Thanksgiving

From Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine, October 1860, p 271

 "THANKSGIVING--the new National Holiday.
We must advert once more to this grand object of nationalizing Thanksgiving Day, by adopting, as a permanent rule, the last Thursday in November in all the States. Last year, 1859, thirty States and three Territories held Thanksgiving on the same day--the last Thursday in November. This year we hope that every State and Territory will be included in the list. Last year this Thanksgiving was observed by the American residents in Paris, Berlin, and Berne; in the last two cities the American ministers to Switzerland and Prussia took the leading part in the festivities. Thanksgiving was also held on board two of the American squadrons, that of the Mediterranean and the Africa; and, moreover, several of the American missionary establishments in foreign lands have signified their willingness to set apart the day named. This year the last Thursday in November falls on the 29th. If all the States and Territories hold their Thanksgiving on that day, there will be a complete moral and social reunion of the people of America in 1860. Would not this be a good omen for the perpetual political union of the States? May God grant us not only the omen, but the fulfilment is our dearest wish!"

From Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine, November 1864, p 440

OUR NATIONAL THANKSGIVING-A DOMESTIC FESTIVAL

(HELD YEARLY ON THE LAST THURSDAY IN NOVEMBER.)

On the twenty-fourth of this month recurs the Day - "the last Thursday in November" - which has now become firmly established as one of the three National Festivals of America.

"The Birth of Washington", which brings before all minds the example of the patriot hero and the Christian man; "Independence Day," which reminds us of the free principles on which our Government was founded; and "Thanksgiving Day," which lifts our hearts to Heaven in grateful devotion, and knits them together in bonds of social affection - are three anniversaries such as no other People have the food fortune to enjoy. We fervently trust that, so long as the nation endures, these three Festivals will continue to be observed with an ever deepening sense of their beauty and value.

In our endeavors, which have been continued for many years, to secure the recognition of one day throughout the land as the Day of public Thanksgiving, we are conscious of not having in any manner gone beyond the proper limits of the sphere which we have prescribed for the Lady's Book. It is the peculiar happiness of Thanksgiving Day that nothing political mingles in its observance. It is in its very nature a religious and domestic holiday. It belongs to the altar and the hearth, at which woman should ever be present; and the women of our country should take this day under their peculiar charge, and sanctify it to acts of piety, charity, and domestic love.

There is one duty connected with the day which on the present occasion should be especially called to mind. In the divine order which was given to the Israelites for the celebration of their great National Festival, the "Feast of Weeks," they were bidden to "eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared." Although Providence has blessed our land with an abounding harvest, we must remember that there are among us many who will have but a scanty and insufficient share in this abundance. The civil war has given to our care many maimed and helpless men, many widows and orphans, many destitute refuges. Notwithstanding all the provision made by Government, there will be ample room for all that private benevolence can bestow. Let us each see to it that on this one day they shall be no family or individual, within the compass of our means to help, who shall not have some portion prepared, and some reason to join in the general Thanksgiving.

Who can estimate the benefits and blessings which may flow from the faithful observance of this happy Festival? For one day the strife of parties will be hushed, the cares of business will be put aside, and all hearts will join in common emotions of gratitude and good-will. We may even hope that for one day war itself will cease by common consent, as was the custom in the Middle Ages during the solemn church Festival known as the "Truce of God;" and it is not impossible that sentiments may then be awakened which will aid in bringing on that return of true union and peace which is so earnestly desired.

At all events, we may be sure that, wherever it is possible, among our war-torn soldiers in every camp and hospital, among our gallant sailors on every sea, among our devoted missionaries, laboring throughout all heathendom, among patriotic Americans in every foreign country, as well as among millions of homes in our own wide land, between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, this great National and Domestic Festival will be celebrated with happy recollections and cheerful hopes, and with grateful and softened hearts.

Let us all, with devout thankfulness to the beneficent Giver of all good gifts, do out best to make this coming Thanksgiving Day a foretaste of that happy period of "peace on earth and good-will among men," in which all wrongs and sufferings from evil are to dissolve like shadows before the noonday sun, in the righteousness and goodness which will crown the glorious reign of Christ on earth.

Note. - On the last Thursday in November, 1859, the following States united in holding their Thanksgiving by proclamations from their respective Governors, thus, by the will of the People, sanctioning the establishment of this National and Domestic Festival as an American institution : Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa; Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas, (then a territory), California, Nebraska Territory, District of Columbia.

In November, 1860, the number was about the same, and also this American Festival was celebrated by the resident Americans abroad, by our embassies, and on board our fleets. Last year, 1863, the Day was appointed by the President, and was joyfully observed in our own land, wherever the American flag held sway, and in the Old World wherever the knowledge of this fixed day, the last Thursday in November, was known to American residents as the American Festival.

Here are two quotes, both which talk about the importance of turkey. Unfortunately they are both New England. The second is from Rhode Island. 

"We had a great supper, with the two indispensable Thanksgiving-day dishes, roast turkey and pumpkin pudding. It is asserted that the turkeys in the states of New England always look dejected as the time of Thanksgiving approaches, because then there is a great slaughter among them."
Fredrika Bremer, The Homes of the New World; Impressions of America, 1853

"Thanksgiving-day is generally fixed in November, and corresponds in its festive character to the celebration of Christmas in England. The people shut up their stores and places of business; go to church, chapel of conventicle in the forenoon or afternoon, or both, and devote the remainder of the day to such social pleasure and jollity as the custom of the place may sanction. The dinner, at which the piece de rigueur is roast turkey, is the great event of the day. As roast beef and plum pudding are upon Christmas-day in Old England, so is turkey upon Thanksgiving-day among the descendants of the Puritans in New England." 
Charles Mackay, Life and Liberty in America; or Sketches of a tour in the United States and Canada, in 1857-8.

Thanksgiving was well established in New England by the 1820s. As example, Sarah Josepha Hale wrote her short story, "Thanksgiving," in 1827. Many states, primarily among the Yankee Diaspora in the Midwest, had annual proclamations. It was probably considered equal to or more important than Christmas Day through the Civil War era. As is the wont of many New Englanders, there was a desire to pass a law to formally establish what was already practiced. 
Diana Karter Applebaum, Thanksgiving: An American Holiday (1984).

A menu was found for a Pilgrim Thanksgiving in 1621 (between Sept. 21 and November 9). It is possible that they served, turkey (or any guinea fowl, which is a bird with a featherless head, rounded body and dark feathers speckled with white), venison, watercress, leeks, a bread made of boiled corn (kneaded into round cakes and fried in available fat), wild plums and dried berries. Other items probably consumed were duck, goose, clams and other shellfish, smoked eels, and washed down with wild grape wine. The next Thanksgiving was celebrated on July 30, 1623. Turkey was definitely served along with cranberries and pumpkin pie.

Thanksgiving as a National Holiday, by Virginia Mescher

When we think of Thanksgiving Day, we usually think of the Pilgrims, Indians and a great deal of food. There has always been a controversy with Thanksgiving as to whether Virginia celebrated the concept first or the Pilgrims in Massachusetts, but when the first celebration took place is secondary to the continuation and the acceptance of Thanksgiving as a national holiday. Most of us take the holiday for granted and assume it has always celebrated nationwide since Thanksgiving was first noted, but that is untrue.

In 1777 the thirteen colonies celebrated a day of thanksgiving commemorating the victory over the British at Saratoga, but it was only celebrated as a one-time occasion. It was not until 1789 that George Washington issued a proclamation declaring Thanksgiving Day as a national holiday, but dissention between the colonies prevented it from becoming a reality. Different communities celebrated Thanksgiving at different times and for different reasons, so it was difficult even to have it declared a statewide holiday, much less have all the states agree to Thanksgiving as national holiday. Many Americans did not think that the hardships the colonists suffered were deserving of national status. Even Thomas Jefferson condemned national recognition in both of his terms of office.

Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of Godey's Ladies' Book, should be given credit for the establishment of Thanksgiving as a national holiday. As early as 1827 she began a one-woman crusade to have Thanksgiving celebrated nationwide as a holiday. In her book, Northwood, she wrote, "We have too few holidays. Thanksgiving like the Fourth of July should be considered a national festival and observed by all our people...as a exponent of our Republican institutions." Using the magazines that she edited, Ladies' Magazine and Godey's Lady's Book, as platforms for her crusade, she continued to campaign for Thanksgiving as a national holiday. In 1835, she wrote, "There is a deep moral influence in these periodical seasons of rejoicing, in which whole communities participate. They bring out, and together, as it were, the best sympathies in our natures." She viewed the nationwide celebration as a logical bond of the Union. 

In 1846 Sarah began in earnest to petition the governors of the states and territories to establish a common day in which to celebrate Thanksgiving. She advocated, like Washington, that the last Thursday of November should be set aside for the day. Every year, beginning in June or July, she would announce in her editorials in Godey's, her progress in achieving her goal. She literally wrote thousands of letters in her quest, but only a few of those letters or replies have survived. In 1852, she announced that twenty-nine states (all except Virginia and Vermont) and all the territories were to celebrate Thanksgiving on the same day.

In 1859, she believed that the national celebration of Thanksgiving would bring the Union together and avert war. In her September, 1859 editorial, Sarah stated, "If every state would join in Union Thanksgiving on the 24th of this month, would it not be a renewed pledge of love and loyalty of the Constitution of the United States which guarantees peace, prosperity, progress and perpetuity to our great Republic?" In that year, thirty states and three territories celebrated Thanksgiving Day on the last Thursday of November, but it was not enough to stem the tide of war. Sarah did not stop there, but still wanted it declared a national holiday in order to assure the celebration every year.

Sarah begged in her November, 1861 editorial for a Thanksgiving Day of Peace, pleading that "we lay aside our enmities and strifes...on this one day." War did not stop her quest for a national holiday. 

In 1863 her quest met with success. Sarah had visited Lincoln, pleading her cause. The Union had just won the battle of Gettysburg. Her editorial in the September, 1863 issue of Godey's contained a fervent and patriotic plea, "to offer God our tribute of joy and gratitude for the blessings of the year." She also suggested that the proclamation should be issued by the President of the United States and then be applied by the governors of each state. Together with the Gettysburg victory and her editorial, Lincoln was prompted to issue a proclamation on October 3, 1863 setting aside the last Thursday in November as day of national Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving continued to be celebrated by the nation on the last Thursday of November until 1939, when Franklin Roosevelt changed day of celebration to the third Thursday of November. Store merchants petitioned the President the make the change, so there would be more shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This change outraged many Americans and in protest continued to celebrate Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of November. In the spring of 1941, Roosevelt admitted that a mistake had been made, and he shifted the holiday back to the original day. 

Even though many others have played a part in the story of Thanksgiving, Sarah Josepha Hale should be given more credit for diligence in her quest of a national day of Thanksgiving.

References:

Finley, Ruth E., The Lady of Godey's, J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, 1931.

______, Godey's Ladies' Book, Sarah Josepha Hale, editor, Louis Godey, publisher, Philadelphia, September, 1859, November, 1861, September, 1863 issues.

Hale, Sarah Josepha, Northwood, Johnson Reprint Corp., NY, 1970.

Panati, Charles, Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things, Harper & Row, NY, 1987.