thedrifter
11-27-03, 08:27 AM
"NOVEMBER THANKSGIVING THURSDAY":
ORIGINS OF FOURTH THURSDAY OF NOVEMBER AS THANKSGIVING DAY
By Camilia Belcher
Why is Thanksgiving Day officially observed on the fourth Thursday of November?
Though the United States' thanksgiving celebration on the fourth Thursday of November began with the United States Congressional declaration of 1941 establishing that weekday as the legal holiday of Thanksgiving Day, earlier United States Presidential Proclamations called for the last Thursday of November to be celebrated as Thanksgiving. Those Presidential Proclamations, in turn, built upon an American Colonial tradition--predating the formation of the United States-- establishing a Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. And the Thanksgiving Day Proclamations issued by American Colonial Governor Jonathan Belcher (1682-1757) played an important role in the origin of "November Thanksgiving Thursday."
This is a little-known history not mentioned by other articles, which, after discussing the "first" Thanksgiving, typically begin their list of Thanksgiving Day proclamations with the one issued in 1789 by United States President George Washington naming November 26 as Thanksgiving Day. Next mentioned is often United States President Abraham Lincoln's Proclamation of 1863, which declared that the last Thursday of November should be celebrated as a day of thanksgiving. Succeeding U. S. Presidents followed Lincoln's lead, and this began the annual practice of U. S. Presidential proclamations calling on the people to celebrate Thanksgiving holiday on the last Thursday of November. Then, in 1941, the United States Congress declared that in the years thereafter, the national legal holiday of Thanksgiving Day would be on November's fourth Thursday.
The Colonial tradition most often discussed is that of the "First Thanksgiving" in New England celebrated by the settlers of the Plymouth Colony (commonly considered to be in Fall 1621). According to some researchers, Plymouth's first documented Thanksgiving Day was the day of thanksgiving observed in 1623--but this thanksgiving celebration was in Summer (probably July). Some researchers consider the "first" Thanksgiving proclamation to be the one issued by the Charlestown, Massachusetts council for a day of thanksgiving in 1676--but again, a summer day was selected: June 29.
In 1721, Governor Gurdon Saltonstall of the Connecticut Colony (formerly, the home colony of Governor Jonathan Belcher's mother Sarah Gilbert Belcher) issued a Thanksgiving Proclamation naming November 8 as a thanksgiving day--but that day was a Wednesday. Some descriptions of Thanksgiving briefly touch upon American Colonial history when they discuss Plymouth Governor William Bradford's Thanksgiving Days in December 1621 and Summer 1623 and then move on to U. S. President George Washington's Thanksgiving Day Proclamation naming November 26, 1789.
Less well known is that celebration of Thanksgiving in November didn't begin with George Washington. There were earlier November Thanksgiving Day proclamations issued by Colonial governors in the American colonies. And among the most important were those issued by Colonial Governor Jonathan Belcher.
Perhaps U. S. President George Washington got his November 26 date by following the lead of someone else. Let's follow the trail backward to reconstruct the origins of "November Thanksgiving Thursday"....
About seven years prior to Washington's 1789 proclamation, the United States Continental Congress' Thanksgiving Proclamation urged the newly-formed American states to observe Thursday, November 28, 1782 as a Thanksgiving Day. The Congress' Proclamation was signed by the President of the Continental Congress, John Hanson (1721-1783), and the Secretary of the Continental Congress, Charles Thomson (1729-1824), the co-designer of the Great Seal of the United States and a man who might have had a link to American Colonial Governor Jonathan Belcher. (For a discussion of how Governor Belcher's coat of arms apparently became the template for the Great Seal of the United States and Thomson's role in this, see The Great Seal of the United States and the Belcher Coat of Arms.)
Interestingly, Hanson and Thomson were in power at the time the Great Seal of the United States (especially its Coat of Arms portion) was designed on June 19, 1782 (the final design seems to have been come up with overnight under the supervision of Charles Thomson) and adopted by the Continental Congress (of which Hanson was the President and Thomson was the Secretary) on June 20, 1782. (The Congress had turned the work of finishing the Great Seal (U. S. Coat of Arms) over to Secretary Thomson on June 13, who, as the Great Seal and Belcher Coat of Arms article explains, probably was linked to Governor Belcher through Belcher's acquaintance with Benjamin Franklin (member of the first committee to design the U. S. Seal). Since Governor Belcher also had a link to Elias Boudinot (member of the third (final) committee to design the U. S. Seal--the committee that turned the work of designing it over to Barton, who was later supervised by Secretary Thomson), the design of the Coat of Arms of the United States (displayed on the breast of the eagle as part of the Great Seal of the United States) had ties to Governor Belcher from the beginning to the end of the seal-designing process. (For further information, read the article The Great Seal of the United States and the Belcher Coat of Arms.)
(Interestingly, on September 16, 1782, President of Continental Congress Hanson was the first to use the new Great Seal of the United States, which had been entrusted to the custody of Secretary Thomson. In 1789, Thomson personally delivered the Seal to the new President of the United States, George Washington, when Thomson resigned his post as the only Secretary of the Continental Congress (1774-1789)).
There is another interesting connection associated with a Thanksgiving Proclamation issued in 1774 (the year Thomson became Secretary of the Continental Congress) at the dawn of the American Revolution (though this proclamation, issued by a legislature instead of a governor, called for a Thursday in December). The Massachusetts Provincial Congress proclaimed December 15, 1774, to be a Day of Public Thanksgiving throughout Massachusetts. This resolution was written by a committee of three headed by Governor Belcher's friend, John Winthrop (1714-1779), a professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Harvard College. (It was Governor Belcher who originally recommended John Winthrop to Benjamin Franklin and that's how Franklin and Winthrop struck up their acquaintance. Professor Winthrop's father, Judge Adam Winthrop, was one of Governor Belcher's special friends.) The signer of the Proclamation was the President of the Provincial Congress, John Hancock, a good friend of William Cooper's son, famed Revolutionary minister Samuel Cooper (1725-1783), who ghost-wrote some of Hancock's articles for the press. (Cooper also was a good friend of Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, two of the three members of the first committee for designing the Great Seal of the United States.) The two Coopers were also Governor Belcher's friends; not only did the governor commend the ability of Samuel Cooper, but also Governor Belcher specifically selected William Cooper to write and deliver a significant election day sermon in 1740 that set the stage for the U. S. Constitution's First Amendment religion clauses.)
Though the Winthrop Proclamation of 1774 specified Thursday as Thanksgiving Day, it named a day in December. Hanson and Thomson's Proclamation of 1782 specified Thursday, November 28, and Washington's Proclamation of 1789 specified Thursday, November 26.
Maybe Hanson-Thomson and Washington were inspired by the November Thursday Thanksgiving dates established in 1730 and 1749 by Colonial Governor Jonathan Belcher.
Could the fact that Washington's date of November 26 was a Thursday have had anything to do with Thursday being later selected as a Thanksgiving date by President Abraham Lincoln (one of our greatest U. S. Presidents)? (Though in the same year Washington issued his Thanksgiving proclamation, a November Thursday was selected as a Thanksgiving date by the Episcopal Church, this Thursday was the first Thursday in November. In contrast, President Lincoln selected the last Thursday in November--a date closer to Governor Belcher's November 23, 1749; Hanson-Thomson's November 28, 1782, and President Washington's November 26, 1789 dates.)
Governor Belcher's first Thanksgiving proclamation that established a Thursday in November as the Thanksgiving Day date was his Proclamation for Day of Thanksgiving printed in the November 2, 1730 issue of The New England Weekly Journal, clearly specifying that "THURSDAY the TWELFTH of NOVEMBER next" was to be "a day of Public THANKSGIVING throughout this Province." This Thanksgiving Proclamation specifically mentioned offering up prayer to God for "granting us a plentiful HARVEST", among other enumerated blessings. Thus, Thursday, November 12, 1730 was Governor Jonathan Belcher's First Thanksgiving Proclamation. It specifically mentioned a Thursday in November.
continued........
ORIGINS OF FOURTH THURSDAY OF NOVEMBER AS THANKSGIVING DAY
By Camilia Belcher
Why is Thanksgiving Day officially observed on the fourth Thursday of November?
Though the United States' thanksgiving celebration on the fourth Thursday of November began with the United States Congressional declaration of 1941 establishing that weekday as the legal holiday of Thanksgiving Day, earlier United States Presidential Proclamations called for the last Thursday of November to be celebrated as Thanksgiving. Those Presidential Proclamations, in turn, built upon an American Colonial tradition--predating the formation of the United States-- establishing a Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. And the Thanksgiving Day Proclamations issued by American Colonial Governor Jonathan Belcher (1682-1757) played an important role in the origin of "November Thanksgiving Thursday."
This is a little-known history not mentioned by other articles, which, after discussing the "first" Thanksgiving, typically begin their list of Thanksgiving Day proclamations with the one issued in 1789 by United States President George Washington naming November 26 as Thanksgiving Day. Next mentioned is often United States President Abraham Lincoln's Proclamation of 1863, which declared that the last Thursday of November should be celebrated as a day of thanksgiving. Succeeding U. S. Presidents followed Lincoln's lead, and this began the annual practice of U. S. Presidential proclamations calling on the people to celebrate Thanksgiving holiday on the last Thursday of November. Then, in 1941, the United States Congress declared that in the years thereafter, the national legal holiday of Thanksgiving Day would be on November's fourth Thursday.
The Colonial tradition most often discussed is that of the "First Thanksgiving" in New England celebrated by the settlers of the Plymouth Colony (commonly considered to be in Fall 1621). According to some researchers, Plymouth's first documented Thanksgiving Day was the day of thanksgiving observed in 1623--but this thanksgiving celebration was in Summer (probably July). Some researchers consider the "first" Thanksgiving proclamation to be the one issued by the Charlestown, Massachusetts council for a day of thanksgiving in 1676--but again, a summer day was selected: June 29.
In 1721, Governor Gurdon Saltonstall of the Connecticut Colony (formerly, the home colony of Governor Jonathan Belcher's mother Sarah Gilbert Belcher) issued a Thanksgiving Proclamation naming November 8 as a thanksgiving day--but that day was a Wednesday. Some descriptions of Thanksgiving briefly touch upon American Colonial history when they discuss Plymouth Governor William Bradford's Thanksgiving Days in December 1621 and Summer 1623 and then move on to U. S. President George Washington's Thanksgiving Day Proclamation naming November 26, 1789.
Less well known is that celebration of Thanksgiving in November didn't begin with George Washington. There were earlier November Thanksgiving Day proclamations issued by Colonial governors in the American colonies. And among the most important were those issued by Colonial Governor Jonathan Belcher.
Perhaps U. S. President George Washington got his November 26 date by following the lead of someone else. Let's follow the trail backward to reconstruct the origins of "November Thanksgiving Thursday"....
About seven years prior to Washington's 1789 proclamation, the United States Continental Congress' Thanksgiving Proclamation urged the newly-formed American states to observe Thursday, November 28, 1782 as a Thanksgiving Day. The Congress' Proclamation was signed by the President of the Continental Congress, John Hanson (1721-1783), and the Secretary of the Continental Congress, Charles Thomson (1729-1824), the co-designer of the Great Seal of the United States and a man who might have had a link to American Colonial Governor Jonathan Belcher. (For a discussion of how Governor Belcher's coat of arms apparently became the template for the Great Seal of the United States and Thomson's role in this, see The Great Seal of the United States and the Belcher Coat of Arms.)
Interestingly, Hanson and Thomson were in power at the time the Great Seal of the United States (especially its Coat of Arms portion) was designed on June 19, 1782 (the final design seems to have been come up with overnight under the supervision of Charles Thomson) and adopted by the Continental Congress (of which Hanson was the President and Thomson was the Secretary) on June 20, 1782. (The Congress had turned the work of finishing the Great Seal (U. S. Coat of Arms) over to Secretary Thomson on June 13, who, as the Great Seal and Belcher Coat of Arms article explains, probably was linked to Governor Belcher through Belcher's acquaintance with Benjamin Franklin (member of the first committee to design the U. S. Seal). Since Governor Belcher also had a link to Elias Boudinot (member of the third (final) committee to design the U. S. Seal--the committee that turned the work of designing it over to Barton, who was later supervised by Secretary Thomson), the design of the Coat of Arms of the United States (displayed on the breast of the eagle as part of the Great Seal of the United States) had ties to Governor Belcher from the beginning to the end of the seal-designing process. (For further information, read the article The Great Seal of the United States and the Belcher Coat of Arms.)
(Interestingly, on September 16, 1782, President of Continental Congress Hanson was the first to use the new Great Seal of the United States, which had been entrusted to the custody of Secretary Thomson. In 1789, Thomson personally delivered the Seal to the new President of the United States, George Washington, when Thomson resigned his post as the only Secretary of the Continental Congress (1774-1789)).
There is another interesting connection associated with a Thanksgiving Proclamation issued in 1774 (the year Thomson became Secretary of the Continental Congress) at the dawn of the American Revolution (though this proclamation, issued by a legislature instead of a governor, called for a Thursday in December). The Massachusetts Provincial Congress proclaimed December 15, 1774, to be a Day of Public Thanksgiving throughout Massachusetts. This resolution was written by a committee of three headed by Governor Belcher's friend, John Winthrop (1714-1779), a professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Harvard College. (It was Governor Belcher who originally recommended John Winthrop to Benjamin Franklin and that's how Franklin and Winthrop struck up their acquaintance. Professor Winthrop's father, Judge Adam Winthrop, was one of Governor Belcher's special friends.) The signer of the Proclamation was the President of the Provincial Congress, John Hancock, a good friend of William Cooper's son, famed Revolutionary minister Samuel Cooper (1725-1783), who ghost-wrote some of Hancock's articles for the press. (Cooper also was a good friend of Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, two of the three members of the first committee for designing the Great Seal of the United States.) The two Coopers were also Governor Belcher's friends; not only did the governor commend the ability of Samuel Cooper, but also Governor Belcher specifically selected William Cooper to write and deliver a significant election day sermon in 1740 that set the stage for the U. S. Constitution's First Amendment religion clauses.)
Though the Winthrop Proclamation of 1774 specified Thursday as Thanksgiving Day, it named a day in December. Hanson and Thomson's Proclamation of 1782 specified Thursday, November 28, and Washington's Proclamation of 1789 specified Thursday, November 26.
Maybe Hanson-Thomson and Washington were inspired by the November Thursday Thanksgiving dates established in 1730 and 1749 by Colonial Governor Jonathan Belcher.
Could the fact that Washington's date of November 26 was a Thursday have had anything to do with Thursday being later selected as a Thanksgiving date by President Abraham Lincoln (one of our greatest U. S. Presidents)? (Though in the same year Washington issued his Thanksgiving proclamation, a November Thursday was selected as a Thanksgiving date by the Episcopal Church, this Thursday was the first Thursday in November. In contrast, President Lincoln selected the last Thursday in November--a date closer to Governor Belcher's November 23, 1749; Hanson-Thomson's November 28, 1782, and President Washington's November 26, 1789 dates.)
Governor Belcher's first Thanksgiving proclamation that established a Thursday in November as the Thanksgiving Day date was his Proclamation for Day of Thanksgiving printed in the November 2, 1730 issue of The New England Weekly Journal, clearly specifying that "THURSDAY the TWELFTH of NOVEMBER next" was to be "a day of Public THANKSGIVING throughout this Province." This Thanksgiving Proclamation specifically mentioned offering up prayer to God for "granting us a plentiful HARVEST", among other enumerated blessings. Thus, Thursday, November 12, 1730 was Governor Jonathan Belcher's First Thanksgiving Proclamation. It specifically mentioned a Thursday in November.
continued........