Living in a post-election digital age, it’s only natural to ask how AI can help ease polarizing arguments at Thanksgiving. But what if, instead of asking technology how to handle Thanksgiving, we ask the history of Thanksgiving how to handle the great divides of our technological age?
While historians have found no evidence that the Wampanoag tribe was present or even invited to the first Thanksgiving feast in 1621, they seem to agree on three defining moments in Thanksgiving history. Recalling these moments reminds us to ask the questions that can help bridge rather than avoid the great divides of our time.
3 Defining Moments In Thanksgiving History
In addition to saying grace, eating turkey, stuffing, gravy, sweet potatoes, cornbread, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pie, watching football or a parade, and spending time with family, Thanksgiving tradition is about pilgrims, independence, and healing the wounds of a divided country:
- In 1621, the Pilgrims organized a feast to celebrate that their first harvest, and thus the result of the native Americans helping and teaching them how to survive in the New World, proved successful.
- In 1789, George Washington called for a national day of Thanksgiving so that everyone could express gratitude for the happy ending of the country’s war of independence and the successful ratification of the American Constitution.
- In 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November as national Thanksgiving Day to heal the wounds of a country torn apart by the Civil War.
Fast forward to 2024, these three defining moments are the perfect reminder to ask the Thanksgiving questions that can help bridge the gap between 1) the old and the new world, 2) America and the rest of the world, and 3) Democrats and Republicans.
Thanksgiving Question 1: What Can The Old World Teach Us That We Need To Succeed In The New World?
For the Pilgrims, the answer to this question was: how to cultivate corn, extract sap from maple trees, catch fish in the rivers and avoid poisonous plants. The Native American Squanto also taught the settlers how to form an alliance with the local Wampanoag tribe.
But what is the answer for Americans and others celebrating Thanksgiving today? We may not have crossed an ocean to reach our new world, but we are certainly in an unfamiliar environment in terms of climate, technology, media, politics and a host of other conditions that affect our lives and work. Is the question — and answer — of what we should learn still the same as it was 400 years ago?
You could argue that it is more important than ever to learn how to cultivate, collect, extract and distribute the earth’s resources in a sustainable way. You could also argue that the “settlers” and their global ideas and ideologies have no chance of surviving in the political environment unless they listen to and learn from the “local tribes.”
However you argue, asking yourself and your Thanksgiving party what the old world can teach us as we build the new one is a great first step in creating the cross-regional, racial, and generational alliances necessary to succeed.
Thanksgiving Question 2: Why Is Independence Worth Fighting For, For America As Well As Other Nations?
The promise to make America great again has brought President-elect Donald Trump back to the White House. But is being great the most important thing for America? Or is there something more important to America as well as all other nations?
When the first Thanksgiving proclamation was made by the national government of the United States in 1789, it was to express gratitude for the peace treaty that ended the eight-year American Revolutionary War and secured the political independence of North American colonies, enabling them to form the United States of America.
In other words, Thanksgiving was never about celebrating the nation’s greatness. It was and is about expressing gratitude for the nation’s hard-won independence. According to historian Howard Peckham, more than 25,000 American combatants lost their lives in the war of independence. In February this year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers and counting have been killed since the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022. And every day, Israeli and Palestinian soldiers and civilians die in battles for independence in Gaza.
So why is independence worth fighting — and helping others fight — for? Spending the holiday asking and exploring different answers to this question will be more in the spirit of Thanksgiving than debating how to make America great again.
Thanksgiving Question 3: Who Are We, Not As Democrats Or Republicans, But As Americans?
When Abraham Lincoln finally heeded the request to call for a national Thanksgiving Day in 1863, he urged all Americans to ask God to “commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation.”
In the wake of an election characterized by great division, 2024 also calls for healing the nation’s wounds. But in addition to asking God to commend his tender care for all who suffer from the country’s strife with itself, Thanksgiving is also an opportunity for all Americans to ask themselves and each other what it means to be an American.
Asking “Who are we, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans?” is a reminder of the role and responsibility that comes with building, sustaining and living in a free world. A role and responsibility that is not limited to all Americans, rich and poor, young and old, educated and uneducated, but includes everyone who is affected by American politics, business, culture, and lifestyle. To pay for one’s own freedom with the slavery of others is not to build, maintain and live in a free world.
This is why John Sherman motivated the first antitrust law of 1890 by declaring that monopolies are inconsistent with the American form of government: “If we will not endure a king as a political power, (…) we should not submit to an autocrat of trade.”
And this is why antitrust and tax rulings against Big Tech companies like Google and Apple may be more in line with the American dream of a free world than increased taxes on foreign goods. After all, if being an American means building, sustaining, and living in a free world, technology that enslaves people to think and live a certain way must be questioned by all Americans.
And that brings us back to where we started. Where instead of asking technology how to deal with Thanksgiving, we asked how the history of Thanksgiving can help us deal with the great divides of our technological age: Is the path to survival, independence and healing the same as it has always been? To talk to each other instead of resorting to technology designed to make us avoid the hard questions?