Thanksgiving

Here are some excerpts from a speech by Daniel Webster given at Plymouth Rock in the fall of 1820. Thanks to John Nichols.

"We would leave here, also, for the generations which are rising up rapidly to fill our places, some proof that we have endeavored to transmit the great inheritance unimpaired; that in our estimate of public principles and private virtue, in our veneration of religion and piety, in our devotion to civil and religions liberty, in our regard for whatever advances human knowledge or improves human happiness, we are not altogether unworthy of our origin."

"The freest government, if it could exist, would not be long acceptable if the tendency of the laws were to create a rapid accumulation of property in few hands, and to render the great mass of the population dependent and penniless."

Also of interest, The History of Thanksgiving from the History Channel.