How Lincoln Turned A Nation At War Into A Nation Of Thanksgiving

America’s most iconic image of Thanksgiving is the peaceful scene of the Pilgrims sitting down to eat with the Wampanoag Indians. It was a moment that sparked a tradition of gratitude in colonial America, not the chaos of exploding powder kegs nor the utter demolition of entire towns, as brother fought brother and father fought son.

Yet the holiday as we know it today wasn’t formally recognized until the nation found itself in one of its darkest times — in the midst of the Civil War. Somehow, amid the unimaginable bloodshed and loss of life, President Abraham Lincoln saw past the country’s great suffering enough to envision a nation unified around Thanksgiving.

The Civil War, which claimed over 750,000 lives and wounded roughly one million, erupted when the Southern states seceded from the Union following the election of Lincoln, bringing the longstanding dispute over slavery to its breaking point.

Just 78 years earlier, the country united to liberate itself from England. America’s unity, however, proved fragile. By the mid-19th century, the country was so fractured that it descended into what would become the nation’s deadliest war, a tragedy unmatched even to this day.

Nevertheless, in the fall of 1863, Lincoln signed the proclamation, written by his Secretary of State William Seward, for an official day of “National thanksgiving, praise, and prayer … equally in these triumphs and in these sorrows.”

The letter continues:

I invite people of the United States to … 

render the homage due to the Divine Majesty for the wonderful things He has done in the nation’s behalf, 

and invoke the influence of His Holy Spirit to subdue the anger which has produced and so long sustained a needless and cruel rebellion, 

to change the hearts of the insurgents, 

to guide the counsels of the Government with wisdom, adequate to so great a national emergency … 

and finally to lead the whole nation, through the paths of repentance and submission to the Divine will, back to the enjoyment of union and fraternal peace.

Despite the “national emergency” at hand, Lincoln called for unity of the whole nation and a return to the country’s founding principles, with a grateful and repentant heart to God.

At this point in America, many states already observed Thanksgiving, but they didn’t always celebrate it on the same day.

For this reason, recognition is due to one of the holiday’s biggest advocates, a woman named Sarah Josepha Hale, widely considered the “Mother of Thanksgiving.”

In a September 1863 letter to the president, Hale petitioned for the holiday to be officially issued on a specific day every year (the fourth Thursday of November), so that “the permanency and unity of our Great American Festival of Thanksgiving would be forever secured.”

Commonly known as the author of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” and the editor of a well-known women’s magazine, Hale was a Thanksgiving enthusiast and dedicated decades to the cause, writing nearly a hundred essays about the topic, including some she delivered to several presidents.

In one of her essays from 1851, Hale wrote, “There would be more significance of universal concord in our rejoicings as a people, were the day the same in all the States and Territories of our great nation … who would unite in grateful remembrance of the blessings which had crowned the year, and spread a full feast for all.”

Even loved ones who were separated, Hale said, “would have the gratification of knowing that all were enjoying the feast.”

It was these two influences, Lincoln and Hale, who pushed for a national celebration of Thanksgiving with unity as the principal component. This mission speaks volumes today, since the internet is now flush with fresh talk of the country being on the brink of another civil war, particularly in the wake of increasing political violence.

But it would be an overstep to compare the frustration and bitterness we may feel for one another today to the hatred between the North and South during the actual Civil War in 1863. If Lincoln could issue his call for unity under God in the throes of America’s deadliest war, perhaps we, too, can unify. This national tradition may be just what our country needs to remind us of our heritage of freedom and gratitude. That mantle is ours for the taking, if we’re willing.

The Civil War continued for two years following the first official Thanksgiving, but despite great efforts to reject this long-celebrated tradition, it remains one of the country’s most beloved holidays.

Maybe that’s why these words of Hale from over a century ago still ring true:

… from Maine to New Mexico, and from Plymouth Rock to the Pacific sands, the great American People united in this festival of gladness and gratitude, the whole world might be moved to join in the rejoicing, and bless God for his goodness to the children of men.