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Thanksgiving, the U.S. Constitution and American Ignorance

Most Americans don't know that the very first Thanksgiving was not about Pilgrims. It was about the US Constitution. Here's a repost of my 2011 Thanksgiving article. Enjoy!

Thursday is Thanksgiving Day. American teachers tell us that we created the holiday to give thanks for the pilgrims' relatively safe completion of their first year in the New World. There were some offerings of thanks in that regard, but official Thanksgiving celebrations made only sporadic appearances in history until Congress declared a national holiday to honor the Civil War dead, wounded and families in 1863.

But the first federal Thanksgiving Day Proclamation wasn't about pilgrims or a difficult winter or a civil war. It was about government. In 1789, Congress asked President George Washington to proclaim a day of thanks for the U.S. Constitution.

READ MORE … 

http://voices.yahoo.com/thanksgiving-us-constitution-10508935.html?cat=9

The author is a Brentwood Borough resident.

NE12Ukid November 22, 2012 at 10:53 am
" Those who claim that our Constitution is dead, or invalid, or that "the great socialist/Marxist/Muslim/Kenyan/antichrist/terrorist Obama" has trampled it to oblivion are either lying, or ignorant, or they're just too lazy to read it.
Last week, Fox News "reporter" Steve Centanni cited a nonexistent clause in the Constitution to justify Fox's corporate line that Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan should recuse herself from the health insurance reform case when it reaches the court. " Interesting tie in, though I can't agree 100% with this line: " Some of our schools teach it, some don't. Those that do, teach it poorly. ' I just don't agree that the author can say with such certainty that no school is teaching this properly.

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joan etzel June 11, 2013 at 08:18 pm
either e-mail jte1327@verizon.net or call 412-884-0984
Robert Edward Healy, III (Editor) June 11, 2013 at 11:35 pm
There we are!
Big Red June 13, 2013 at 09:43 am
thanks Robert
Purple Power June 12, 2013 at 11:23 am
Well, you never know when a new verbal onslaught might come your way. I mean, after all, you wereRead More blind-sided last week by a verbal attack, who's to say another doesn't happen this week.
Tom Barchfeld June 12, 2013 at 12:29 pm
They can only do it during their comment time.
Ned Hardt June 13, 2013 at 08:16 am
Things are much clearer now. Interesting audio clip posted on Patch today along with new article.
cc June 7, 2013 at 06:24 am
Margaret, I'm sorry for your loss. Your son is your guardian angle watching over you and yourRead More family.
Margaret French June 7, 2013 at 09:14 am
Thank you. Yesterday was a hard day for me.
cc June 8, 2013 at 09:15 am
Margaret I'm sure it was a very hard day. I don't look forward to June 17 as I lost my best friend,Read More my dad that day.
Ned Hardt June 9, 2013 at 12:54 am
We understand, Bob, it's the new system, not US nor our abilities. Just a shame it takes so long butRead More there HAS been progress. Looks like they need to next work on making the "flag as inappropriate" button work, {sigh} Hey, Margaret, Patch knocked computer off IE AGAIN in the middle of posting this, it's not just you---probably quite a few of us. I know of another website that had similar problems, but finally got it fixed. Hang in there! :-)
Ned Hardt June 9, 2013 at 12:56 am
Only took three tries to get that one to post, haha!
Margaret French June 12, 2013 at 09:23 am
LOL Ned. I am still getting knocked off. I use msn.
Robert Edward Healy, III (Editor) June 5, 2013 at 10:59 am
Baldwin Dad, hang in there with us. We're aware of the issues, and our IT team is working to fixRead More them ASAP.
Margaret French June 6, 2013 at 12:28 am
That is the same message I got for days. It was so frustrating.