|
In November, America will continue a tradition begun centuries ago:
the celebration of a Day of
Thanksgiving. The origin of this tradition is commonly attributed to the Pilgrims in 1621, even though some Thanksgiving services did occur elsewhere in America
as early as 1607. While Thanksgiving celebrations became common in New England, they did not begin to spread southward until the American Revolution, when Congress issued eight separate national
Thanksgiving Proclamations.
Then in 1789, following a proclamation issued by President George Washington, America celebrated its first Day of Thanksgiving to God
under its new Constitution. That same year, the Protestant Episcopal Church, of which President Washington was a member, announced that the first Thursday in November would
become its regular day for giving thanks, "unless another day be appointed by the civil authorities." Yet, despite these early national proclamations, official Thanksgiving
observances usually occurred only at the State level.
Much of the credit for the adoption of an annual national Thanksgiving Day may be attributed to Mrs. Sarah Joseph Hale, the editor of Godey's Lady's Book. For thirty years, she promoted
the idea of a national Thanksgiving Day, contacting President after President until President Abraham Lincoln responded in 1863 by setting aside the last Thursday of November as a
national Day of Thanksgiving. Over the next seventy-five years, Presidents followed Lincoln's precedent, annually declaring a national Thanksgiving Day. Then, in 1941, Congress
permanently established the last Thursday of each November as a national holiday.
Lincoln's original 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation came–spiritually speaking–at a pivotal point
in his life. During the first week of July of that year, the Battle of Gettysburg occurred, resulting in the loss of some 60,000 American lives. Four months later in November, Lincoln
delivered his famous "Gettysburg Address." It was while Lincoln was walking among the thousands of graves there at Gettysburg that he committed his life to Christ. As he explained to a friend:
 When I left Springfield [to assume the Presidency] I asked the people to pray for
me. I was not a Christian. When I buried my son, the severest trial of my life, I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of
thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ.
Following is the 1863 Lincoln Thanksgiving Proclamation–celebrated shortly after Lincoln committed his life to
Christ and celebrated while America was still in the midst of its Civil War. It was this proclamation which eventually led to the establishment of our national Thanksgiving holiday.
Proclamation of Thanksgiving by the President of the United States of America
The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful years 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 can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of
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 theater of military
conflict, while that theater 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 defense have not
arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax 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 theretofore.
Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the
battlefield, 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.
Abraham Lincoln
Source: Article originally in The WallBuilder Report/Fall 1998 by David Barton. For more information about Wallbuilders, go to www.wallbuilders.com
 A Psalms of Thanksgving. The lesson on November 19, 2006 takes a break from an audio series
and gives a topical lesson on Psalms 100 to celebrate Thanksgiving which comes on the third Thursday in November each year. Psalms 100 (KJV) says:
1. Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.
2. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
3. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
5. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
The lesson goes through each verse and relates to our walk as a Christian. Life is tough and sometimes it’s hard to be
thankful but God has given us the tools to be thankful. There are 8 references in the New Testament to thanksgiving so if
you go and study those references, you will find many reasons to be thankful.   Click here to listen now and celebrate your blessings in Christ and be thankful!
|
Thanksgiving in America
