Posted on Friday, October 3, 2025
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by The Association of Mature American Citizens
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On October 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation that would help define an enduring national tradition: he designated the last Thursday in November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise—thus formalizing a holiday that until then had been observed sporadically and locally.
The United States was in the thick of its bloodiest internal conflict. The Civil War had inflicted deep wounds—loss of life, frayed loyalties, and bitter divisions. In that climate, Lincoln saw an opportunity not merely for ritual, but for unity. His proclamation called on Americans “in every part of the United States … to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving.” He asked citizens not simply to celebrate harvests and prosperity, but also to turn their attention to those suffering hardship: widows, orphans, mourners, and all who had been touched by the war’s scourge.
While Lincoln was the figurehead behind the proclamation, much of the credit for bringing the holiday to fruition belongs to Sarah Josepha Hale—a magazine editor and author who had lobbied for decades to see Thanksgiving made into a nationwide observance. Hale pressed presidents, governors, and public figures to adopt a unified day of gratitude; Lincoln’s proclamation in 1863 was the moment her persistence paid off.
Lincoln’s language echoed the tone of humility, penitence, and faith. He acknowledged that Americans are “prone to forget the source from which [their] blessings come,” and urged them to offer “humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience.” Even amid war, he invited citizens to give thanks for “fruitful fields and healthful skies” and to implore divine guidance in healing the nation’s wounds.
This proclamation did not immediately make Thanksgiving a fixed federal holiday or dictate the customs we now associate with it (turkey dinners, parades, football). But it did provide an official anchor, elevating a scattered array of regional observances into a national ritual with moral purpose. In subsequent years, presidents would continue to issue Thanksgiving proclamations, and over time the holiday would take a more secular, celebratory shape.
Lincoln’s October 3 proclamation reminds us that Thanksgiving was born not just from gratitude, but also from a yearning for unity, reconciliation, and shared purpose. In the shadow of war, he offered the American people a moment of pause — a chance to reflect, heal, and give thanks — and in doing so, he helped anchor a tradition that would last long after the cannons fell silent.
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