Reflections on the Origin of Thanksgiving and Its Influence on America

In this week's episode of Defending Faith, Family, and Freedom with Gary Bauer, senior vice president of public policy at the James Dobson Family Institute, Bauer embarks on a journey that traces the origins of the first Thanksgiving celebrated by the Pilgrims in the autumn of 1621. This first Thanksgiving came as a result of a harsh 1620 winter, where as many as half the original colonists died. It was after a strong crop harvest the following year that the Pilgrims decided to hold a day of celebration and prayer, and they invited their Native American friends, who had helped them along the way, to join them. Fast forward 168 years, when our nation’s first President, George Washington, issued the Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789, which described in its opening sentence what the occasion was all about. President Washington wrote: “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…” Seventy-four years later, Abraham Lincoln in his 1863 proclamation urged all Americans to observe the last Thursday of November “… as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.” The fact that Lincoln could call for such a day even during the sufferings of the Civil War demonstrates how much he believed that all our blessings came from the “Most High God.” With this act, the American tradition of Thanksgiving was ensconced into our culture. May we never forget.