Lincoln Discussion Symposium

Happy Thanksgiving to all the Americans on the Forum and everyone else who celebrates the holiday!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! Best wishes to all.

Happy Thanksgiving Day to everyone.

Hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving. Mine was.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

(11-28-2022 09:21 AM)LincolnMan Wrote: [ -> ]Hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving. Mine was.

I thought that Bill was speaking in the past tense about the future.

I was wrong.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.

Best
Rob

This holiday message came from President Lincoln’s Cottage:

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Abraham Lincoln set aside a national "day of Thanksgiving and Praise” in 1863 while living at the Cottage.

In the darkness of the Civil War, he recognized the importance of coming together to count blessings.

We are grateful for you — our friends, followers, partners, and supporters.

Happy Thanksgiving, and please come visit us this holiday season.


President Lincoln's Cottage | 140 Rock Creek Church Road NW, Washington, DC 20011

(11-23-2023 03:30 PM)RJNorton Wrote: [ -> ]President Lincoln's Cottage | 140 Rock Creek Church Road NW, Washington, DC 20011

Proclamation of Thanksgiving

Sarah Josepha Hale, a 74-year-old magazine editor, wrote a letter to Lincoln on September 28, 1863, urging him to have the "day of our annual Thanksgiving made a National and fixed Union Festival." She explained, "You may have observed that, for some years past, there has been an increasing interest felt in our land to have the Thanksgiving held on the same day, in all the States; it now needs National recognition and authoritative fixation, only, to become permanently, an American custom and institution."

President Lincoln responded to Mrs. Hale's request immediately, unlike several of his predecessors, who ignored her petitions altogether. In her letter to Lincoln she mentioned that she had been advocating a national thanksgiving date for 15 years as the editor of Godey's Lady's Book.

The document sets apart the last Thursday of November "as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise." According to an April 1, 1864, letter from John Nicolay, this document was written by Secretary of State William Seward, and the original was in his handwriting. On October 3, 1863, fellow Cabinet member Gideon Welles recorded in his diary how he complimented Seward on his work. A year later the manuscript was sold to benefit Union troops.