estivals of Thanksgiving were observed sporadically on
a local level for more than 150 years. They tended to be autumn harvest
celebrations. But in 1789, Elias Boudinot, Massachusetts, member of the
House of Representatives, moved that a day of Thanksgiving be held to
thank God for giving the American people the opportunity to create a Constitution
to preserve their hard won freedoms. A Congressional Joint Committee approved
the motion, and informed President George Washington. On October 3, 1789,
the President proclaimed
that the people of the United States observe "a day of public thanksgiving
and prayer" on Thursday, the 26th of November.
The next three Presidents proclaimed,
at most, two days of thanksgiving sometime during their terms of office,
either on their own initiative or at the request of a joint Resolution
of Congress. One exception was Thomas Jefferson, who believed it was a
conflict of church and state to require the American people hold a day
of prayer and thanksgiving. President James Madison proclaimed a day of
Thanksgiving to be held on April 13, 1815, the last such proclamation
issued by a President until Abraham Lincoln did so in 1862.