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Thanksgiving: Thanksgiving Proclamation
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A generation later, after the balance of power had shifted to the English settlers, the Indian and White children of that first Thanksgiving were striving to kill each other in the conflict known as King Philip's War. The settlers prevailed and in June of 1676 another Day of Thanksgiving was proclaimed. The governing council of Charlestown, Massachusetts, held a meeting to determine how best to express thanks for the victories in "Warr with the Heathen Natives of this land." By unanimous vote they instructed Edward Rawson, the clerk, to proclaim June 29 as a day of thanksgiving. The following is part of that proclamation:
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The first official Thanksgiving Proclamation made in America was issued by Henry Laurens as President of the Continental Congress of the United States on December 18, 1777. However, the precursor to the Thanksgiving Proclamation was issued by John Hancock as President of the Continental Congress of the United Colonies and was entitled "Fast Day Proclamation" on March 16, 1776. Six national Proclamations of Thanksgiving were issued in the first thirty years after the founding of the United States of America as an independent federation of States. President George Washington issued two, President John Adams issued two, President Thomas Jefferson made none and President James Madison issued two. After 1815 there were no more Thanksgiving Proclamations.
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Thanksgiving failed to become an annual tradition at this time. Only Presidents Washington, Adams, and Madison declared national days of thanks in their terms. Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams considered the practice to infringe upon the separation of church and state. During the War of 1812, President Madison proclaimed three days of fasting and prayer in response to Congressional requests (August 20, 1812, September 9, 1813, and January 12, 1815). He was the last president to call for a national thanksgiving until Abraham Lincoln in 1863. Governors, on the other hand--particularly in the New England states, regularly issued proclamations of thanksgiving.
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The first official Thanksgiving Proclamation made by the American colonies who rebelled against the Crown of England was issued by the Continental Congress in 1777. Six national Proclamations of Thanksgiving were issued in the first thirty years after the founding of the United States of America as an independent federation of States. President George Washington issued two, President John Adams issued two, President Thomas Jefferson made none and President James Madison issued two. In 1789 Washington designated a national thanksgiving holiday for the newly ratified Constitution, specifically so that that the people may thank God for "affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness" and for having "been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed..."
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Thanksgiving celebrations were observed irregularly in the years after 1621. However, by 1789, the Thanksgiving custom had spread throughout the colonies and, in that year, George Washington proclaimed November 26 as a "day of public thanksgiving and prayer." Washington's proclamation still did not lead to a regular national observance although many states did celebrate Thanksgiving on an annual basis.
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It was Franklin Delano Roosevelt who, in his 1939 Thanksgiving Proclamation, gave the annual holiday its current date: the second-to-last Thursday in November. About's 20th Century History Guide Jennifer Rosenberg explains why he ordered the change.
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Thanksgiving Proclamation