Wallbuilders Live! With David Barton & Rick Green

What if the most meaningful Thanksgiving starts with only five kernels of corn? We revisit the holiday’s unvarnished origins and follow a line of gratitude that runs through blizzards, barracks, and battlefields. The Pilgrims faced disease, hunger, and loss, yet learned to give thanks for small mercies: a buried kettle of corn, new allies, enough wood for the fire, and the hope that the next winter might not claim them all. That stubborn gratitude didn’t ignore suffering; it taught people how to endure it, rebuild after it, and turn scarcity into wisdom.We connect those early lessons to moments when America needed backbone, not platitudes. Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation barely mentions the Civil War and instead points the nation toward God’s character and providence. The Continental Congress and FDR did likewise, calling citizens to read Scripture, to reflect, and to anchor hope beyond turmoil. These proclamations remind us that gratitude is not a luxury emotion reserved for easy times. It’s a civic and