Thanksgiving and gratitude have marked important milestones in American life for hundreds of years. Two centuries of American Thanksgiving to God in the words of Congress and Presidents. The new world proved to be fertile soil for the thanksgivings of humanity, with its rich mixture of people from every continent. Pre-Revolutionary Times The first Americans had many traditions of gratitude - especially the Seneca Indian Liturgy of thanksgiving. Settlers and colonists from every continent brought customs of days of prayer and thanksgiving, especially in New England. The Thanksgiving at Plymouth is a classic. July 8, 1630 marked the first Thanksgiving of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The voyage of John Winthrop's ships from England was difficult and stormy. It was appropriate that a Thanksgiving Day be kept on account of the safe arrival, especially after such a stormy passage. Governor Winthrop records: "We kept a day of thanksgiving in all the plantations." 1774 Prayer Unites People The first issue of the First Continental Congress as they met at Carpenters Hall was "Can we open the business with prayer?" Despite their diversity of religions, after fierce debate, inspired by delegate Sam Adams, their first official act was prayer - with remarkable results. From the first day, miraculous unity seemed to have held the far-flung colonies together. **The First Prayer Proclamation of 1775 asked the whole continent to set aside a day to pray and fast together. It had an electric effect, uniting the American people in spirit, a year before the Declaration of Independence. 1776 Valley Forge - The First Thanksgiving On the day Congress appointed, George Washington and his troops, moving close to Valley Forge, deliberately stopped in bitter weather in the open fields to celebrate the first Thanksgiving. As one early surgeon put it, "Mankind is never truly thankful for the benefits of life, until they have experience the want of them." Two hundred years later at Valley Forge the National Thanksgiving Commission was instituted in the George Washington Chapel. As first President, George Washington, a few months after his inauguration, issued "Presidential Proclamation Number One", his Thanksgiving. He voiced his personal conviction that "it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God." His last Thanksgiving in 1795 captures a nobility never exceeded by any president when he asks God to: "...impart all the blessing we posses, or ask for ourselves, to the whole family of mankind." 1863 Lincoln Restores Presidential Thanksgiving Proclamations America forgot National Prayer during 45 years of peace and prosperity. Then in 1863 Abraham Lincoln thundered, "We have been recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven ... we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown, but we have forgotten God." He restored the neglected Presidential proclamations of prayer and thanksgiving during the tragic years of Civil War. "Intoxicated with unbroken success," he wrote, "we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and reserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us." Lincoln issued the first Thanksgiving Proclamation in many years; since then every President has issued at least one a year. **No President since Lincoln has forgotten Thanksgiving to God each year, weaving a picture of our most beloved tradition. Around the globe for over 200 years, Americans have invited friends of every nation to their Thanksgiving table. Thanksgiving is known world-wide as "The American Custom."