President Biden on Thanksgiving said he was thankful that the transition of power to a second Trump administration has gone smoothly, while urging the incoming commander-in-chief to "rethink" threats to impose steep tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods. 

"I hope that [President-elect Trump] rethinks it. I think it's a counterproductive thing to do," Biden told reporters Thursday on the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts, where he was spending the holiday with family. "We're surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Oceans and two allies — Mexico and Canada. The last thing we need to do is begin to screw up those relationships. I think that we got them in a good place."

Earlier this week, Trump vowed to impose 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada in an effort to get both nations to do more to stop the flow of illegal immigrants and illicit drugs into the U.S. Trump spoke with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo on Wednesday, and both apparently came to an understanding, he said. 

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"She has agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "We also talked about what can be done to stop the massive drug inflow into the United States, and also, U.S. consumption of these drugs. It was a very productive conversation!"

Trump also threatened to impose an additional 10% tariff on China. Biden said Chinese President Xi Jinping "doesn't want to make a mistake."

"I am not saying he is our best buddy, but he understands what's at stake," he said. 

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President Biden also said Thursday that illegal border crossings have been "down considerably" since Trump's first term in office. Trump heavily campaigned on the border crisis that exploded after Biden took office. 

The president also said he was pleased with the cease-fire deal between Israel and Lebanon and that he was "very, very happy" about China releasing three Americans who were "wrongfully detained" for several years. 

Regarding the transition from his presidency to a second Trump administration, Biden said he wants the process to occur without any hiccups.  

"I want to make sure it goes smoothly. And all the talk about what he is going to do and not do, I think that maybe it is a little bit of internal reckoning on his part," he said. 

When President Abraham Lincoln first proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday, little did he know he was spelling the beginning of the end to the prominence of the original patriotic celebration held during the last week of November: Evacuation Day.

In November 1863, Lincoln issued an order thanking God for harvest blessings, and by the 1940s, Congress had declared the 11th month of the calendar year's fourth Thursday to be Thanksgiving Day.

That commemoration, though, combined with the gradual move toward détente with what is now the U.S.' strongest ally – Great Britain – displaced the day Americans celebrated the last of the Redcoats fleeing their land.

Following the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia in 1776, New York City, just 99 miles to the northeast, remained a British stronghold until the end of the Revolutionary War.

Captured Continentals were held aboard prison ships in New York Harbor and British political activity in the West was anchored in the Big Apple, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

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However, that all came crashing down on the crown after the Treaty of Paris was signed, and new "Americans" eagerly saw the British out of their hard-won home on Nov. 25, 1783.

In their haste to flee the U.S., the British took time to grease flagpoles that still flew the Union Jack. One prominent post was at Bennett Park – on present-day West 183 Street near the northern tip of Manhattan.

Undeterred, Sgt. John van Arsdale, a Revolution veteran, cobbled together cleats that allowed him to climb the slick pole and tear down the then-enemy flag. Van Arsdale replaced it with the Stars and Stripes – and without today's skyscrapers in the way, the change of colors at the island's highest point could be seen farther downtown.

In the harbor, a final blast from a British warship aimed for Staten Island, but missed a crowd that had assembled to watch the 6,000-man military begin its journey back across the Atlantic to King George III.

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Later that day, future President George Washington and New York Gov. George Clinton – who had negotiated "evacuation" with England's Canadian Gov. Sir Guy Carleton – led a military march down Broadway through throngs of revelers to what would today be the Wall Street financial district at the other end of Manhattan.

Clinton hosted Washington for dinner and a "Farewell Toast" at nearby Fraunces' Tavern, which houses a museum dedicated to the original U.S. holiday. Samuel Fraunces, who owned the watering hole, provided food and reportedly intelligence to the Continental Army.

Washington convened at Fraunces' just over a week later to announce his leave from the Army, surrounded by Clinton and other top Revolutionary figures like German-born Gen. Friedrich von Steuben – whom New York's Oktoberfest-styled parade officially honors.

"With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy, as your former ones have been glorious and honorable," Washington said.

Before Lincoln – and later Congress – normalized Thanksgiving as the mass family affair it has become, Evacuation Day was more prominent than both its successor and Independence Day, according to several sources, including Untapped New York.

Nov. 25 was a school holiday in the 19th century and people re-created van Arsdale's climb up the Bennett Park flagpole. Formal dinners were held at the Plaza Hotel and other upscale institutions for many years, according to the outlet.

An official parade reminiscent of today's Macy's Thanksgiving Parade was held every year in New York until the 1910s.

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As diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom warmed heading into the 20th century and the U.S. alliance with London during the World Wars proved crucial, celebrating Evacuation Day became less and less prominent.

Into the 2010s, however, commemorative flag-raisings have been sporadically held at Bowling Green, the southern endpoint of Broadway. On the original Evacuation Day, Washington's dinner at Fraunces Tavern was preceded by the new U.S. Army marching down the iconic avenue to formally take back New York.

Thirteen toasts – marking the number of United States – were raised at Fraunces, each one spelling out the new government's hope for the new nation or giving thanks to those who helped it come to be. 

An aide to Washington wrote them down for posterity, and the Sons of the American Revolution recite them at an annual dinner, according to the tavern's museum site.

"To the United States of America," the first toast went. The second honored King Louis XVI, whose French Army was crucial in America's victory.

"To the vindicators of the rights of mankind in every quarter of the globe," read another. "May a close union of the states guard the temple they have erected to liberty."

The 13th offered a warning to any other country that might ever seek to invade the new U.S.:

"May the remembrance of this day be a lesson to princes."

President Biden pardoned this year's national Thanksgiving turkeys "Peach" and "Blossom" on the South Lawn of the White House on Monday – the last time he will partake in the tradition in office. 

Biden thanked John Zimmerman, chair of the National Turkey Federation, and Zimmerman's son Grant for participating in the annual White House tradition.

The national turkey lobby first presented a turkey to President Truman in the 1940s for Thanksgiving, and President George H.W. Bush began the annual tradition of pardoning turkeys, Biden said. 

Zimmerman has raised more than 4 million turkeys over his 35-year career, Biden noted. In the last four years, Biden has pardoned other national Thanksgiving turkeys, named "Peanut Butter" and "Jelly," "Chocolate" and "Chip," and "Liberty" and "Bell." 

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In his remarks, Biden said Zimmerman's family was from Northfield, Minnesota, which the president and his Agriculture Secretary Tim Vilsack visited last year with "our great friend, the Minnesota governor Tim Walz, talking about transforming rural America back in Minnesota." Walz ran unsuccessfully for the White House as vice president on the ticket with Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Harris, who was notably absent from Monday's turkey pardoning ceremony. 

Biden did not mention Harris, who is reportedly keeping a low profile with close aides and family in Hawaii following her defeat by President-elect Trump. 

The 82-year-old president did take the opportunity to give thanks for his term in office.

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"This event marks the official start of the holiday season here in Washington. It's also my last time to speak here as your president during the season," Biden said. "And give thanks and gratitude. So let me say to you, it's been the honor of my life. I'm forever grateful that today my wife, Jill, and I will travel to Staten Island, New York, for a Friendsgiving with members of the Coast Guard and their families to demonstrate our gratitude for their service and sacrifice – like my son. We're also keeping our hearts to those who have lost so much who will have an empty seat at the Thanksgiving dinner table tonight, or excuse me, Thursday night."

"May we use this moment to take time from our busy lives, and focus on what matters most. Our families," Biden added. "In America, we never give up. We keep going. We keep the faith. Just remember who we are. We're the United States of America. There's nothing, nothing, nothing beyond our capacity if we do it together. So happy Thanksgiving, America. God bless you all. And may God protect our troops." 

An animal rights group will bombard the streets of D.C. with visceral cries of distressed turkeys and subliminal messages urging people to go vegan as the White House held the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardon tradition on Monday.

The distressing animal cries and subliminal messaging are part of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' (PETA) "Hell on Wheels" turkey truck, which has been traveling to 30 different states across the country since as early as October, stopping at grocery stores, busy downtown areas and eventually the presidential turkey pardon. The truck, which is intended to look like a realistic turkey transport truck covered with images of birds crammed into crates, was posted on Sunday evening outside the Willard Hotel, where the birds were housed ahead of the ceremony. On Monday, the truck set up shop outside the White House. 

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"It's a life-sized Turkey transportation truck, and it's covered with images of real sickly turkeys. And if people listen very closely, they will hear a subliminal message to go vegan every 10 seconds. And that's because we want people to listen closely and watch closely, because every turkey is an individual," Amanda Brody, assistant manager in PETA's international grassroots campaigns department, told Fox News Digital. 

"No one needs to eat meat, dairy or eggs to be healthy, and everyone can help stop this needless suffering by simply going vegan today or enjoying a vegan roast at their Thanksgiving dinner this Thursday."

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Earlier this month, PETA President Ingrid Newkirk sent a letter to President Biden urging the "lame duck president" to cancel what she described as the "wretched" turkey pardon tradition. Newkirk argued the tradition is "a humiliating meat-industry stunt that uses the White House as its public relations backdrop."

"Turkeys are devoted parents who purr to their chicks, and whose skin changes color to express their emotions, yet in the meat industry, they’re treated as unfeeling objects, crammed into filthy sheds, and slaughtered, often while they’re still conscious," Newkirk said Monday. "PETA’s ‘Hell on Wheels’ truck is sending a strong signal that it’s beneath the Oval Office to shill for the meat industry and appealing to the public to please give birds a break by choosing vegan this Thanksgiving and beyond."

The history of the presidential turkey pardon is a little murky, with some believing it first began when President Abraham Lincoln granted "clemency" to a turkey in 1863. Others have suggested the tradition began much later with President Harry S. Truman. Meanwhile, according to NPR, the turkey pardoning tradition was formalized in 1989 by President George H.W. Bush.