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Article: How Thanksgiving Day came to be.(The Home Forum)
- Article from:
- The Christian Science Monitor
- Article date:
- November 24, 1999
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 The Christian Science Publishing Society. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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One year after their arrival in the New World, the Pilgrims celebrated what is widely considered America's first Thanksgiving in November 1621. Two years later, on Nov. 29, 1623, the governor of Plymouth Colony, William Bradford, officially proclaimed the first day of Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving was observed sporadically after that. John Hancock, for instance, issued a proclamation for a day of thanksgiving on Nov. 8, 1783, to celebrate the victory over the British.
On Nov. 26, 1789, President George Washington issued the first proclamation of a national day of thanksgiving (above). He wanted it to be a day of prayer and thanks to God, a day that ...