I found the following history from Karen Knelte's "History of the Modern American Thanksgiving", August 9, 2001 (viewed November 26, 2003).
Edward Winslow describes the first celebration of the pilgrims and the Indians in a letter dated December 11, 1621. Here is an excerpt:
``Our corn did prove well, and God be praised, we had a good increase of Indian corn, and our barley indifferent good, but our peas not worth the gathering, for we feared they were too late sown, they came up very well, and blossomed, but the sun parched them in the blossom; our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a more special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit 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.''
At the feast, a peace and friendship agreement was made between the Wampanoag chief Massasoit and Miles Standish giving the Pilgrims the clearing in the forest where an old Patuxet village had been, to build Plymouth.
--- Edward Winslow, December 11, 1621, in: [Mourt’s Relation] A Relation or Journall of the beginning and proceeding of the English Plantation settled at Plimoth in New England, by certaine English Adventurers both Merchants and others. London, Printed for John Bellamie, 1622. p. 60-61.
Mrs. Knelte says:
"This time of feasting and thanking God was of a very different nature to the thanksgiving days that followed it. They were days focused on prayer and religious observance. Although they included a meal, it was not the focus of the day. In some cases, regular work was not done. We will see this from the records we have of these days, and also how Thanksgiving came to be the annual observance that it is today, and what thanks was being given for."
Wikipedia says that annual thanksgiving days were held in Virginia as early as 1607, and the Charter of Berkeley Hundred, a group of 1619 arrivals, said, "We ordain that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned for plantation in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God."
After 1621, the next recorded thanksgiving day in New England was in the summer of 1623. The governor of Plymouth Colony, William Bradford , proclaimed a day of solemn prayer to seek God's mercy to end a drought. When God gave the rain, he proclaimed a day of thanksgiving. Governor Bradford tells the story thus:
"I may not here omit how, notwithstand all their great pains and industry, and the great hopes of a large crop, the Lord seemed to blast, and take away the same, and to threaten further and more sore famine unto them. By a great drought which continued from the third week in May, till about the middle of July, without any rain and with great heat for the most part, insomuch as the corn began to wither away though it was set with fish, the moisture whereof helped it much. Yet at length it began to languish sore, and some of the drier grounds were parched like withered hay, part whereof was never recovered. Upon which they set apart a solemn day of humiliation, to seek the Lord by humble and fervent prayer, in this great distress. And He was pleased to give them a gracious and speedy answer, both to their own and the Indians' admiration that lived amongst them. For all the morning, and the greatest part of the day, it was clear weather and very hot, and not a cloud or any sign of rain to be seen; yet toward evening it began to overcast, and shortly after to rain with such sweet and gentle showers as gave them cause of rejoicing and blessing God. It came without either wind or thunder or any violence, and by degrees in that abundance as that the earth was thoroughly wet and soaked and therewith. Which did so apparently revive and quicken the decayed corn and other fruits, as was wonderful to see, and made the Indians astonished to behold. And afterwards the Lord sent them such seasonable showers, with interchange of fair warm weather as, through His blessing, caused a fruitful and liberal harvest, to their no small comfort and rejoicing. For which mercy, in time convenient, they also set apart a day of thanksgiving."
The first thanksgiving day of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (which was separate at first from the Plymouth Bay Colony) was July 8, 1630. On the safe arrival of ships from England after a stormy voyage, Governor John Winthrop proclaimed a day of thanksgiving:
--William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation. Samuel Eliot Morison, ed. New York, 1952, p.131-132.
We kept a day of thanksgiving in all the plantations.
The first war in New England was the
Pequot War of 1634-38 between the Pequote tribe and the colonists, Narragansett, and Mohegans. My ancestor Thomas Munson fought in the war, with the New Haven militia. The colonists and their allies were victorious and wiped out the Peqot tribe, , leaving peace until the bigger King Philip's War forty years later . The war was essentially won by 1637, and Governor John Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving for it and for Protestant victories in the Thirty Years War in Germany:
--The Journal of John Winthrop 1630 - 1649. Abridged edition. Richard S. Dunn & Laetitia Yeandle, ed. p. 30.
The 12th of the 8th m. was ordered to bee kept a day of publicke thanksgiving to God for his great m'cies in subdewing the Pecoits, bringing the soldiers in safety, the successe of the conference, & good news from Germany.
Winthrop's journal entry for the day is:
--Nathaniel Shurtleff, ed. Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, Vol I. Boston, 1853. p.204.
A day of thanksgiving kept in all the churches for our victories against the Pequots, and for the success of the assembly; but by reason of this latter, some of Boston would not be present at the public exercises. The captains and soldiers who had been in the late service were feasted, and after the sermon the magistrates and elders accompanied them to the door of the house where they dined.
--The Journal of John Winthrop 1630 - 1649. Abridged edition. Richard S. Dunn & Laetitia Yeandle, ed. p. 130 - 131.
"Forasmuch as it is the indispensable Duty of all Men to adore the superintending
providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with Gratitude their Obligation to him for
benefits received, and to implore such further Blessings as they stand in Need of:
...(1777, Continental Congress)
WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to
obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and
favour; and Whereas both Houfes of Congress have, by their joint committee, requefted me
"to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANSGIVING and
PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors
of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to eftablifh a
form of government for their safety and happiness:... (1789, Washington)
Deeply penetrated with this sentiment, I, George Washington, President of the United
States, do recommend to all religious societies and denominations, and to all persons
whomsoever, within the United States to set apart and observe Thursday, the 19th day of
February next as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, and on that day to meet
together and render their sincere and hearty thanks to the Great Ruler of Nations for
the manifold and signal mercies which distinguish our lot as a nation,... (1795,
Washington)
As the safety and prosperity of nations ultimately and essentially depend on the
protection and the blessing of Almighty God, and the national acknowledgment of this
truth is not only an indispensable duty which the people owe to Him, but a duty whose
natural influence is favorable to the promotion of that morality and piety without which
social happiness can not exist nor the blessings of a free government be enjoyed; and as
this duty, at all times incumbent, is so especially in seasons of difficulty or of
danger, when existing or threatening calamities, the just judgments of God against
prevalent iniquity, are a loud call to repentance and reformation;... (1798, Adams)
As no truth is more clearly taught in the Volume of Inspiration , nor any more fully
demonstrated by the experience of all ages, than that a deep sense and a due
acknowledgment of the governing providence of a Supreme Being and of the accountableness
of men to Him as the searcher of hearts and righteous distributer of rewards and
punishments are conducive equally to the happiness and rectitude of individuals and to
the well-being of communities;.. (1799, Adams)
I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also
those who are in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November
next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the
heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to
Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for
our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who
have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in
which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the imposition of the Almighty
hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent
with the divine purpose, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and
union. (Lincoln, 1863)
Let us now, this Thanksgiving Day, reawaken ourselves and our neighbors and our
communities to the genius of our founders in daring to build the world's first
constitutional democracy on the foundation of trust and thanks to God. Out of our right
and proper rejoicing on Thanksgiving Day, let us give our own thanks to God and reaffirm
our love of family, neighbor, and community. (1996, Clinton)
Each year on Thanksgiving, we gather with family and friends to thank God for the many
blessings He has given us, and we ask God to continue to guide and watch over our
country. (2003, Bush)
The Council has thought meet to appoint and set apart the 29th day of this instant
June, as a day of Solemn Thanksgiving and praise to God for such his Goodness and
Favour, many Particulars of which mercy might be Instanced, but we doubt not those who
are sensible of God's Afflictions, have been as diligent to espy him returning to us;
and that the Lord may behold us as a People offering Praise and thereby glorifying Him;
the Council doth commend it to the Respective Ministers, Elders and people of this
Jurisdiction; Solemnly and seriously to keep the same Beseeching that being perswaded by
the mercies of God we may all, even this whole people offer up our bodies and soulds as
a living and acceptable Service unto God by Jesus Christ. (1676, Connecticut)
The annual proclamations have continued through 2011, the year that I write this.
In 1777, the Continental Congress declared the first national American Thanksgiving following the providential victory at Saratoga. The 1777 Thanksgiving proclamation reveals its New England Puritan roots. The day was still officially a religious observance in recognition of God's Providence, and, as on the Sabbath, both work and amusements were forbidden. It does not resemble our idea of a Thanksgiving, with its emphasis on family dinners and popular recreation. Yet beneath these stern sentiments, the old Puritan fervor had declined to the extent that Thanksgiving was beginning to be less of a religious and more of a secular celebration. The focus was shifting from the religious service to the family gathering. Communities still dutifully went to church each Thanksgiving Day but the social and culinary attractions were increasing in importance.andA contemporary account of a wartime Thanksgiving provides us alternative testimony to the austere official proclamation. Juliana Smith's 1779 Massachusetts' Thanksgiving description, written in a letter to her friend Betsey Smith (and recorded in her diary as well) provides a good example of what the late 18th century celebration meant to the participants.
National Thanksgivings were proclaimed annually by Congress from 1777 to 1783 which, except for 1782, were all celebrated in December. After a five year hiatus, the practice was revived by President Washington in 1789 and 1795. John Adams declared Thanksgivings in 1798 and 1799, while James Madison declared the holiday twice in 1815; none of these were celebrated in the autumn. After 1815, there were no further national Thanksgivings until the Civil War. As sectional differences widened in the Antebellum period, it was impossible achieve the consensus to have a national Thanksgiving. The southern states were generally unreceptive to a "Yankee" custom being pressed on them by the federal government. If the federal government neglected the tradition, however, the individual states did not. The New England states continued to declare annual Thanksgivings (usually in November, although not always on the same day), and eventually most of the other states also had independent observations of the holiday. New Englanders were born proselyters and wherever they went during the great westward migration they introduced their favorite holiday. Thanksgiving was adopted first in the Northeast and in the Northwest Territory, then by the middle and western states. At mid-century even the southern states were celebrating their own Thanksgivings.
By the 1840s when the Puritan holy day had largely given way to the Yankee holiday, Thanksgiving was usually depicted in a family setting with dinner as the central event. The archetypal tradition of harvest celebration had weathered Puritan disapproval and quietly reasserted its influence. Newspapers and magazines helped popularize the holiday in its new guise as a secular autumn celebration featuring feasting, family reunions and charity to the poor. Thanksgiving became an important symbol of the new emphasis on home life and the necessity of enforcing family virtues against the coarse masculine style and cutthroat business practices of the day. This "cult of domesticity" found Thanksgiving a valuable element for promulgating the feminist goals of social reform and the role of the (extended) family as a bastion against the callous workaday world. The holiday focused on the home and hearth where it was hoped a revolution in manners would begin to restore the civilized virtues which had been lost in the new commercial and industrial society.
It is interesting that the same person who was a leading figure in the domesticity movement, Sarah Josepha Hale, also labored for decades to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday. A New England author and editor of the influential Godey's Ladies Book, Hale lobbied for a return to the morality and simplicity of days gone by. Each November from 1846 until 1863 Mrs. Hale printed an editorial urging the federal government to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday. She was finally gratified when Abraham Lincoln declared the first of our modern series of annual Thanksgiving holidays for the last Thursday in November, 1863. Lincoln had previously declared national Thanksgivings for April, 1862, and again for August 6, 1863, after the northern victory at Gettysburg. The southern states had independently declared Thanksgivings of their own, unsullied by Yankee influences, but would later resent the new national Thanksgiving holiday after the war.
Lincoln went on to declare a similar Thanksgiving observance in 1864, establishing a precedent that was followed by Andrew Johnson in 1865 and by every subsequent president. After a few deviations (December 7th in 1865, November 18th in 1869), the holiday came to rest on the last Thursday in November. However, Thanksgiving remained a custom unsanctified by law until 1941! In 1939 Franklin D. Roosevelt departed from tradition by declaring November 23, the next to the last Thursday that year, as Thanksgiving. Considerable controversy (mostly following political lines) arose around this outrage to custom, so that some Americans celebrated Thanksgiving on the 23rd and others on the 30th (including Plymouth, MA). In 1940, the country was once again divided over "Franksgiving" as the Thanksgiving declared for November 21st was called. Thanksgiving was declared for the earlier Thursday again in 1941, but Roosevelt admitted that the earlier date (which had not proven useful to the commercial interests) was a mistake. On November 26, 1941, he signed a bill that established the fourth Thursday in November as the national Thanksgiving holiday, which it has been ever since.
Both the North and South maintained the tradition of independent state Thanksgivings into the Civil War period. The Confederate Congress declared a Sunday thanksgiving service for July 28, 1861 after their victory at Bull Run, and another for Thursday, September 18, 1862, for the Second Battle at Bull Run. The first national Thanksgiving holiday to be declared by the U.S. government since 1815 occurred in 1862 when President Lincoln declared a Thanksgiving holiday for Sunday, April 13, following the Union victory at Shiloh. Lincoln declared another national Thanksgiving for August 6, 1863, in recognition of the victory at Gettysburg.On October 3, 1863, President Lincoln declared a second national Thanksgiving that year for the last Thursday in November which followed the Yankee practice of a general November holiday giving thanks for "general causes" rather than "special providences" such as wartime victories. This Thanksgiving became the first in the unbroken series of our modern holiday tradition. Lincoln declared a national Thanksgiving for the last Thursday in November, 1864. Andrew Johnson followed with a Thanksgiving on December 7, 1865 (celebrating the Union victory), and each President since then has declared an annual national Thanksgiving.
It might also be noted that none of the presidential declarations of Thansgiving mention the Plymouth Pilgrims or the "First Thanksgiving" until Herbert Hoover's proclamation of 1931 (with the possible exception of Roosevelt's 1905 mention of the colonial custom).