The grateful Pilgrims then declared a three-day feast, starting on December 13, 1621, to thank God for His favor and to celebrate with and thank their Indian
after a special manner, rejoice together after we had gathered the first fruit of our labors.
They four in one day killed as much foul as . . . served the company almost a week
entertained and feasted; and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought. . . . BY THE GOODNESS OF GOD WE ARE . . . FAR FROM WANT.
In October 1789, in the midst of the gruesome Revolutionary War, President George Washington issued the first presidential thanksgiving proclamation as a day for giving thanks to that "great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. . . .