Sunday, November 18, 2007

Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation

The true spirit of Thanksgiving has to do with our gratitude to God. Our tradition points us back to pilgrims who, no doubt, were very grateful to have survived the harsh conditions of their first year in the New World... but the true spirit of gratitude is found in a humble acknowledgement that we have a loving Heavenly Father and that He is intimately involved in our lives.

In the midst of a bloody Civil War President Lincoln made a national proclamation that a day of gratitude be observed. As you read his proclamation below try to put things in perspective... if in the midst of so much turmoil President Lincoln could find so much good for which we should be grateful... then it should not be difficult for me today to do the same.


By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.


The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand
and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward,Secretary of State

3 comments:

Nathan P. said...

Thanksgiving Memories: On the way home from grandma's house I would always look for the star at the top of a hill in Santee. After finding it, I would track it as long as I could and think about Christmas with excitement.

Also, I loved watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with the house smelling delicious while mom was cooked pies or a turkey. I would always look for the marching bands...I liked the trumpet players best.

Daniel J. Price said...

ThanksGiving Memories: Grandma's house feast and games. Best part was the roll drawer. I still love that thing. And then on the ride home we sing Christmas Songs and look for the star. Good times.

Thanksgiving the official start of Christmas... unless you start after Halloween like me. :)

Nathan P. said...

How about this one: Trying to sneak a single M&M from grandma's glass jars without clinking the glass. The tradition continues...