How Thanksgiving Day got started

Lincoln's Declaration of Thanksgiving
as a National Holiday, 1863

It is the duty of nations as well as of men to owe their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.

We know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world. May we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven, we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.

But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that God 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 who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a Day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.

(signed) A. Lincoln
October3, 1863

 

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dcarma...91.jpg&.src=ph

amen

 

those words that Abraham Lincoln wrote sound like they couldve been written today, theyre just as relevant as when they were written some hundred odd years ago. I am so thankful for this great nation that we live in, and for so many other things i cannot post here for fear of going against the guidelines of this forum.

 

Actually President George Washington, in 1789, proposed a day of thanksgiving to God for his blessings on the new country, the outcome of the Revolutionary War, and the help from friendly nations (read France).

It just took a while for it to become official.

Rick

 

You can gather all this information from .gov sites, but, Thanksgiving had been skipped for FORTY something years as a national holiday before Lincoln made it a Federal one. Which ties into the speech. FDR tried moving the date so it would work in better with the holiday shopping season and it did not go over too well, so they moved it back to Lincoln's date.

 

“’Twas the Night of Thanksgiving"

'Twas the night of Thanksgiving, But I just couldn't sleep
I tried counting backwards, I tried counting sheep.
The leftovers beckoned - The dark meat and white
But I fought the temptation With all of my might.

Tossing and turning with anticipation
The thought of a snack became infatuation.
So, I raced to the kitchen, flung open the door
And gazed at the fridge, full of goodies galore.

I gobbled up turkey and buttered potatoes,
Pickles and carrots, beans and tomatoes.
I felt myself swelling so plump and so round,
'Til all of a sudden, I rose off the ground.

I crashed through the ceiling, floating into the sky
With a mouthful of pudding and a handful of pie.
But, I managed to yell as I soared past the trees....
Happy eating to all - Pass the cranberries, please.

May your stuffing be tasty, May your turkey be plump.
May your potatoes 'n gravy Have nary a lump,
May your yams be delicious May your pies take the prize,
May your Thanksgiving dinner Stay off of your thighs.



Have a great Thanksgiving!

 

Cool poem...never heard it before.