A little American history never hurt anyone...

Thanksgiving - since when?

While it seems as though Thanksgiving, our greatest family get-together holiday, has been here forever, it only became our lawful national tradition recently, and not without some bickering, the efforts of a citizen activist and congressional backroom compromises.

The version of Thanksgiving being traditionally associated with a 1621 Pilgrim end-of-harvest feast, which included a guest list of neighboring first-citizen Indians, is the common assumption. While that is our popular vision, the Pilgrims would have used such feasts to celebrate many different harvest occasions, and even to celebrate winning battles or even to celebrate the end of droughts.

But as the country became more populated with immigrants and occupied more space, the newer citizens recognized no such tradition.

It wasn't until our hard-won Revolutionary War with England and the formation of an independent nation, with an elected body of citizen representatives, that Thanksgiving began to take shape. It happened after Congress passed its governing document, the Constitution, and the document was ratified by the 13 colonies, turning them into states. Only then did Congress ask the newly elected President George Washington to declare a deserved proclamation to create a day of thanksgiving for the new nation.

On Oct. 8 of the year 1789, President Washington proclaimed Thursday, Nov. 26, of that year as a "Day of Publick Thanksgivin" to celebrate the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. But it's more likely those celebrations were held in "publick houses," over drink, smoke or the discharge of gunpowder while invitations to the country's first citizens were probably overlooked. Not very family-oriented celebrations at all.

Presidential proclamations for continuing a day of Thanksgiving continued by subsequent presidents, but not all of them were adopted, observed or celebrated by the new country's old or newly emerging states. The matter of design for the day of Thanksgiving was not celebrated in a particular manner, (like today's), nor was it even considered to be a recognized national holiday.

In 1846, a recognized magazine editor in New Hampshire, Sarah Josepha Hale, began a letter-writing campaign to our government's elected representatives to encourage establishing Thanksgiving as a national holiday. Hale was a noted novelist, activist and magazine editor. She is also known for having composed the popular rhyme "Mary had a little lamb."

Hale continued her letter writings and magazine editorials for 17 years until, in 1863, deep into the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln took note of her pleadings. Feeling the country needed a symbol to promote the nation's healing attitude, Lincoln declared Nov. 26 a National Day of Thanksgiving.

The proclamation seemed to help. It unified a divided nation by bringing everyone to a table where companionship and enjoyment of food eased the tension. We began to realize we were stronger together.

Nearly 80 years later in 1941, Congress created the fourth Thursday of November as the official Thanksgiving Day. Instead of a particular date, we had a floating time of month, and it passed into law. Well, almost. Before it was passed into law, there was much back and forth of political discussion and compromise. The House of Representatives declared its version belongs to the last Thursday of November, but sometimes November has five Thursdays in its calendar. The Senate realized that could deduct some days off the break before Thanksgiving and the Christmas holidays so senators offered the compromise of the fourth Thursday. Thus, Thanksgiving became the law that it now remains.

Which reminds me an Otto von Bismarck quote, "If you like laws and sausages, you should never watch either one being made."

Now, go and enjoy your family, friends and those of us who are pleased to partake in the banquet of our national Thanksgiving holiday. And give thanks for the blessings of this country, and its citizens, and its commerce that offers us such riches to enjoy.