History
The first Thanksgiving was not in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Abraham Lincoln created the day to bridge the divide in America during the civil war.


 

"It doesn’t feel like much of a Thanksgiving this year. Lots of chairs are empty, either permanently, as we are now counting our coronavirus dead in the hundreds of thousands, or temporarily, as we are staying away from our loved ones to keep the virus at bay. 

"Lots of tables are empty, too, as Americans are feeling the weight of an ongoing economic crisis.

"Rather than being unprecedented, though, this year of hardship and political strife brings us closer to the first national Thanksgiving than any more normal year.

"That first Thanksgiving celebration was not in Plymouth, Massachusetts. While the Pilgrims and the Wampanoags did indeed share a harvest feast in fall 1621, and while early colonial leaders periodically declared days of thanksgiving when settlers were supposed to give their thanks for continued life and-- with luck—prosperity, neither of these gave rise to our national celebration of Thanksgiving.

"We celebrate Thanksgiving because of the Civil War."

Article: Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American, November 25, 2020