In 1621, the Plymouth colonists the Pilgrims and Wampanoag
Indians shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as one of the
first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies.
In 1623, Governor
Bradford proclaimed November 29 as a time for pilgrims to gather and
"listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all
His blessings."
In 1789 George Washington
proclaimed a National Thanksgiving Day on the last Thursday in November, in
honor of the new United States Constitution. Thomas Jefferson, the third
president, later discontinued it, calling it "a kingly practice."
For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were
celebrated by individual colonies and states. It wasn't until 1863, in the
midst of the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national
Thanksgiving Day to be held each November.
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