Being Thankful is an American tradition. It began with the settlers who arrived in Massachusetts in 1620. They had a rough first winter, where over half of the original 108 died of disease and the harshness of the winter. The following year, 1621, God supplied a Native American who spoke English who taught them how to plant crops in this New World. If it wasn’t God, then it was one of those incredible history-changing coincidences. They decided to have a celebration at harvest time to give thanks to God for their provision. They had many reasons to give thanks.
President George Washington called for a “celebratory day of thanksgiving and prayer” in 1789 after years of war with England and the establishment of the American Republic. He and his fellow Revolutionaries had many reasons to celebrate- they had defeated the mightiest army in the world!
President Abraham Lincoln likewise issued a proclamation for a national day of thanksgiving after the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War for Thursday, November 26, 1863. The greatest threat to the united Republic had been defeated- they had many reasons to give thanks. After that, “Thanksgiving Day” became an American tradition which was finally set into law as a national holiday on the fourth Thursday in November by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1941 after years of economic depression.
Getting through the Great Depression was reason enough for our nation to give thanks. Within a month of that first official Thanksgiving Day we would be attacked by the Japanese Empire at Pearl Harbor and within days Nazi Germany would declare war against the United States. That war would last for the next four years, and with victory over these two evil empires, we had many many reasons to give thanks.
See the trend? When we face national struggles successfully, our nation afterward turns to God to give thanks for His intervention into our affairs.
