Quote:
|
Originally Posted by pbradley
The spirit of thanks giving is the original environmentalist impulse of the American identity learned from the Native Americans, but as with all noble things, the consumerizing culture of the post-industrial America swept the spirit as well as the Native Americans to the margin. A simple walk in the late autumn wilderness before the family dinner will do more to re-invoke this ancient Americanism.
|
Thanksgiving Day only became an official holiday once Northerners dominated the federal government. In 1863, after the famous battle at Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving to be held on August 6. Soon the public began to ask for an annual observance, so in 1867, President Andrew Johnson established the last Thursday in November as the official Thanksgiving Day. Two attempts were made by later presidents to adjust the date: in 1870 Ulysses S. Grant moved it to November 18 and
from 1939 to 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt moved it back a week to extend the Christmas shopping season.