Proclamation · 1863

Proclamation of Thanksgiving, 1863

In the midst of civil war, Lincoln invited Americans at home, at sea and abroad to observe the last Thursday of November as a day of thanksgiving and praise, citing a year of “fruitful fields and healthful skies,” preserved peace with foreign nations and continued national growth. He asked citizens to commend to God’s care all who had been widowed, orphaned or left mourning by the war, and to pray for the healing of the nation.

“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.”

Abraham Lincoln, October 3, 1863

Why it matters

Prompted in part by the editor Sarah Josepha Hale’s long campaign for a national holiday, it began the unbroken tradition of an annual national Thanksgiving; in 1941 Congress fixed the date as the fourth Thursday of November.

Read the full text at presidency.ucsb.edu

Primary Source

The original record, reproduced or linked from the institution that holds it. Primary sources show what people said and did in their own words.

Subjects

thanksgiving faith civil war union

From the library

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