Editor’s note: Long before Thanksgiving was designated on the third Thursday of November as a federal holiday in 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln, the nation’s first president called for an observance of gratitude by the young nation of the United States of America. Both presidents saw a countrywide Thanksgiving holiday as an expression of national unity and gratitude. Here is George Washington’s original proclamation, copied from the National Archives:
Thanksgiving Proclamation, 3 October 1789
