Monthly Archives: November 2008

We always believe the first Thanksgiving was in 1621 when fifty colonists (Pilgrims) had a shin-ding with ninety members of the Wampanoag tribe. Well, what if I told you that was not the first Thanksgiving? The very first Thanksgiving in North America was observed on May 23, 1541 at the Palo Duro Canon in Texas. The Spanish nobleman Francisco Vasquez de Coronado and a group of Native Americans, which he called “tejas,” (where Texas gets its name) got together to celebrate his expedition’s discovery of food.

The Texas Society Daughters of the American Colonists commemorated this event in 1959 as the first Thanksgiving. Also, The Ford County Historical Society erected a permanent cross outside Fort Dodge, Kansas some 200 miles northeast of Palo Duro Canyon to mark the spot Vasquez supposedly held a Thanksgiving service or first “Christian Service” on June 29, 1541.

After this first Thanksgiving celebration, there were others predating the Pilgrim one. The second one is said to have been in 1565 in St Augustine, Florida. This one held by Pedro Menendez de Aviles and the Native people of St Augustine. The third was celebrated in 1598 near the site of San Elizario, Texas, by Don Juan de Onate and some Manso Indians from present day El Paso.

After 1621 Thanksgiving was celebrated randomly, no specific day or time of the year. Individual communities would often give thanks after the harvest, but Thanksgiving did not become a national holiday until the 19th century. And in the 20th century, On November 26, 1941 President Roosevelt passed a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as the national Thanksgiving holiday.

We can say that since the 1500’s people in America have set aside a day or even a couple of days a year to give thanks to God for harvests, blessings, health, and peace. No Thanksgiving prayer better said than James Madison’s at the end of the War of 1812 for “devout acknowledgments to Almighty God for His great goodness manifested in restoring to them the blessing of peace.”

The election of 1840 was the first campaign with slogans, songs and modern campaign paraphernalia. The slogan that became best known was “Tippecanoe and Tyler too.” Tippecanoe was the battle that William Henry Harrison won against the Indians in 1811. The Whigs remade Harrison, who had been an uninspired military leader, into a great war hero.

William Henry Harrison won 80 percent of the Electoral College votes making him the first candidate to earn more than one million votes. Though economics, enslavement, and employment were all major issues, the election was typified by cider. In the words of one newspaper: “We have had almost eleven years experiment of a rum-and- whiskey administration. It is time for a change. Let us try the hard cider.”

CHANGE WAS SHORT-LIVED. Harrison caught a cold, which quickly developed into pneumonia and 30 days into his first term, on April 4, 1841, he died–the first President to die in office–and with him died the Whig program.

Czar Peter was one of the greatest leaders that Russia has ever had. After much conflict in the royal family, Czar Peter had full control of Russia in 1694. Russia at the time was blinkered and isolated. Czar Peter called for reform and modernization of Russia. He embarked on a 2 year tour of Europe before implementing any reforms. The two year tour was not for leisure, but rather to learn the ways of the West. He recruited Western engineers, miners, shipbuilders, architects, and other skilled workers and brought their expertise to Russia. He himself learned dentistry, seamanship, and shipbuilding and used this knowledge to build an impressive and modern Navy.

Czar Peter built the city of St Petersburg, but at a heavy price. The city is also known as “the city built on bones.” He changed the educational system, opened up trade routes and imported Western goods. He even changed fashion. He told his nobleman to wear clothes rather than the traditional Oriental costumes. He demanded they have no beards. In fact, in 1698 he assembled the chief officials and personally clipped off their beards and moustaches. On top of the demand, he demanded a “beard tax” from all men with the exception of peasants. He started a committee to specifically think of ways to tax people. He taxed virtually everything such as: beehives, boots, candles, chimneys, hats, horses and last, but not least, drinking water! He may have reformed Russia, but at a heavy price.