Go-Patriots Banner

 

 
e-Mail Us

 

 

LINCOLN'S THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION

The year that is drawing toward 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 can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well as the iron and coal as of our precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

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. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the imposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purpose, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 3d day of October, A.D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

 

During the last election season, both the Kerry and Bush campaigns received heavy criticism from groups like Ralph Neas' People for the American Way and Barry Lynn's Americans United for the Separation of Church and State for using religion too heavily in their fight for the White House. Supposedly, such electioneering blurs the line separating Church and State.

Last year Judge Moore lost his job over a monument of the Ten Commandments placed in the Alabama Supreme Court building.

Since November 2, we have seen the Left ridiculing religious voters whose fear of God should, apparently, have nothing to do with how they vote for federal officeholders.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional because it contains "under God."

Nativity scenes have been banned from courthouse lawns, and the word "Christmas" dropped from our vocabulary.

Examples of ACLU-type attempts to get God out of government are many, including their most recent suit to prevent the U.S. Military from being involved with the Boy Scouts.

Interestingly, tomorrow, Thursday, November 25, the federal government -- which has been told by many liberals to separate itself completely from the Almighty -- officially will be thanking God. Such is the reason for our Thanksgiving national holiday.

Here is what President Lincoln said on October 3, 1863, when he proclaimed the last Thursday of November to be Thanksgiving -- a national holiday on which Americans are encouraged to offer "thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens."

What would Lincoln have to say to those attempting to remove God from the public square?

 

 

This page last updated on Monday, March 21, 2011 04:41:30 PM
 
For Email Marketing you can trust

This page last updated on Saturday, August 17, 2013 06:22:06 PM

Opinions expressed by contributing writers are expressly their own and may or may not represent the opinions of the Go-Patriots Website, it's editorial staff or its publisher. Reprint inquiries should be directed to the author of the article. Photographs featured on the Go-Patriots Website are for educational purposes only. While some of them are factual in nature others are creations meant to incite thought to further the socio-political and ideological conversation amongst of our readers. Contact the editor for a link request to the Go-Patriots Website. The Go-Patriots Website is not affiliated with any mainstream media or ideological organizations . The Go-Patriots Website is not supported by any political organization. The Go-Patriots Website is a group of non-compensated, independent writers bringing researched, fact-based commentary to the public in the midst of the mainstream media's blatant, agenda-driven bias. The Go-Patriots Website is a non-profit educational effort.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance a more in-depth understanding of critical issues facing the world. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.