President Lincoln's Thanksgiving

It was just a few years ago that I learned the Thanksgiving holiday as we know it today, at least the one where the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions aren’t playing football, is actually rooted in a decision by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863.  That’s when the holiday became an annual tradition.

Here’s the story. Thanksgiving is always celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November.  It is a uniquely American holiday.  Back in 1863, while the Civil War was still raging, President Lincoln proclaimed a national day of “Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”  While not a religious holiday, per se, it had significant spiritual significance at the time, and served as the kickoff to the holiday season that went through Christmas to the New Year.

As our history books tell us, the first Thanksgiving, was held by the Pilgrims to celebrate their first harvest in their new land in 1621.

However, during the Civil War, the president read a series of editorials written by Sarah Josepha Hale, which called for a national Thanksgiving Day to be celebrated the last Thursday in November of 1863.  As a result, he decided to make her proposition an annual tradition throughout the country.

The rationale behind the holiday was to start to help create a sense of unity.   In his proclamation of the event, President Lincoln pointed out the things for which Americans had to be thankful to God, including “fruitful fields,” the continued peace with foreign nations, and the continued preservation of the union.  Some historians have said that with the nation so divided at the time, as was pointed out by the president in his proclamation, it appeared the intent was to create a vision for a unified nation, living in peace, sharing the same values of God, family and country.

To Mr. Lincoln, the thought of giving thanks would have been an incomplete one if not to join together in appreciation for “the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.”

In that proclamation, Mr. Lincoln touched on many of the issues the country faced in its war between the states, including the effect it was having on families.  He extended his particular sympathies to the widows and orphans created by the war.

To add context to this, it’s important to note that one week before the first national Thanksgiving holiday, the president traveled north of Washington, D.C., to deliver his remarks at the dedication of the Soldier’s National Cemetery in Gettysburg.  This was the site of the bloodiest battle of the war and was devastating to both sides.  Both armies suffered a total of over 50,000 casualties.  As Mr. Lincoln delivered his remarks five months into the aftermath of the three-day battle, some of the dead still were not buried.   

To read his Gettysburg Address, and then to read his proclamation of the first Thanksgiving holiday, you can get a more complete sense of the mood of the country, and perhaps get a glimpse of Mr. Lincoln’s frame of mind at that time.  While these were extremely powerful leadership documents, there is a high degree of introspection and sentimentality contained in both. 

I found them both to be worthwhile in my own reflection of what I happen to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving holiday.  As I read these words from Mr. Lincoln, however, I realize not much tends to change.  I too, am thankful for my faith, family and a wonderful country to call home.  And that’s just for starters.  Wishing you much for which to be thankful this week. 

Happy Thanksgiving!