Page 12LMR | NOVEMBER 2022
MunicipalitiesLegal BriefsTHANKSGIVING’S HISTORICAL HOLDOUTBY KAREN DAY WHITE, LMA EXECUTIVE COUNSELOur annual celebration to give thanks for life’s blessingsis a tradition that dates back to the early 17th century,well before the founding of our nation. In 1777, the ContinentalCongress declared the first national AmericanThanksgiving following the Patriot victory at Saratoga.Indeed, long before President Franklin D. Rooseveltdeclared the fourth Thursday in November to be the national“Thanksgiving Day” holiday on November 26, 1941,the annual recognition had become an immutable partof American life, and the occasion does not generallyprompt a discussion of constitutional law.Louisiana Municipal Lawyers337-233-1987lawbecker.comBut then there is one American President who refusedto endorse the Thanksgiving tradition. You may besurprised that it was none other than America’s firstred-headed President, and the principal author of theDeclaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson.His first year in office, Jefferson declined to declarethe holiday, departing from the custom established byGeorge Washington and John Adams. His actions generateda flurry of nasty rumors that he despised the practiceof thanksgiving or, even more politically damning,that he was an atheist who sought to make the nationless godly. We know now that neither was accurate.Our country’s third Chief Executive, though reluctant tosubscribe to many of the tenets of the prevailing religioussects of his time, regularly attended church andread the Bible.He was dedicated to theteachings of Jesus, notingthat Christ imparted, “themost sublime and benevolentcode of morals whichhas ever been offered toman.” Moreover, when hewas governor of Virginiain 1779, Jefferson issued aproclamation for a day ofprayer and thanksgiving,noting, “…it becomes ushumbly to approach thethrone of Almighty God,with gratitude and praise.”So, why the refusal to declarea national Thanksgivingholiday?His actions were rootedin his fervent belief in theseparation of church andstate. It was Jeffersonwho convinced JamesMadison to pen the Bill ofRights, including the FirstAmendment’s proclamationthat, “Congress shallmake no law respecting anestablishment of religion,or prohibiting the freeexercise thereof …” Shortlyafter becoming President,Jefferson wrote in an 1802letter to an historicallypersecuted Baptist organization,“…that religionCONTINUED PAGE 15LMR | NOVEMBER 2022 Page 13