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| And in 2012, we gather together to ask the Lord's blessing. |
Today's school children are typically taught that the first Thanksgiving was held in 1621 although there is little evidence to connect the gathering with our modern Thanksgiving Day. Please read on!
The true story of the Pilgrims begins in the early part of the seventeenth century. The Church of England under King James was persecuting subjects who refused to recognize it's absolute civil and spiritual power. The King did not grant his subjects the freedom to worship as they pleased. Death was typically the penalty for challenging the Church of England's ecclesiastical authority.
A group of members of the English Separatists Church - a Puritan sect - eventually could no longer tolerate this persecution and fled to Holland seeking religious freedom. They established a community in Holland but became disenchanted with the Dutch way of life and after twelve years around 40 men agreed to make a pilgrimage to the New World where they could worship God according to their own beliefs and consciences. (Additional reasons for their departure from Holland are noted in Of Pilgrim Plantation by William Bradford.)
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| Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor by William Halsall 1882 |
The Pilgrims entered Cape Cod in the early morning of November 11 and anchored in what is now Provincetown Harbor. Over the next month and a half they sent out exploring parties to seek a suitable place to build their colony. While the Mayflower lay off shore the colonists wrote the Mayflower Compact, drawing from the teachings of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, that established laws for all members of the settlement. William Bradford was the primary author. The laws were equal for all and freedom of religion was implicit.
The Mayflower arrived in Plymouth Harbor on December 17 and on December 21 the first landing party arrived and selected the site for their settlement which would be known as Plymouth. The winter ahead would test their courage and strength and claim 46 lives but their faith and passion for freedom remained strong.
When the spring finally came Indians taught the settlers many skills to survive in the New World including how to plant corn, use dead fish to fertilize the soil, and skin beavers for coats. Life improved but was far from prosperous.
The "first thanksgiving" in the fall of 1621 was simply a gathering over a period of three days for the purpose of expressing gratitude to God. The settlers invited Indians Massasoit, Squanto and Samoset along with 90 of their men. Their "feasts" included fish, berries, duck, geese, venison but probably not what we know today as turkey. The word "turkey" in Pilgrim days referred to any sort of wild fowl.
The next part of this story, and an important part of this story, is often omitted in teaching the history of the Pilgrims. The original contract the Pilgrims had entered into with their sponsors in London called for everything they produced to go into a common store and each member of the community was entitled to one common share. Everything would be distributed equally. In essence everything belonged equally to everyone.
This system of collectivism and communal property rights with everyone receiving the same rations whether they produced anything or not simply did not work and the Pilgrims did not prosper. Half of the Pilgrims did not work and depended on the others to provide for them. There was no incentive until, thanks to the leadership of William Bradford, the power of free enterprise was introduced.
In the spring of 1623 Bradford, who was now governor of the colony, realized that bad economic incentives rather than lack of farming knowledge or bad weather was preventing the prosperity of the colony. As he wrote years later in Of Plymouth Plantation, collectivism
"was found to breed much confusion and discontent, and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort. For young men that were most able and fit for labor and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men's wives and children without any recompense."
Bradford introduced a new system in which each family was assigned a plot of land to work and manage. Each family was permitted to market its own crops and products. They were free to set up trading posts and exchange goods with Indians. The result according to Bradford in Of Plymouth Plantation, was "very good success" because "it made all hands industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been."
While the Pilgrims still faced difficulties, thanks to the power of capitalism, they never again starved. Successful commerce enabled them to pay off their debts to the Merchant Adventurers and attracted more Europeans to the New World.
As Nick Gillespie and Meredith Bragg in Reason note, on Thanksgiving we should "give thanks to the true patron of this holiday feast: property rights."
On October 3, 1789 George Washington signed an historic proclamation entitled"General Thanksgiving" that set aside Thursday, November 26 as
"A Day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."There were numerous thanksgiving observances throughout the colonies in the years proceeding Washington's proclamation yet this was the first Thanksgiving designated by the new United States government. Most previous thanksgiving days were set aside for fasting and prayer. The states periodically had set aside days of thanksgiving to celebrate a military victory such as the thanksgiving held in December 1777 across the thirteen colonies to commemorate the surrender of British General Burgoyne at Saratoga.
On October 3, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for the observance of the last Tuesday of November as a national holiday. A late November Thanksgiving became a permanent celebration ever since.
In 1939 President Franklin D. Roosevelt changed the holiday to the third Thursday. This change was motivated by his desire to extend the Christmas shopping season but this change was unpopular and in 1841 it was changed back to the fourth Thursday and sanctioned by Congress as a legal holiday.
Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford
Mayflower Compact
When Work is Punished
Happy Thanksgiving!!
