Early Thanksgivings:
Setting aside time to express gratitude and feasting to celebrate harvests where both practices that predated European and English arrival in North America. Similar practices are recorded as being part of life for more than one American Indian nation. Feasts of thanks were recorded by both the Spanish and French settlers who came to North America in the 16th century.
Thanksgiving card made by Patricia Donnelly of Cedar Lake Township for her her mother, 1950. SCHS Collections
Thanksgivings were also commonplace among the early British colonial settlers. The first settlement at Jamestown in 1610 routinely held thanksgiving feasts. In fact, it was written into their charter from the London Company that “the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned… in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.” Unlike modern Thanksgiving, these feasts did not take place on a particular day of the year. Instead, they were celebrated whenever a community thought recent events warranted a party.
The event that Americans commonly call the “First Thanksgiving” was celebrated by the Pilgrims in October 1621 after their first harvest in what they called the “new world”. This feast lasted three days. Attendee Edward Winslow described it thusly:
Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruits of our labor. They four in one day killed as much fowl as served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we retired our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days with whom we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which we brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty
Thanksgiving card listing beloved family members and friends, 1905. From the SCHS Collections
As feasts of thanksgiving were a relatively common cultural practice at the time, the Pilgrims’ feast with the Wampanoag was not identified as the first Thanksgiving until a booklet titled “Of Plymouth Plantation” was published in 1841. The booklet contained collected writings of the Plymouth colonial settlers. The editor, Alexander Young, pointed out the above passage as the original Thanksgiving in a footnote.
The United States:
Thanksgiving was a part of the national identity of the United States from its onset. During the revolutionary war, the Continental Congress declared one or more days of Thanksgiving each year. Rather then falling on an appointed day each year, these Thanksgivings were declared to honor individuals or events such as a battlefield victory. The proclamations were lengthy and wordy affairs, such as this December example:
It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive Powers of these United States to set apart Thursday, the eighteenth Day of December next, for Solemn Thanksgiving and Praise: That at one Time and with one Voice, the good People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts, and consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor; and that, together with their sincere Acknowledgments and Offerings, they may join the penitent Confession of their manifold Sins, whereby they had forfeited every Favor; and their humble and earnest Supplication that it may please God through the Merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of Remembrance; That it may please him graciously to afford his Blessing on the Governments of these States respectively, and prosper the public Council of the whole: To inspire our Commanders, both by Land and Sea, and all under them, with that Wisdom and Fortitude which may render them fit Instruments, under the Providence of Almighty God, to secure for these United States, the greatest of all human Blessings, Independence and Peace: That it may please him, to prosper the Trade and Manufactures of the People, and the Labor of the Husbandman, that our Land may yield its Increase: To take Schools and Seminaries of Education, so necessary for cultivating the Principles of true Liberty, Virtue and Piety, under his nurturing Hand; and to prosper the Means of Religion, for the promotion and enlargement of that Kingdom, which consisteth “in Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost.
After the end of the Revolutionary war, Thanksgivings continued be periodically declared. President John Adams proclaimed Thanksgivings in 1798 and 1799. Thomas Jefferson was a deist and a skeptic of the idea of divine intervention. Thanksgiving was at that time associated with giving thanks to God, not to other men, and because of this Jefferson did not declare any thanksgiving days during his presidency. James Madison renewed the tradition in 1814. Madison also declared the holiday twice in 1815; however, none of these were celebrated in conjunction with autumn or the harvest.
The Civil War
Thanksgiving as we know it came to life during the American Civil War. In 1863 Lincoln, in a bid for national unity, declared a national day of Thanksgiving, to be celebrated the final Thursday of November, 1863. Of this decision William Seward, Lincoln’s secretary of state, wrote:
Thanksgiving menu from the Mill Pond Club, Shakopee, 1956. From the SCHS Collections
In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom….It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving.
Since the Civil war a Thanksgiving, in one form or another, has been celebrated annually in the United States. While traditions have varied from feasts to shooting matches, charitable works to football games, Thanksgiving continues to be a time when Americans gather with family and friends to be thankful for the good things that have happened that year.
At the Scott County Historical Society, we are thankful for the wonderful members, volunteers and donors who help us to keep our doors open each day. We are also thankful for the interest in history and community that drives visitors to stop in and attend events. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!