Goldsmith is an attorney and former law partner, adjunct law professor, Superior Court judge, San Diego city attorney, California state legislator and mayor of Poway.
Many believe our national Thanksgiving holiday was inspired by the Pilgrims and Native Americans’ feast in 1621 celebrating their first harvest.
But that is not entirely true.
Our national holiday was largely to celebrate unity and national purpose.
President George Washington first proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving in 1789. He envisioned a day to unite in prayer, thanking God for the new nation’s independence and the “civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed.”
In 1863, at the height of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln went further and declared a federal holiday known as “Thanksgiving” to be celebrated on the last Thursday of each November. As Washington did, Lincoln spoke of unity in prayer, calling on Americans to give thanks “with one heart and one voice by the whole American people” and ask God’s help “to heal wounds of the nation.”
The leading advocate for a national Thanksgiving holiday was Sarah Josepha Hale, co-author of the children’s poem, “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”
Hale, known as the “Mother of Thanksgiving,” urged Americans to “put aside sectional feelings and local incidents” and rally around the unifying cause of thanksgiving.
Today, Thanksgiving remains a time Americans give thanks. We tend to focus on personal and family matters, which are certainly important.
However, this year we should borrow from Washington and Lincoln and also think of our nation.
This is a troubling and divisive time for America. Returning to our roots of Thanksgiving may help us why we are here and want to remain one nation.
On Thanksgiving Day, let’s suspend bickering and, instead, give thanks for our country with, as Lincoln said, “one heart and one voice by the whole American people.”
Let’s give thanks, as Washington said, “for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed.”
That liberty was and remains unique because it is based on the belief that individual rights are bestowed on us by God, not government.
Our liberty is not a privilege but a right we are born with.
We can speak out, worship by choice, own property, run a business and pursue our dreams. Our God-given rights have created opportunities for people from all walks of life to succeed through individual initiative and hard work.
However, the American concept of God-given rights is a fragile experiment which can fail if we do not and protect it. God-given rights can be quashed by an authoritarian regime. The experiment can weaken through division and hatred, exposing our nation to factions with destructive goals and deceptive means.
We certainly should work to improve what we have and address injustices.
But we should never allow this experiment to fail, for the sake of our children and future generations.
Just as Washington and Lincoln’s eras were challenged, so is ours. But our nation has faced worse and survived.
America will survive these trying times, too, as long as we are united in appreciating the value of our experiment and the need to keep it strong.
