#49 Sidebar: Notes on Thanksgiving
The History of the Americans
Jack Henneman
4.9 • 632 Ratings
🗓️ 25 November 2021
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This November, it has been 400 years since the traditional First Thanksgiving at Plymouth Colony – Patuxet in 1621. But the history of that collaborative feast of the English and the Wampanoag Indians was lost for more than 200 years. For most of that time, Americans celebrated “thanksgiving” all over the country at different days in the autumn, decreed by local and state governments, without knowing its origin story. This episode explores the conversion of thanksgiving from a local custom to a revered national holiday. Along the way, we learn about Sarah Josepha Hale, the remarkable woman to whom Americans owe the greatest debt for the holiday they will celebrate today.
There were political objections to Thanksgiving, too, rooted in exactly the debates we have today after the proper role of the federal government, and how precisely to separate church and state.
Finally, we learn about the central role of football on Thanksgiving, dating from Thanksgiving of 1873, only four years after the first college football game. By 1893, Americans were playing thousands of games of football across the country on Thanksgiving Day. Oh, and we should all be grateful that President Franklin Roosevelt didn’t screw it all up, which he very nearly did.
Selected references for this episode
Melanie Kirkpatrick, Thanksgiving: The Holiday at the Heart of the American Experience
Melanie Kirkpatrick, “Don’t Let Ideologues Steal Thanksgiving”
“How the Great Colchester Molasses Shortage Nearly Ruined Thanksgiving”
All the Presidential Thanksgiving Proclamations 1789-2018 (pdf)
The West Wing, “I get to proclaim a national day of Thanksgiving”
The American Story Podcast: Sarah Josepha Hale
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the History of the Americans podcast, episode 49. |
| 0:11.1 | I am your host, Jack Heneman, and I'm recording this on Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving Day, November 24th, 2021, in Austin, Texas. |
| 0:23.4 | This is the 49th substantive episode of the podcast, but the actual 50th episode, insofar as the |
| 0:29.8 | introductory episode is denominated episode zero. |
| 0:34.7 | Because I have not figured out how to tweak the numbering on the website, it runs one episode |
| 0:39.4 | ahead in the count versus the podcast apps. Oh, well, maybe I'll solve that someday. If you are |
| 0:47.4 | new to the podcast, we are telling the history of the lands now encompassed by the United States |
| 0:52.8 | from the beginning without presentism. |
| 0:57.0 | We believe there's dignity in our national story, along with tragedy, triumph, brilliance, |
| 1:05.0 | hypocrisy, magnificence, depravity, corruption, finality, inspiration, oppression, genius, defeat, and glory. |
| 1:17.4 | Mostly, we hope you enjoy listening to the History of the Americans podcast as much as we enjoy |
| 1:22.3 | making it, and that you tell all your friends, spread the word on your social propaganda website of choice. |
| 1:29.6 | Write us a nice review on Apple or wherever you like writing reviews. |
| 1:33.6 | And subscribe in your favorite podcast app. |
| 1:36.8 | This is a labor of love, and your support is very motivating. |
| 1:41.9 | This episode is a sidebar, notes on Thanksgiving. |
| 1:47.1 | Yeah, no, two sidebars in a row. |
| 1:49.3 | Never fear, we will get back on the timeline in short order. |
| 1:53.4 | I just like doing these special episodes over holidays, |
| 1:56.0 | especially when they are important to the history of the Americans. |
| 2:00.0 | And, well, they are less work than regular timeline episodes, so they are easier to the history of the Americans. And, well, they are less work than regular |
| 2:02.5 | timeline episodes, so they are easier to do when I'm particularly busy. My main resource for |
... |
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