President Lincoln's Proclamation came out after the Battle of Gettysburg but before he issued the Gettysburg Address.
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Washington, D.C.
October 3, 1863
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 unequalled 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
consciousness 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
1. November 2016-First thing that I would like to point out is why the change of the original thanksgivings to the one Abraham Lincoln gave. Another thing would be why we still celebrate it, despite having an effecting history in the Native American’s communities. Aside from these things I guess it grew from this conflicting things and it turned to a more family friendly kind of thing where no tribe gets killed in the process. In a way we could use this holiday to respect other cultures in the process and learn from this kinds of things in order to prevent them from happening.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the reasons behind Thanksgiving, you would wonder why the government changed it with Lincoln’s prompting. Before his ideas, Thanksgiving was a holiday supposedly celebrating the bounding between the native Americans and the new settlers. Even though years later the settlers now being most of the population turned their backs on the minority, the natives and left them high and dry. Jump forward some years and Lincoln “revamps” the idea of Thanksgiving in hopes to enforce and bring divided families back together after years of fighting. Since its inception, Thanksgiving has been based of grief and strife, even though today it is celebrated as a holiday and as a time to rejoice and gather with families to celebrate eating lots of food. Sounds too good to be true. A holiday based of food? Sounds like a Hallmark Holiday.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like President Abraham Lincoln wanted to use this as a tactic to "heal the nation" after all the years of civil war; he suggests ending 1863 on a higher note. He is hoping that this celebration will right his wrongs in some way and make American patriotism flourish again. In my opinion, he did accomplish this goal because in this day and age Lincoln's legacy is a positive one; He even has a statue in our nation’s capital. People love and respect him all over this country, not just the ones who were always on his side from the beginning. He is responsible for making Thanksgiving an American holiday that comes around at the perfect time of year for families to enjoy one another's company and food. I think this speech along with the Gettysburg Address is how he redeemed himself for his atrocious actions during the civil war.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that president Abraham Lincoln was attempting to bring a divided country back together and for everyone to acknowledge the blessings god has given everyone. He was successful in making thankgiving a holiday in which families come together and give thanks for the things they already have. But that holiday seems to be becoming overlooked by all the sales that start the day of thanksgiving. It will very soon be a forgotten holiday and everyone will just skip straight to Christmas. President Lincoln wanted to genrate peace and unity amongst the nation.
ReplyDeleteIt seems as though the President is doing three things here. 1: apologizing for lives lost in battle. Now that everything is over, the people are mourning the loss of their loved ones. While consoling, he is also 2: asking for forgiveness. Killing is a sin in the eyes of Christians the God they worship.Not only did they lose men, they took the lives of other men in war. And he's reminded everyone that 3: though it seems wrong, we should be celebrating. We made it through a rough patch and now we are free to celebrate what is to come for us. The past is ugly, but the future will be bright, especially for our offspring, so let us celebrate. However, nowadays, Thanksgiving is not about giving thanks anymore. So many people don't even view it as a holiday,and for various reason I might add.
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