Governor William Bradford of Massachusetts made this first Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1623:
"Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game, and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as He has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pest...
