A Widow's Cause: Bringing Thanksgiving to Victorian America by Jo-Ann Roberts

 

During most of the 19th century, Thanksgiving was not an official holiday. Admittedly, it had its roots in the New England states, and was widely celebrated there and into the mid-West. The actual date of the holiday was left to individual states and territories. It could vary widely from September through December, but mostly celebrated in November after the harvest.

While the idea of celebrating a good harvest was an old one, it took a Victorian lady to give it its voice. Specifically, the editor of a highly popular magazine of the times, Godey's Lady's Book, Sarah Josepha Hale. 

Suddenly finding herself a widow and single mother with children to support--including a brand-new baby--Sarah wrote a book, Northwood. Its success led to a job offer for the "editorship" of a new "ladies" magazine, turning Godey's into one of the most important periodicals in 19th century America. Though it is now remembered primarily for its fashion plates, crafts, and household tidbits, it covered social issues as well.

 

Year after year, Godey's Lady's Book published the same plea. Each year the campaign brought new success. By 1851, 29 out of 31 states celebrated a day of Thanksgiving. However, not on the same day so she continued to insist the holiday be celebrated on the exact same day. 

Having thoroughly thought it out, she suggested the last Thursday in November so that "the telegraph of human happiness would move every heart to gladness simultaneously." To further her cause for a unified day of giving thanks, she pointed out that farm labor was done for the season and the election cycle was over.

 

Below is the cover of Godey's Lady's Book and the original plea from 1847.

 

“OUR HOLIDAYS.—We have but two that we can call entirely national. The New Year is a holiday to all the world, and Christmas to all Christians—but the “Fourth of July” and “Thanksgiving Day” can only be enjoyed by Americans. The annual observance of Thanksgiving Day was, to be sure, mostly confined to the New England States, till within a few years. We are glad to see that this good old puritan custom is becoming popular through the Union…Would that the next Thanksgiving might be observed in all the states on the same day. Then, though the members of the same family might be too far separated to meet around one festival board, they would have the gratification of knowing that all were enjoying the blessing of the day…

Despite her claims, she had not achieved the ultimate endorsement; a proclamation from the President. In 1861, with civil war looming, she focused on national unity as her strongest selling point. 

Finally, under these conditions and the stress of considerable loss of life, a devastated Southern economy, and public support for the holiday, President Abraham Lincoln endorsed and proclaimed "a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelt in the heavens." Furthermore, he stated, Americans should "fervently implore" blessings from the Almighty to "heal the wounds of the nations, and to restore it...to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and union."

Thanksgiving in a Civil War camp

Successive presidents continued the tradition and proclaimed a yearly Thanksgiving at the end of every November.  Still not satisfied, Hale's magazine urged Congress to recognize the holiday. Unfortunately, she didn't live to see the Congressional proclamation of the Thanksgiving story (which finally took place in 1941), but by the 1870's Thanksgiving was already a part of America's culture.

The national holiday has become just what Sarah Josepha Hale envisioned: a celebration of home and hearth and the blessings for which we are grateful.

 Happy Thanksgiving!

Sources:

Read the Original Pitch for Thanksgiving, From the Editress Who Created the Holiday - Atlas Obscura

http://www.thisvictorianlife.com/blog/thanksgiving

FIREWORKS, FOOD, AND FOOT RACES: CELEBRATING JULY 4th IN THE OLD WEST

By Jo-Ann Roberts

 

“I believe the Fourth of July will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be celebrated by pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other.”  John Adams

 

In 1777, a year after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Philadelphia celebrated by firing guns, setting off fireworks even while the war dragged on. The tradition was widespread and was taking place throughout the war despite hard times.

In the Old West, the 4^th of July was celebrated as well. From the smallest mining camps to towns to the bigger cities, Americans had picnics and dances and gathered for speeches, rodeos, horse races, foot races, turkey shoots, and parades. Historical pageants, and later baseball games, and watermelon-eating contests added to the festivities. 

Cripple Creek CO July 4th

In the late 1800s, Native Americans who had pledged their allegiance to the United States celebrated the 4^th of July with rodeos, pow-wows, and war dances.

After the 1862 gold strike in Canyon City, Oregon, a typical Fourth of July celebration would have a picnic at noon, with barbecued sheep, hogs, and young steers. And the tables would be piled high with the good food prepared by excellent cooks. Townspeople would gather around a platform where the band would play patriotic selections and popular music of the day. A blessing by a preacher and a reading of the Declaration of Independence would follow. After the reading and speeches, folks spent the evening dancing the Virginia Reel, polkas, and schottische.

Canyon City OR

The 1820 celebration at Camp Council Bluff (now Fort Atkinson State Historical Park) in Nebraska was quite patriotic. Troops were reviewed, an oration read, a national salute was fired, and dinner guests drank toasts to President James Monroe, their country, the Declaration of Independence, and George Washington.

Camp Council Bluff, Nebraska

Now Fort Atkinson State Historical Park

Comprised of a few hardy miners and even fewer women, the mining camps of Hamilton and Treasure Hill decided they would have a 4^th of July celebration. They formed a flag committee, a music committee, and a dance committee. Since there was only one man who played the violin, and he tended to imbibe a bit too much, the miners had to regulate the flow of whiskey to the musician.

The only two women in the camp comprised the dance committee.  Because the flag committee waited too long to get a flag, they improvised using a quilt with a red lining and some white canvas material. A traveling family camped nearby had a blue veil. Luck was on the miners' side since the family included a mother and four daughters…more women for the dance.

Whether it was a Nevada mining camp with a few hardy miners and even fewer women, or an Arizona town where a rodeo and a picnic was held with all of the townspeople attending, Americans old and new celebrated the Declaration of Independence in the Old West.

Author’s Note: I was born in the West…Western Massachusetts, that is…specifically in Pittsfield, where the Fourth of July parade has been an annual tradition since 1824. Or is it 1812? Long touted by the City Council as 1824, a local citizen doing genealogy research has suggested that the first parade occurred in 1812.

In addition to the parade, there is a drum corps competition, a baseball game at twilight, and a fireworks display.

Pittsfield MA parade

The fact that a smaller community like Pittsfield has been doing something for over 200 years is remarkable. Marching bands and fire departments from Boston and Worcester to the east; Bennington, Vermont to the north; and Torrington, Connecticut to the south are perennial favorites and come back year after year. Why? It’s watching someone’s grandfather and a seven-year-old boy saluting the flag at the same time. It’s the tradition of patriotism, pride, and respect we all share as Americans.