How to give thanks in the age of Trump

Reminder: Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a holiday in the middle of the Civil War

Two women embrace in front of the White House on Nov. 9, 2016.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

One hundred and fifty three years ago, a commander-in-chief engaged in the bloodiest conflict this nation has ever seen called upon a shattered and grieving people to give thanks.

There's a myth that "the first Thanksgiving" involved starving Europeans and perhaps fatalistically kind Native Americans, but showing gratitude for good fortune was actually part and parcel of early American culture and only loosely based in post-harvest religious traditions. The Continental Congress declared a day of public thanksgiving every year between 1777 and 1784, often in the dead of winter. George Washington declared a day of thanks in 1789 so Americans might show gratitude for "[the] opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness." And Abraham Lincoln declared two earlier days of thanks before his 1863 proclamation that the last Thursday of November would be "a day of Thanksgiving and Praise," effectively launching our now-annual national holiday (formalized as the fourth Thursday in November by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1941).

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Emily L. Hauser

Emily L. Hauser is a long-time commentary writer. Her work has appeared in a variety of outlets, including The Daily Beast, Haaretz, The Forward, Chicago Tribune, and The Dallas Morning News, where she has looked at a wide range of topics, from helmet laws to forgetfulness to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.