EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part one of a two part series.



Thanksgiving has become an orphan holiday sandwiched between Halloween, which has become a big deal shopping season, and Christmas, the biggest shopping season of them all. Marketers tend to overlook Thanksgiving. Good.

I’m guessing that the comparative lack of promotion for Thanksgiving has to do with the fact that the holiday does not lend itself well to retail exploitation. When it comes to Thanksgiving, the age-old question asked by marketers driven to make a few more bucks, “What’s in it for me?” is generally answered “Not much.”

The same cannot be said for Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Even though Christmas shopping displays appear in some stores as early as June, Black Friday is still considered by many to be the official start, not of the Christmas season, but the holiday shopping season.

The history of Thanksgiving and the true meaning of the holiday used to be taught in our schools, but that has gradually changed over the years. Beyond saying that the Pilgrims were thankful and ate a big meal, little of the original Thanksgiving story is taught to our children these days.

The immigrants who founded Plymouth Plantation on the coast of southern New England in 1620 were dissenters from the official religion of England. Unlike the Puritans, who tried to remain in the Church of England and reform it from within, the Pilgrims left it in order to worship God in a manner they saw fit.

In those days, conformity of religion was required in England, and dissenters, including various Protestant sects, Catholics, and Jews, were persecuted and sometimes executed for their beliefs. The Pilgrims fled to Holland, but found life there so difficult that they decided to brave the risky Atlantic Ocean crossing and go to the New World. They received permission from King James to plant a colony at the mouth of the Hudson River.

According to accounts written by people who participated in these events, the Pilgrims finally made landfall on Cape Cod, anchoring in what is now Provincetown Harbor, far to the north of the Hudson River territory granted to them by the king. An attempt to sail south around the cape failed; the wind sprang up and forced them to turn back.

Interpreting this mighty wind as a sign that God wanted them to live where they had landed, the Pilgrim Fathers drew up what became known as the Mayflower Compact. The Compact established the first government on the American continent that was based on the rule of the majority.

So that you can read for yourself what the Pilgrim Fathers believed and what they intended for their new colony, here is the entire text of the Mayflower Compact:

“In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc.

“Having undertaken, for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith and Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the First Colony in the Northern Parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, Covenant and Combine ourselves together into a Civil Body Politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.

“In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini 1620.”

With the rule of law established through the ratification of the Compact, the Pilgrims began their search for a permanent home. Hoping to find a place with a fresh water stream, they found one with four streams…and land already cleared for planting.

It was November when they landed at Plymouth. More than half the colonists died during the cold winter months. That anyone survived that first winter was a miracle.

Another miracle walked out of the woods and into the lives of the Pilgrims in the spring of 1621. His name was Squanto. I will tell you his story in the next column. It’s a story that our schools no longer teach.

One cannot read the Mayflower Compact without understanding the primary purpose of the colony. “…For the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian Faith…” Could the colonists’ intentions be stated any plainer? I believe that it was the faith expressed by these 12 words that enabled the Pilgrims to survive and eventually thrive.

The words of the Mayflower Compact challenge those who would remove all traces of the faith that molded our nation and shaped its laws from our history books, and ban its expression from the public arena. The bold proclamation of faith found in this important document does not fit the narrative of the revisionists that would remove God and faith in God from our history books.

An activist minority continues to downplay the decidedly prominent role of the Christian faith in our nation’s history. They intend to enforce a new conformity, but this time, conformity not of religious faith, but of non-belief in God.

What are they afraid of?

Let me finish today’s column by encouraging you to search the internet and discover the original Thanksgiving story for yourself…and then, make it part of this Thursday’s celebration. Start a new family tradition this year, and tell the original, true, and fascinating Thanksgiving story to your children.



Johnson is executive director of Christian Formation Ministries. His organization has numerous volunteer opportunities available. For information, e-mail richard@christian-formation.org, or call 812-945-0886.

Ours is a great nation under God…and for that, I am thankful. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!