day of grateful prayer. . . . After the Congress of 1784
adjourned, no nationwide thanksgivings were proclaimed until Washington
assumed the presidency under the new constitution.

# Pros and Cons of Thanksgiving

Pages 57-61

In his proclamation for Thanksgiving Day 1795, President Washington
carefully addressed "All religious Societies and Denominations and . . .
all persons, whomsoever, within the United States" and omitted any
reference to Christianity . . . .

Washington himself worshiped at a church of his own Episcopal
denomination, St. Paul's Chapel in New York City. In an act of
Thanksgiving charity, the president had sent \[money\] to debtors
confined in the New York City jail. Around the nation, citizens
worshiped according to the dictates of conscience:

\[Newly-elected Massachusetts governor\] Sam Adams's first Thanksgiving
proclamation, for November 20, 1794, struck a blow at Federalism by
omitting the conventional phrase asking a blessing upon the president
and officers of the federal government.

During the political struggle, a number of western Pennsylvania farmers
were busy converting their surplus corn into whiskey. Kegs of whiskey
shipped over the steep Appalachian roads could earn cash in city markets
where bulky corn could not profitably be sent. Whiskey was their only
cash crop, and these western farmers felt unjustly burdened by the new
federal excise tax on distilled spirits. . . .

Pleased by this exploit and delighted by diplomatic success in keeping
American neutral in the European war, Washington issued a Thanksgiving
proclamation for February 19, 1795, that angered Democratic-Republicans
on three counts and offended Episcopalians on one. "The present
condition of the United States," he wrote, "affords much . . .
satisfaction . . ." referring to "Our exemption hitherto from foreign
wars," which many Democratic-Republicans were itching to enter; "the
suppression of the late insurrection," over a tax that many continued to
oppose;

Washington proclaimed two special days of thanksgiving during his
presidency, but did not move to make the holiday an annual one for the
nation. In the wake of the series of eight annual proclamations by the
Continental Congress, however, the holiday expanded beyond its prewar
base in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Both Rhode Island,
which has not celebrated an annual thanksgiving before Independence, and
Vermont, which has not existed before the war, now observed Thanksgiving
each year. The third state to make an attempt to establish Thanksgiving
Day in the eighteenth century was New York.

John Jay, in his first year as governor of New York, declared Thursday,
November 26, 1795, as Thanksgiving Day. Despite forebodings of the
political controversy that a Thanksgiving proclamation could provoke,
Jay issued a proclamation recommending that thanks be given for, in
addition to sundry noncontroversial causes, "preserving us from being
involved in wars. . . . which at this moment afflict and distress many
nations," and for "the valuablelife and usefulness of the President of
the United States." Democratic-Republicans . . . denounced this
proclamation as vehemently as any single act of Jay's regime . . . .

# The Political-Religious Imbroglio

Page 61

It had become customary for Thanksgiving proclamations, whether issued
by Federalist or Democratic-Republican governors, to have political
overtones, and for ministers to preach highly partisan sermons on the
day of thanks, sermons that were often reprinted as political tracts.
Even the prayers were sometimes political.

# Presidents and Thanksgiving

Page 64-65

Among the early presidents, only Washington, Adams and Madison declared
national days of prayer. At the request of Congress, President Madison
set aside August 20, 1812, September 9, 1813, and January 12, 1815, as
days of fasting and prayer during the War of 1812.

James Madison, a Founding Father committed to ensuring the separation of
church and state, studied the arguments closely before deciding that
national days of thanksgiving did not overstep his boundary. He
concluded that the propriety of Thanksgiving proclamations hinged on two
key elements, first, that the president might recommend but must not
order any citizen to participate in public worship, and, second, that
the invitation be issued on a basis of equality to all religious groups
and denominations, leaving citizens free to worship according to the
dictates of individual conscience.

Thomas Jefferson disagreed, considering himself barred from proclaiming
days of thanksgiving because "Civil powers alone have been given to the
President of the United States, and no authority to direct the religious
exercises of his constituents." Accordingly, Jefferson proclaimed no
public days of prayer during his administration.

New England born John Quincy Adams refused a request made by a
Presbyterian minister . . .to proclaim Thanksgiving Day for the District
of Columbia on the last Thursday in November, 1825. President Adams
wrote in his diary that he had no objections to issuing such a
proclamation, but preferred to follow the advice of his Cabinet in the
matter. Every Cabinet member present at the meeting viewed the proposed
Thanksgiving proclamation as politically unwise. Since Thanksgiving
would be a novelty in the District, Adams would open himself to charges
of exercising Presidential authority arbitrarily and of "introducing New
England manners."

Other early presidents agreed with Jefferson that the Constitution did
not grant to the president power to issue Thanksgiving proclamations,
decided to avoid provoking the political invective that previous
proclamations had aroused or preferred to leave this prerogative for
state governors to exercise and refrained from proclaiming days of
thanksgiving.