It proclaims the true
meaning of Thanksgiving:
To all Ye Pilgrims,
Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of
Indian corn, wheat, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the
forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch
as he has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from
pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to
the dictates of our own conscience; now I, your magistrate do proclaim that
all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and little ones, do gather at ye meeting
house, on ye hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the day time, on Thursday,
November ye 29th of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty-three,
and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen
to ye pastor, and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings.
William Bradford, Governor of Plymouth Colony, 1623
7.
The Thanksgiving celebration spread throughout the regions of the United States.
In 1789 America’s first president, George Washington declared that Thursday,
November 29, was to be a day to be devoted to giving thanks to Almighty God
for his kind care and protection of the people of this country. Later President
Abraham Lincoln in 1863 set apart the last Thursday in November as the national
holiday. It was at this time that family became an additional focus of the
holiday. Finally in 1941, during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration,
Thanksgiving was declared to be on the fourth Thursday of November.
Written by Cathy Bidelspach;
adapted for TIPS’ use by David Case, November 2004
Main Resource: American Holidays (Multi-Media Language Media, 1995)
Possible new words and definitions
Settlement a new colony, place for newcomers to live
Chiefmen recognized leader
Pilgrims a religious sect of 16th century English Christians that sought independence
from the State church
Pastor a leader or teacher of a church congregation
Puritans a religious sect similar to the Pilgrims that sought to “purify”
or “reform” the State sponsored church
Did not tolerate did not allow or permit
the obligations requirements, rules
go ashore go onto the land
savage wild, uneducated person (by Western standards)
raiders violent attackers, thieves
plague sickness resulting in death
puddin soft, sweet food (think jello pudding or rice or bread
pudding)
delicious food very good tasting food
monks religious men who live in a group or community
mysteriously without explanation
fanfare celebration
peace treaty an agreement to not fight eachother
mutual assistance and aid helping eachother
strenuous very hard(life)
to proclaim to announce or make a public statement
clumsy not very coordinated or smooth, unbalanced
maple syrup sweet liquid from maple trees, boiled until thick
(good on pancakes)
Ye “olde”
English for “you”
Inasmuch as means: “because”
Magistrate recognized leader, ruling authority
meeting house church or place of worship and prayer
render thanksgiving “give thanks”
a day to be devoted dedicated
Proclamation of President George Washington
October 3, 1789
Whereas it is 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, and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their
joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United
States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging
with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by
affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government
for their safety and happiness."
Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November
next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great
and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was,
that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him
our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People
of this country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold
mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced
in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility,
union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational
manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government
for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately
instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed,
and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge, and in
general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to
confer upon us.
Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln
October 12, 1864
It has pleased Almighty God to prolong our national life another year, defending
us with his guardian care against unfriendly designs from abroad, and vouchsafing
to us in His mercy many and signal victories over the enemy, who is of our
own household. It has also pleased our Heavenly Father to favor as well our
citizens in their homes as our soldiers in their camps and our sailors on
the rivers and seas with unusual health. He has largely augmented our free
population by emancipation and by immigration, while he has opened to us new
sources of wealth, and has crowned the labor of our working men in every department
of industry with abundant rewards. Moreover, He has been pleased to animate
and inspire our minds and hearts with fortitude, courage and resolution sufficient
for the great trial of civil war into which we have been brought by our adherence
as a nation to the cause of Freedom and Humanity, and to afford to us reasonable
hopes of an ultimate and happy deliverance from all our dangers and afflictions.
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do, hereby,
appoint and set apart the last Thursday in November next as a day, which I
desire to be observed by all my fellow-citizens wherever they may then be
as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to Almighty God the beneficent Creator
and Ruler of the Universe. And I do farther recommend to my fellow-citizens
aforesaid that on that occasion they do reverently humble themselves in the
dust and from thence offer up penitent and fervent prayers and supplications
to the Great Disposer of events for a return of the inestimable blessings
of Peace, Union and Harmony throughout the land, which it has pleased Him
to assign as a dwelling place for ourselves and for our posterity throughout
all generations.