Thanksgiving Sayings

thanksgiving history?

does anyone know the history of Thanksgiving and how it came about. Please don't put stupid answers down or anything it's a project I have to do for a class at school and i just needed some ideas. the teacher already okayed it that we can ask other people about it. anyone know?

Public Comments

1. there are a couple good articles on wikipedia that could help you out including http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving Happy thanksgiving http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmykFRHFUXU
2. I very rarely cite wikipedia, but this article makes it pretty easy to check sources for accuracy (which is always a good idea). This is not the same link as the person above provided: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving_(United_States) This is very interesting because it contains actual copies of letters to President FDR concerning the change in date for Thanksgiving: http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/thanksg.html
3. Thanksgiving is an American holiday descended from the English Harvest festival. It is also tied to the pilgrims in Plymouth, Massachusetts when, in 1621, they celebrated this harvest festival with the local Native Americans who had helped them through a harsh winter. Squanto, a Wampanoag Native American, taught the pilgrims how to catch eel and grow corn. He also had been a slave in Europe for a while and so acted as the translator between the Native Americans and pilgrims. The first Thanksgiving lasted three days. It was originally a religious observance. Technically though, the first Thanksgiving celebrated by English colonists in the U.S. was celebrated in Virginia in 1619 at Berkely Plantation (about 20 miles upstream from Jamestown). That's a very quick summary
4. The Pilgrims who sailed to this country aboard the Mayflower were originally members of the English Separatist Church (a Puritan sect). They had earlier fled their home in England and sailed to Holland (The Netherlands) to escape religious persecution. There, they enjoyed more religious tolerance, but they eventually became disenchanted with the Dutch way of life, thinking it ungodly. Seeking a better life, the Separatists negotiated with a London stock company to finance a pilgrimage to America. Most of those making the trip aboard the Mayflower were non-Separatists, but were hired to protect the company's interests. Only about one-third of the original colonists were Separatists. The Pilgrims set ground at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620. Their first winter was devastating. At the beginning of the following fall, they had lost 46 of the original 102 who sailed on the Mayflower. But the harvest of 1621 was a bountiful one. And the remaining colonists decided to celebrate with a feast -- including 91 Indians who had helped the Pilgrims survive their first year. It is believed that the Pilgrims would not have made it through the year without the help of the natives. The feast was more of a traditional English harvest festival than a true "thanksgiving" observance. It lasted three days. This "thanksgiving" feast was not repeated the following year. But in 1623, during a severe drought, the pilgrims gathered in a prayer service, praying for rain. When a long, steady rain followed the very next day, Governor Bradford proclaimed another day of Thanksgiving, again inviting their Indian friends. It wasn't until June of 1676 that another Day of Thanksgiving was proclaimed. On June 20, 1676, the governing council of Charlestown, Massachusetts, held a meeting to determine how best to express thanks for the good fortune that had seen their community securely established. By unanimous vote they instructed Edward Rawson, the clerk, to proclaim June 29 as a day of thanksgiving. It is notable that this thanksgiving celebration probably did not include the Indians, as the celebration was meant partly to be in recognition of the colonists' recent victory over the "heathen natives," (see the proclamation). October of 1777 marked the first time that all 13 colonies joined in a thanksgiving celebration. It also commemorated the patriotic victory over the British at Saratoga. But it was a one-time affair. George Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789, although some were opposed to it. There was discord among the colonies, many feeling the hardships of a few Pilgrims did not warrant a national holiday. And later, President Thomas Jefferson scoffed at the idea of having a day of thanksgiving. It was Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor, whose efforts eventually led to what we recognize as Thanksgiving. Hale wrote many editorials championing her cause in her Boston Ladies' Magazine, and later, in Godey's Lady's Book. Finally, after a 40-year campaign of writing editorials and letters to governors and presidents, Hale's obsession became a reality when, in 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving was proclaimed by every president after Lincoln. The date was changed a couple of times, most recently by Franklin Roosevelt, who set it up one week to the next-to-last Thursday in order to create a longer Christmas shopping season. Public uproar against this decision caused the president to move Thanksgiving back to its original date two years later. And in 1941, Thanksgiving was finally sanctioned by Congress as a legal holiday, as the fourth Thursday in November. http://wilstar.com/holidays/thankstr.htm