Cold Open

It’s January 1787 at the Springfield Arsenal in Massachusetts, and a battle is about to begin.

General William Shepard grits his teeth as he sits on his horse in front of his troops: 1200 militiamen; American veterans of the Revolutionary War.

Shepard watches as his gun crew hauls cannons to the front of the line, directly in the center of his ranks. He hopes not to use them today.

On the other side of the battlefield, about 150 yards away, the enemy stands at the ready. But they’re not redcoats; the British have long since left these shores. The enemy today is a ragtag group of 1500 other Americans: rebels led by a disgruntled farmer named Daniel Shays.

Since the Revolutionary War, America has been suffering an economic crisis. Farmers like Shays have been crushed under the weight of high taxes and rising inflation. Last year, Shays went broke. And when the taxman threatened to take his farm away, Shays took up arms, formed a militia, and started training for combat. Now Shays and his rebels are here today to sack the Springfield Armory, seize the weapons inside and march on Boston. The only thing standing in his way is General William Shepard.

Shepard hoped for a peaceful resolution. And a few moments ago, Shepard sent aides to meet Shays’ men for a parley in the middle of the field hoping to avoid combat. Shepard’s aides warned the rebels that if they advanced they would be fired on. One of Shays’ men replied, “this is all we want.” After the conference, Shays sent Shepard a message that read, “I am here in defense of that country that you are endeavoring to destroy.” The parley ended without a peaceful resolution.

So now Shepard stares out across the snowy battlefield. He sees Shays rallying his troops; a sword held high above his head. He hears Shays cry out, “March!”

As Shays and his men begin to advance, Shepard orders the gun crew to fire a warning shot.

But Shays presses on. So Shepard orders the crew to fire a second shot.

This cannonball sails just a few feet over the heads of the rebels. Still, Shays presses forward.

Shepard has no choice. He orders his men to lower the cannon and open fire.

When the battle is over, 4 Americans are dead and as many as 20 more bleed out in the snow. Shays and his rebels are in a full retreat. And within a week, they will be hunted down and forced to surrender. But many fear that “Shay’s Rebellion”, as it comes to be known, is an omen of violence to come. Less than a dozen years after the Declaration of Independence, and just a few years after the Revolutionary War is won, Americans are killing each other. This event will inspire revolutionary war hero, George Washington, to enter public life and attend the upcoming Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. There, Washington and the rest of America’s founding fathers will create a new US Constitution. But even this will lead to more civil strife, further dividing an already broken people. So in the years ahead, Washington will have to find new ways to bring his people together. And his search for unity will eventually lead him to inaugurate a very special holiday on November 26th, 1789.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is November 26th, 1789: Washington’s Thanksgiving.

Act One: From Mount Vernon to New York

It’s April 16th, 1789, six months before Thanksgiving and George Washington is on his way to New York.

The old general’s carriage shudders over a country road. He left Mount Vernon this morning for the two-hundred-mile journey to the capital. Washington is on his way to be inaugurated as America’s first President. But he’s not celebrating his election. Washington feels like a man heading for the gallows. He wants to stay home and enjoy retirement. But the divided country needs a strong leader to bring its people together. And Washington answered the call.

With him in the carriage are two old friends. Colonel David Humphreys is so trusted by Washington that he is writing the general’s biography. The other man on this journey is Charles Thomson, secretary of the Continental Congress. It was Thomson who brought the news to Washington; the news that he had been expecting and dreading - that he had been chosen unanimously by the Electoral College to be the first President of the United States.

Washington knows he has a difficult task ahead. The years since his hard won victory over the British have been marked by dischord. The Constitutional Convention of 1787 exposed some deep-rooted political divides in America, between two growing political factions: the Federalists who support a strong central government, and the anti-Federalists who favor the rights of the individual states.

The new constitution brokered between these two groups may bring about a coherent, effective national government. But the success or failure of that government is still far from certain. All hope rests on the old general who feels every one of his 57 years.

Thoughts of despair and apprehension hang around Washington like chains. He sits silent, his eyes fixed on a dark and distant forest off to the west. Then for the first time in hours, Humphreys speaks:

“Sir!, look!”

Washington lifts his eyes from the horizon. He sees a mass of people gathering in the road ahead. For a moment, an old fear rushes through him – one of ambush, of attack.

But these people are not the enemy. They’re residents of a nearby village. And they’ve come to cheer for their new president; the hero of the revolution. And for the first time in weeks, Washington feels those chains of dread loosen.

Throughout the long journey from Mount Vernon to his inauguration in New York, Washington will be greeted by throngs of well-wishers and adoring citizens. And long after his inauguration, Washington will look back on this journey and recollect the men, women and children from Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and every town and village in between who came out to cheer him.

It helps Washington believe that unifying America is possible. But he also knows he cannot do it alone.

***

It’s September 1789 at the President’s House at Number 3 Cherry Street, New York. George Washington is meeting with a group of congressmen.

The first Congress of the United States is about to take a much deserved break. In just six hectic months, congress has implemented the new Constitution and built a national government from scratch.

But there is one more matter these men wish to discuss before the recess.

The Congressmen, led by Representative Elias Boudinot from New Jersey, have an idea they think the President will like : A National Day of Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving celebrations are nothing new. As early as 1607, English colonists in Maine assembled for a harvest feast and prayer meeting with the Abenaki Indians. And famously, in 1621, there was the celebration at Plymouth, when the Pilgrims, who had come across the Atlantic on the Mayflower, held a harvest feast and invited the local Wampanoag tribe to join them. These events were opportunities for colonists to break bread with Native American Tribesmen in a celebration of peace and hope of prosperity.

But today, Representative Boudinot and his colleagues are proposing something different: the first official National Day of Thanksgiving under the new constitution.

Washington listens carefully to the congressmen’s proposal. The idea is not new to him. As general, he declared a Thanksgiving in December of 1777, one to honor victory over the British at Saratoga. And just this summer, in a letter to an advisor, Washington himself floated the possibility of an official Thanksgiving holiday. But today, Washington sees the idea with fresh eyes, thinking of it as a chance to bring a divided people together. Washington gives the congressmen his nod to proceed.

So on September 25th, Representative Boudinot introduces a resolution in Congress, calling on the President to proclaim a national day of public thanksgiving and prayer. But this seemingly innocuous proposal will not go unopposed. Instead, it will become the latest skirmish in a long running battle to determine the future of the nation.

Act Two: From New York to the Country

It’s September 25th, 1789, two months before the First National Thanksgiving, and the United States Congress is meeting at Federal Hall in New York.

It was on the balcony here, five months earlier, that George Washington was inaugurated President. Congress has been busy since. It created the Department of State, the Department of War, and the Department of the Treasury. A well-earned break is due. But there is still this one last piece of business to discuss: The national day of thanksgiving.

Moments ago, Congressman Elias Boudinot introduced his Thanksgiving motion. But not everyone supports the idea. Congressman Thomas Tudor Tucker wants no part of it. The forty-four-year-old will one day be appointed US Treasurer by President Thomas Jefferson. But today, he represents the 5th District of South Carolina.

Tucker is an anti-federalist, and strongly opposed the ratification of the constitution, and the strong central government envisioned in the document. So after the constitution was adopted, Tucker and his anti-federalist colleagues worked hard to amend it. They sought guarantees of personal rights and strict limitations on governmental power. They wanted to make it clear that any power not specifically granted to the federal government was reserved for the states. Ultimately, after months of heated debate, just yesterday, the Bill of Rights was passed. But tensions are still high.

So at the first opportunity, Tucker takes to his feet. He asks his colleagues, “Why should the President direct the people to do what, perhaps, they have no mind to do?”

Boudinot’s resolution calls for the public to acknowledge the “many signal favors of Almighty God” – most especially the new constitution. But Tucker insists ““The people may have reason to be dissatisfied with the effects [the constitution] has already produced.” In Tucker’s mind, the government has no business insisting the people observe any religious practice, as the Bill of Rights plainly states.

On the floor of the hall, Tucker speaks with eloquence and passion. But he and the anti-Federalists are outnumbered in Congress. They do not have the votes to stop the motion. Boudinot’s resolution will pass the House and then head to the Senate, where, three days later,  it will be approved. On October 3rd, the First National Thanksgiving will be proclaimed by President Washington.

***

A few weeks later, it’s Thursday, November 26th, 1789. Thanksgiving day.

The wind, muscling in off the sea, shunts its way down the narrow streets of New York. Rain slaps against the windows of the President’s carriage.

George Washington, dressed in his finest black velvet suit, peers out. There are no crowds of people today, anxious for a glimpse of their President. The foul weather has emptied the streets – but it has not soured Washington’s mood.

The proclamation of thanksgiving has been printed in newspapers across the land. Washington is told the people are embracing the day, an occasion to celebrate and pray. President is looking forward to joining them.

The last six months have gone well, but Washington knows that founding the institutions of government is only part of the work needed to build a country. If this American experiment is to succeed, Washington feels he must engage the citizens directly. He cannot retreat behind the walls of his residence or become ensnared by the wrangling of Congress. Washington must embrace the people. He must be with the people.

The journey from his residence, the four-story mansion on Cherry Street, to St. Paul’s Chapel is not a long one – just a mile. So soon, with a jolt, the carriage stops. Washington adjusts his gloves and powdered wig. The service of thanksgiving is about to begin and Washington is eager to share it with people inside the church. A blast of wind greets him as he steps out of the carriage, and he hurries under the portico into the sudden sheltered quiet of the chapel… to find that hardly anyone has come.

Washington’s steps echo as he takes his usual pew in the near deserted church. Moments later, the service begins.

The disappointed President will abandon any ideas he had of making Thanksgiving an annual celebration. He will have to find other ways of unifying his country. So it will be another 74 years before an American president tries to establish an annual day of Thanksgiving. And it will come at a moment when the nation is once again divided - but this time, by civil war.

Act Three: An American Tradition

It’s the summer of 1863. Over 70 years have passed since George Washington’s first National Day of Thanksgiving.

President Abraham Lincoln sits in the White House, a smile stretched across his face. He’s just learned of a great Union victory at the Battle of Gettysburg.

The Civil War started in the spring of 1861, after decades of tension between the northern and southern states over the issue of slavery. And after months of devastating losses, Gettysburg is a much needed win for the Union. Lincoln believes this victory will turn the tide of the war against the Confederacy. But Lincoln knows it came at a tremendous cost. Some 50,000 soldiers were injured or killed in the battle.

With this dear victory in mind, President Abraham Lincoln hopes to unite his people. And soon, he will receive an unexpected letter that will give him an opportunity to do just that.

***

On September 28th, 1863, Lincoln received a letter from a 74-year-old magazine editor named Sarah Josepha Hale. In the letter Hale urges Lincoln to make the "day of our annual Thanksgiving… a National and fixed Union'' Holiday.

Since the days of George Washington, Thanksgiving has not been a proper National Holiday. Some states scheduled their own Thanksgiving at different times. Other states didn’t celebrate the Holiday at all. But in the letter, Hale writes, “You may have observed that, for some years past, there has been an increasing interest felt in our land to have the Thanksgiving held on the same day, in all the States; it now needs National recognition and authoritative fixation, only, to become permanently, an American custom and institution."

Sarah Josepha Hale has been advocating for a national Thanksgiving holiday for 15 years, writing editorials, urging Americans to “put aside sectional feelings and local incidents.” She’s written to numerous past presidents, but none wrote her back, until Lincoln. He responds immediately, and within a week, Lincoln issues his thanksgiving proclamation.

***

In the thanksgiving address, which was issued on October 3rd, 1863, Lincoln encouraged people “in every part of the United States... to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.”

Thanksgiving has been celebrated in the United States ever since. This quintessentially American holiday has its origins in bitter division and conflict. But also in hope. In his address, Lincoln also expressed his belief that “God’s Almighty hand would heal the wounds of the nation and… restore it… to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.”

It was a sentiment that Lincoln's predecessor George Washington would have recognized when he introduced the United States' first day of Thanksgiving on November 26th, 1789.

Outro

Next on History Daily. November 27th, 1895. A year before his death, Swedish chemist and inventor Alfred Nobel amends his will to establish the Nobel Prize.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Mollie Baack.

Music and sound design by Lindsay Graham.

This episode is written and researched by William Simpson.

Executive Producers are Steven Walters for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.