"The Revolutionary War Generation and Thanksgiving" Topic

"Abraham Lincoln's 1863 proclamation established Thanksgiving as the national holiday we celebrate today, making him the father of modern Thanksgiving.[1] The Revolutionary generation, however, created the first national Thanksgiving holidays 157 years after the Pilgrims and 85 years before Lincoln's historic proclamation. In this season of football games and parades ending with Santa Claus, it is worth revisiting those first days of giving thanks that Americans celebrated as a new country. Fortunately, Pilgrim Hall Museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts, has assembled the country's Thanksgiving Proclamations dating back to 1723 through the current administration. That wealth of material offers insights into the Revolutionary War generation's mindset when it contemplated giving thanks for the benefits received over the course of a year.

Over its lifetime, the Continental Congress issued nine proclamations calling for days of thanksgiving. Puritans had started the practice in England during the English Civil War, but it died out after the Restoration. Yet, the day remained a tradition in New England and was often conceptually paired with days of fasting that served as a kind penance for sins and supplication for future blessings.[2] By the time of the Continental Congress, days of fasting and thanksgiving had become intertwined with politics, as many in the Revolutionary War generation identified liberty as a divine gift that they were obligated to defend.[3] Calls for days of fasting or thanksgiving throughout the colonies had the added benefit of promoting unity by giving everyone an opportunity demonstrate commitment to the Patriot cause…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Plymouth, Massachusetts > Jamestown, Virginia

(there was significance in Lincoln's proclamation that Puritan ethos would receive this official validation while the land was embroiled in seemingly endless civil war)