History of Thanksgiving From the Pilgrims to Us

What is Thanksgiving? Thanksgiving is a Holiday celebrated on the last Thursday in November We eat Turkey and celebrate gorham going to choice! We get together with our loved ones and catch up with each other But how did Thanksgiving actually start??

The Early Americas In 1600 Native American Indians were the ones who lived in North America Only a small handful of white people had ever been to America.

1607 In 1607 the first British Colony began in Virginia. It was called Jamestown after King James 6 th of Brittan It did not last very long because the people could not plant the same crops as they could in Brittan The winter was also much colder than they were used to in Brittan and many of them froze to death

Meanwhile back in Great Brittan… Almost everyone in Brittan was Catholic Some people did not want to be Catholic because you had to pay money to the church for your sins to be forgiven They formed a new branch of Christians Puritans- believed that the Church of England and the government should not be working together to charge people money. They wanted to be pure British citizens were getting jailed and fined by the King of Brittan for having a different religion These people became known as the Seperatist because they separated from Brittan when they escaped

Escape to Holland The Separatists escaped to Holland in 1609 so they could practice their knew form of Christianity. The Separatists lived happily for a while until the people of Holland wanted them to leave so their religion did not take over They struck a deal with the London Company which was a company that was going over to America to build a colony In 1619 the Separatists were allowed to join those workers and help them form a colony

Mayflower & Speedwell These were the names of the two ships that were going to take the Separatists/Puritans to America 2 days before the Separatists were to leave Holland the Speedwell had to be repaired and it was not done in time to take the Puritans/Separatists to America Mayflower had to take everyone all 102 passengers The passengers left in search of better lives and freedom to have their own religion

Mayflower Voyage The Mayflower left in September of 1620 The Voyage was to take 60 days or two whole months but actually ended up taking 66 days They wrote the Mayflower Compact establishing order and rules for the trip on the ship and once they got on land During that voyage disease called scurvy broke out but only two people died and one little baby was born Reached land in November of 1620 much further North than they intended. It was very cold They thought it was going to be great but it was so cold and they were running out of food so they stole corn from the Native Americans and lived on their boat

Winter of 1620 The Separatists/Puritans had become the Pilgrims. They thought it was going to be great but it was so cold and they were running out of food so they stole corn from the Native Americans and lived on their boat By the time Spring had arrived only about half of the Pilgrims had survived The rest had either starved or froze to death over the winter

Plymouth Colony In the springtime they began building the colony of Plymouth They also formed a good relationship with the Wampanoag Indian Tribe by trading with them and giving them gifts The Wampanoag Indians taught the Pilgrims about fishing, hunting, and planting This gave the Pilgrims a way to get their own food and not depend on someone else

The First Thanksgiving By autumn of 1621 the colonists had collected enough food to feed the community through the coming winter The Wampanoag Indians joined the colonists for a three day celebration giving thanks to God for all of their food That was the first Thanksgiving They probably did not eat Turkey but rather goose, corn, and lobster because they were common in that area.

The Development of Thanksgiving After the First Thanksgiving in 1621, Thanksgiving became more of a religious holiday. Every autumn the decadents or the daughters, sons, grand daughters, and grandsons would fast, pray, and give thanks to God Every autumn the governor of the colony would declare days of thanksgiving for – Great Harvests – Winning Battles – Drought Ending Rains

The Development of Thanksgiving Thanksgiving continued to be celebrated but was still not considered a national holiday. In 1777 the Continental Congress made a law that said that all 13 colonies would celebrate a national day of Thanksgiving that year in honor of the colonists victory in the Battle of Saratoga. By the 1850’s many people celebrated the holiday but it was never on the same day they just celebrated it on one day in November.

Sarah Josepha Hale Magazine Editor who wrote about the health of the country pushed for making Thanksgiving a National holiday to be celebrated on one day. She thought this would unite or bring together a nation that was headed towards Civil War She began writing letters to the President and members of Congress urging them to make Thanksgiving a holiday

Abraham Lincoln Sarah Josepha Hale’s efforts were finally rewarded when Abraham Lincoln took the presidency. He saw the potential of Thanksgiving to bring the nation together. He declared it a National Holiday in 1863, four months after the Unions victory at Gettysburg He wrote a law that National Thanksgiving was to be celebrated on the last Thursday in November.

Early 1900’s Thanksgivings Thanksgiving became a much needed break from work and school. In the 1920’s the National Football League was formed In an effort to get more people to come to their games the Detroit Lions started scheduling a game on Thanksgiving day. In 1924 the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade was held to attract people to the streets so they would go into Macy’s to shop There has been a parade on TV ever since

Thanksgiving Today Thanksgiving has become a good break and a chance to get together with your family and loved ones It gives us a chance to catch up with family and friends that we don’t get to see very much. Gives us a chance to rest up for day after Thanksgiving sales at retail stores like Best Buy Most of all Thanksgiving gives everyone a chance to reflect on all the things that they are thankful for

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Assignment Do the handout and color the Turkey properly Take your time If you are loud you will leave!! Happy Thanksgiving, you little Turkeys!