Thanksgiving Proclamations Way Before Lincoln Did It -Thanks Jersey Guys

On October 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln designated Thursday, November 26, 1863, as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer. While many recognize President Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving proclamation, many don’t know that two New Jersey statesmen persuaded President George Washington to declare the last Thursday in November “a day of thanks” across the new American nation. And then there is Francis Bernard. Let Mr. Local History tell you a story……

Introduction

Most people think Thanksgiving grew from a single moment in American history, but the tradition actually passed through the hands of five very different figures across more than two centuries. From the early Pilgrim celebration in 1621 to the colonial directive of Royal Governor Francis Bernard, the congressional call by Elias Boudinot, the first national proclamation by President George Washington, and finally the unifying message issued by President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, four distinct proclamations helped shape the Thanksgiving observance we know today.

1621 – Ah, Yes The Pilgrams

The roots of Thanksgiving in America reach back to the Pilgrims at Plymouth. In the fall of 1621, they held a three-day harvest celebration with their Wampanoag neighbors, marking their first successful season in the new land. It was not yet a national holiday, just a humble gathering of gratitude after a year of hardship. Two years later, in 1623, the Pilgrims held their first true day of thanksgiving, a religious observance called after rain saved their drought-stricken crops. This early New England tradition laid the groundwork for the formal thanksgiving proclamations that followed in the colonial era.

Massachusetts Governor & Former NJ Royal Governor Francis Bernard was Thankful in 1766

In early November 1764, Royal Governor Francis Bernard proclaimed a general day of thanksgiving throughout Massachusetts. He appointed Thursday, November 29th, as a day for the people of the province to gather in their churches and offer humble thanks to God for the blessings of the past year. Bernard’s proclamation noted the end of the French and Indian War, the peace within the British Empire, the health of King George the Third and the royal family, the prosperity of trade, and the success of the harvest. He also emphasized the recent advances in medical knowledge that allowed the practice of smallpox inoculation, which he called a providential gift that spared many lives. The proclamation invited every parish to join in this day of gratitude and to continue in obedience to the laws and loyalty to the king.

On November 6, 1766, the Proclamation was approved, authorizing November 27, 1766, as a “General Day of pubic Thanksgiving” where no labor would be done in Massachusetts.

I

Continental Congress Thanksgiving Proclamation, November 1, 1777

n the fall of 1777, with Washington’s army battered but the stunning victory at Saratoga fresh in everyone’s mind, the Continental Congress meeting at York, Pennsylvania voted on November 1 to call for a single day of thanksgiving across all thirteen states. They set Thursday, December 18, 1777 as a day when Americans would close their shops and gather in churches to thank God for the military success at Saratoga and for the hope that the struggle for independence might finally be turning their way.

Elias Boudinot was not yet seated as a delegate when that specific proclamation passed, but he was already deeply in the middle of the war effort as Washington’s commissary general of prisoners, the man charged with caring for American captives and arranging exchanges. Only a few weeks later, New Jersey chose him for the Continental Congress, where he joined the same body that had just launched this new national pattern of days of fasting and thanksgiving.

Boudinot’s real Thanksgiving legacy is that he carried this spirit forward. Years later in the new federal Congress, he was the one who rose and asked that President George Washington proclaim a national day of public thanksgiving and prayer, which led directly to Washington’s famous Thanksgiving proclamation of 1789.

Basking Ridge’s Boudinot’s advocacy laid the groundwork for Thanksgiving as a national observance, though it remained sporadic until President Abraham Lincoln institutionalized it as an annual holiday in 1863. Boudinot’s actions reflect his belief in the importance of faith and gratitude in public life.

FORASMUCH as it is the indispensible duty of all men to adore the superintending providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with gratitude their obligations to Him for benefits received, and to implore such farther blessings as they stand in need of. And it having pleased Him in his abundant mercy, not only to continue to us the innumerable bounties of His common providence; but also to smile upon us in the prosecution of a just and necessary war, for the defence and establishment of our unalienable rights and liberties; particularly in that He hath been pleased, in so great a measure, to prosper the means used for the support of our troops and to crown our arms with most signal success.

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 favour; 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 continue to us the blessings of peace, union and harmony; 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. And it is further recommended, that servile labour, and such recreation, as though at other times innocent, may be unbecoming the purpose of this appointment, may be omitted on so solemn an occasion.

By order of CONGRESS,
HENRY LAURENS, President.

STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. Council Chamber, in Boston, November 27, 1777.

AGREEABLE to the above recommendation of the HONOURABLE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, by the advice of the COUNCIL and at the desire of the HOUSE of REPRESENTATIVES, I have thought fit to appoint, and do hereby appoint THURSDAY the eighteenth day of December next, to be observed throughout this State as a day of public THANKSGIVING and PRAISE. And I do hereby call upon all ministers and people of every denomination, religiously to observe the said day accordingly. GOD Save the UNITED STATES of AMERICA!

1782 – Thanksgiving Proclamation Elias Boudinot, President of the 2nd Congress

The famous Thanksgiving proclamation of that period was issued by the United States in Congress assembled on October 11, 1782 in Philadelphia, calling on Americans to keep Thursday, November 28, 1782, as a day of solemn thanksgiving for the progress of the war, the alliance with France, and the hopeful approach of peace after Yorktown. That proclamation is formally signed by John Hanson as president of Congress, not yet by Elias Boudinot.

Elias Boudinot was already a leading delegate from New Jersey and part of the group that favored these recurring national days of prayer and thanks. A few weeks later, on November 4 1782, he was elected president of the Congress of the Confederation, serving into 1783. As president, he continued the practice, and the next year a similar Thanksgiving proclamation dated October 18, 1783, was issued under the seal of Congress and attested with the line “witness his Excellency Elias Boudinot, our President in Congress.”

So, in short, the 1782 Thanksgiving proclamation itself carries John Hanson’s signature, while Elias Boudinot picks up the story immediately afterward, presiding over Congress and personally signing the 1783 national Thanksgiving proclamation, which is likely the document people have in mind when they say “Thanksgiving Proclamation Elias Boudinot President of Congress.”

1789 – President Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation

In 1789, while serving as a Congressman from New Jersey, Elias Boudinot proposed that the House of Representatives request President George Washington to declare a national day of thanksgiving. This was intended to express gratitude for the new Constitution and the establishment of a stable government following the American Revolution.

In response to this resolution, George Washington issued the first presidential Thanksgiving Proclamation on October 3, 1789, designating Thursday, November 26, 1789, as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer. Washington’s proclamation called on Americans to give thanks for the successful conclusion of the Revolutionary War, the ratification of the Constitution, and other blessings.

Modern Thanksgiving was proclaimed by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 for all states.

Thanksgiving Mr. Local History & Memories

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