At a time of unprecedented national division, at the height of the Civil War, President Lincoln issued his famous “Proclamation of Thanksgiving,” on Oct. 3, 1863. The text, which has a sonorousness and sagacity that still echo down the ages, was penned by Lincoln and his Secretary of State William Seward. There are surely no more fitting words of Thanksgiving than these, and so we print them in full below.
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.
