This year is the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth. Although presidential proclamations of a Day of Thanksgiving were custom, in 1863 he set the standard for the "last Thursday in November" (since 1941 the fourth Thursday in November) as the national Thanksgiving Day. In 1863, he'd been at Gettysburg the week before the national holiday to dedicate the battlefield memorial.
His proclamation was issued on October 3, 1863. Read it here. And if you've been perverse or disobedient, put that aside. Consider our gracious gifts from God and do as Lincoln observed:
His proclamation was issued on October 3, 1863. Read it here. And if you've been perverse or disobedient, put that aside. Consider our gracious gifts from God and do as Lincoln observed:
It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people.