Happy Thanksgiving: An American Story of Gratitude and Wisdom

Happy Thanksgiving: An American Story of Gratitude and Wisdom

When I arrived in America in the mid-1990s, I fell in love with the Thanksgiving holiday and the story of the 53 pilgrims and 90 Indians who shared a joyful feast in 1621. I was curious to read any primary sources on the subject. I was intrigued by the succinct, yet highly informative, accounts of both William Bradford, Plymouth’s governor, and the pilgrim leader Edward Winslow.

Bradford remarked:

[The pilgrims] began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up their houses and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered in health and strength and had all things in good plenty. For as some were thus employed in affairs abroad, others were exercised in fishing, about cod and bass and other fish, of which they took good store, of which every family had their portion. All the summer there was no want; and now began to come in store of fowl, as winter approached, of which this place did abound when they came first (but afterward decreased by degrees). And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides, they had about a peck of meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to that proportion. Which made many afterwards write so largely of their plenty here to their friends in England, which were not feigned but true reports.

Winslow recounts a similar story:

Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labors; they four in one day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the Company almost a week, at which time amongst other Recreations, we exercised our Arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five Deer, which they brought to the Plantation and bestowed on our Governor, and upon the Captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful, as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.

I later learned that there were earlier contenders for the first Thanksgiving feast in various places, notably Texas and Virginia. Regardless of when exactly European settlers first feasted with local tribes in appreciation of the harvest and other blessings in their harsh lives, Thanksgiving Day became one of the most iconic and beloved American traditions.

George Washington designated Thursday, November 26, 1789, as a Day of Thanks, “to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.” Many states celebrated their own Thanksgiving Days after 1776, until an editor by the name of Sarah Josepha Hale led a tireless campaign for the recognition of a national Thanksgiving holiday, which happened in 1863.

It was no coincidence that Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November as a national Day of Thanksgiving in 1863 and that FDR codified it into law in 1941, in both cases to boost American morale in turbulent times. Amidst the fratricidal ravages of the Civil War, Lincoln wished to convey a unifying message of hope and gratitude:

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Today, America is again a “house divided,” this time between those who wish to preserve its founding ideals and values and those who reject them in favor of a woke utopia along socialist, globalist, multicultural, morally relativistic, intersectional, and nihilistic lines.

Author and show host Michael Medved comments:

Food, football, and … oppression. That’s what Thanksgiving has come to mean to many Americans. Back in 2007, Seattle public school officials made national news by describing the holiday as a “time of mourning” and a “bitter reminder of 500 years of betrayal.” This new narrative describes the Pilgrims as arrogant oppressors who fled persecution only to become persecutors themselves, depriving Native Americans of their land and their lives. But this is wrong on every count.

The woke rewriting of history still dominates the curricula of many universities and public schools. Yet, in the past few years, we have seen a renewed interest in traditional American education, including a revival of classical liberal arts and civics instruction, especially after the 2024 elections resulted in official challenges to the DEI narrative and policies.

To me, Thanksgiving is an incredibly meaningful reminder to count my blessings as a recent American citizen and to practice gratitude for all the good things we so often take for granted. I have always pondered what differentiates intelligence from common sense and wisdom.

Why is it that many highly intelligent people are rarely happy and fulfilled in their lives despite their unparalleled prosperity and myriad conveniences? I believe the answer lies in one’s ability to feel sincere gratitude. Most intellectuals in the West today have absorbed anti-Western values of civilizational guilt and shame, entitlement, and nihilism, which prevent them from appreciating the innumerable benefits modern life has to offer. Alternatively, “salt-of-the-earth” people are often happier and wiser in their humility, faith, and gratitude.

In her fascinating study of Thanksgiving Day’s history, titled Thanksgiving: The Holiday at the Heart of the American Experience, Melanie Kirpatrick reminds us:

From the first, as Bradford and Winslow imply, Thanksgiving has been a time to stop and take stock of the blessings enjoyed by family and community. As the English settlers overcame the trials they faced that first year in Plymouth, qualities that Americans have come to honor as integral to our national identity were on full display: courage, perseverance, diligence, piety. These are the virtues that helped to shape the American character.

And so, Happy Thanksgiving!

Nora D. Clinton is a Research Scholar at the Legal Insurrection Foundation. She was born and raised in Sofia, Bulgaria. She holds a PhD in Classics and has published extensively on ancient documents on stone. In 2020, she authored the popular memoir Quarantine Reflections Across Two Worlds. Nora is a co-founder of two partner charities dedicated to academic cooperation and American values. She lives in Northern Virginia with her husband and son.

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