Ben Franklin’s Politically Incorrect Thanksgiving
Did you know that the day we celebrate as Thanksgiving was supposed to be a fast?
It took one politically incorrect farmer to change the course of history. When the government tried to impose a fast, he called for a grand feast”thanksgivings”so that Americans could celebrate their bounty and nourish their bodies, not lament their hardships through hunger.
The Real Story of the First Thanksgiving
By Benjamin Franklin (1785)
“There is a tradition that in the planting of New England, the first settlers met with many difficulties and hardships, as is generally the case when a civiliz’d people attempt to establish themselves in a wilderness country. Being so piously dispos’d, they sought relief from heaven by laying their wants and distresses before the Lord in frequent set days of fasting and prayer. Constant meditation and discourse on these subjects kept their minds gloomy and discontented, and like the children of Israel there were many dispos’d to return to the Egypt which persecution had induc’d them to abandon.
“At length, when it was proposed in the Assembly to proclaim another fast, a farmer of plain sense rose and remark’d that the inconveniences they suffer’d, and concerning which they had so often weary’d heaven with their complaints, were not so great as they might have expected, and were diminishing every day as the colony strengthen’d; that the earth began to reward their labour and furnish liberally for their subsistence; that their seas and rivers were full of fish, the air sweet, the climate healthy, and above all, they were in the full enjoyment of liberty, civil and religious.
“He therefore thought that reflecting and conversing on these subjects would be more comfortable and lead more to make them contented with their situation; and that it would be more becoming the gratitude they ow’d to the divine being, if instead of a fast they should proclaim a thanksgiving. His advice was taken, and from that day to this, they have in every year observ’d circumstances of public felicity sufficient to furnish employment for a Thanksgiving Day, which is therefore constantly ordered and religiously observed.”
This book, “The Completed Biography of Benjamin Franklin“, might be an interesting read. And no matter if it is a feast or a fast at your home today – - We wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!
eat keep eating don’t think just eat!
Benjimin Franklin was a big time inventor he came out with bifocals and wood burning stove and he even came out with a misical insterment and when he traveled to france he became a bit of a celberty:cool::grin:
Benjamin Franklin was a visionary and ahead of his time (or ours for that matter).
He was beloved by his countrymen and the and outside the bounds of this nation. His liaison with the French before and after the War of Independence was crucial to the existence these present United States of America.
He was a “dandy” … a “ladies man” … a “philanderer” (to one degree or another) and had an eye for the young ladies. He was crappy husband but history down plays that piece of the biogrrphy. My cousin has letters he wrote to my 6th great grandmother that will support that contention. These letters are referenced in Isaacson’s “Benjamin Franklin, An American Life”. It’s a tremendously well-researched account of the life and times of a true American Patritot.
Through Farnklin’s efforts in the French Court he was able to secure support for the cause of our Independence from England (diplomatically) almost single-handedly. When you speak the name “Benjamin Franklin” is pretty much synonymous with “patriot” for this man loved his country without bias and did not support the insular isolationist policies of Washington.
He was, truly, a Renaissance Man.