Per one of two primary sources for this event, the Pilgrims invited the Indians for a feast because, "by the goodness of God, we are so far from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plenty." Likewise, when Abraham Lincoln established Thanksgiving as a national holiday, he called for Americans "to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November" as a "day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens."