Before the Civil War, the South fought the War on Thanksgiving, also because of slavery

[muriel_volestrangler]

How Thanksgiving, the 'Yankee Abolitionist Holiday,' Won Over the South

...
Sarah Josepha Hale's campaign coincided with a resurgence of religious fervor in all parts of the country in the 1840s and 1850s, and the idea of an national day of Thanksgiving was championed in particular by the Presbyterian church. But, at the same time, a stronger, more divisive force was on the rise: the growing sectional debate over the institution of slavery.

For her part, Hale hoped a national Thanksgiving holiday would foster national unity and encourage compromise. But the same evangelical Protestant denominations who most strongly advocated for Thanksgiving were also among the most ardent abolitionists. As Diana Karter Appelbaum puts it in her book Thanksgiving: An American Holiday, an American History, more and more Southerners were beginning to view Thanksgiving as a "Yankee abolitionist holiday."

Virginia was the hotbed of anti-Thanksgiving sentiment. In 1853, Governor Joseph Johnson declined to declare a day of Thanksgiving for his state, citing Thomas Jefferson's firm doctrine of separating church and state. Johnson's successor, the slave-owning fire-brand Henry A. Wise, was even more intransigent. In 1856, he received the same annual letter from Sarah Josepha Hale that every other governor did, encouraging him to declare a general day of Thanksgiving. Wise not only declined to make the proclamation, but fired back a testy refusal.

"This theatrical national claptrap of Thanksgiving," he declared, "has aided other causes in setting thousands of pulpits to preaching 'Christian politics' instead of humbly letting the carnal Kingdom alone and preaching singly Christ crucified." By "other causes," of course, he meant abolitionism.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/11/history-southern-thanksgiving.html

[philosslayer]

1. Thanksgiving is not a constitutional holiday, if we're going to be precise.

Thanksgiving was originally set aside as a day to give thanks to God. Which, in the present day, would be found unconstitutional.

[hedgehog]

2. I've always wondered why Lincoln was involved in setting a date for Thanksgiving -

http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/thanks.htm

Now I know. Thank you.

[pampango]

3. Thanks. I had never heard that history. Interesting that "Christian politics" was a term used by the

right directed at churches that were active in the abolitionist movement. Funny how times change things like that.

[underpants]

4. Very interesting

I had no idea. Oysters are still a tradition on Christmas mornings at my in laws.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. Fascinating....

And a reminder of how divided the North and South was decades before the Civil War.