[Editor’s note: This article is excerpted from Leggett’s article “Thanksgiving Day,” first published in 1836. Leggett was one of America’s leading Jacksonian free-market journalists in the mid-nineteenth century, and was a committed opponent of central banks, slavery, and corporatism. “The separation of bank and state” was a part of his political creed. In this article, Leggett, true to form, reminds his readers that they do not need either the federal government or the state governments to tell us on what days to be thankful.

When he returns to the White House early next year, President-elect Donald Trump plans to appoint Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to head a new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. While not an official federal department, the Administration’s plans for DOGE are similar to the Grace Commission under Ronald Reagan and the “Reinventing Government,” or “REGO,” initiative under Bill Clinton.