Some background about the connection between Thanksgiving and Lincoln

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Two upcoming events observed by Friendship House MSU have a close connection:

• Taking Internationals to see the new movie “Lincoln” (Nov. 20) and
• Our national Day of Thanksgiving (Nov. 22).

For many Americans, Thanksgiving is their favorite national holiday, usually celebrated by a big meal with family and friends.  Unlike many of our other holidays, Thanksgiving has managed to largely avoid the commercialism that obscures their true meaning.

Lincoln lists blessings

It was Abraham Lincoln, the 14th U.S. president, who declared the last Thursday of November to be a national day of Thanksgiving.  He issued a proclamation in 1863 make this holiday official.

In his proclamation he summarized the blessings our nation still enjoyed despite the ravages of a civil war.

Just 9 months earlier, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which freed the four million slaves then laboring in America, over which the Civil War was being fought and on which the new movie “Lincoln” focuses.

Each November, Thanksgiving is a time for us to actively remember our blessings from God.  It’s also a time to reflect on the man most Americans consider to be our greatest president, knowing he too was an immense blessing to millions during a crushing crisis in our national history.

Thank you, Mr. President, for the Thanksgiving holiday, for leading our nation out of slavery and for preserving our union.

Thank you, God, for giving us Abraham Lincoln.

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Here is a link to the full text of Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation and another link to the full text of his Emancipation Proclamation.