Pilgrims' Progress
23 November 2006
Editor, The New York Post
Dear Editor:
The Pilgrims did celebrate their harvest in 1621, but you are mistaken to count this celebration as the first Thanksgiving ("For Which We Give Thanks," Nov. 23).
That harvest was meager, as was that of 1622, because the Pilgrims at first practiced socialism. All food produced went into a common fund and was distributed according to need. The result was near-starvation.
The first true Thanksgiving was in 1623, the year of the Pilgrims' first bountiful harvest. It occurred only after Governor William Bradford in Spring 1623 allotted each family their own private plot of land. As Bradford records in his history of Plymouth Plantation, "This had very good success; for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corne was planted than other waise would have bene by any means the Govr or any other could use, and saved him a great deall of trouble, and gave far better content."
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Editor, The New York Post
Dear Editor:
The Pilgrims did celebrate their harvest in 1621, but you are mistaken to count this celebration as the first Thanksgiving ("For Which We Give Thanks," Nov. 23).
That harvest was meager, as was that of 1622, because the Pilgrims at first practiced socialism. All food produced went into a common fund and was distributed according to need. The result was near-starvation.
The first true Thanksgiving was in 1623, the year of the Pilgrims' first bountiful harvest. It occurred only after Governor William Bradford in Spring 1623 allotted each family their own private plot of land. As Bradford records in his history of Plymouth Plantation, "This had very good success; for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corne was planted than other waise would have bene by any means the Govr or any other could use, and saved him a great deall of trouble, and gave far better content."
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Sunday July 29, 2007 at 4:14am