1863 Proclamation of Thanksgiving

Proclamation of Thanksgiving

Washington, D.C.

October 3, 1863

This is the proclamation which set the precedent for America’s national day of Thanksgiving. During his administration, President Lincoln issued many orders like this. For example, on November 28, 1861, he ordered government departments closed for a local day of thanksgiving.

Sarah Josepha Hale, a prominent magazine editor, wrote a letter to Lincoln on 28, 1863, urging him to have the “day of our annual Thanksgiving made a National and fixed Union Festival.” She wrote, “You may have observed that, for some years past, there has been an increasing interest felt in our land to have the Thanksgiving held on the same day, in all the States; it now needs National recognition and authoritive fixation, only, to become permanently, an American custom and institution.” The document below sets apart the last Thursday of November “as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise.”

According to an April 1, 1864, letter from John Nicolay, one of President Lincoln’s secretaries, this document was written by Secretary of State William Seward, and the original was in his handwriting. On October 3, 1863, fellow Cabinet member Gideon Welles recorded in his diary that he complimented Seward on his work. A year later the manuscript was sold to benefit Union troops.

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards 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 cannot 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 theatre of military conflict; while that theatre 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 defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the 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 battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness 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 at sea and those who are sojourning 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 interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes 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 Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward,

Secretary of State

-from netins.net

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Congressional candidate Lieutenant Colonel West

“Promote the general welfare, not provide general welfare…”

Congressional Turkey of a Bill

-by Linda Butts

Thanksgiving. Twenty pound turkeys. Stuffing and all kinds of trimmings.

Turkey is best when it’s sliced before serving. Then cut into bite-sized pieces before inserting in mouth. Congress is looking to stuff the bird with things they don’t want to read, consume the whole turkey in one big swallow, then pass the gas off on us.

Yesterday the Senate began the turkey season with 60 votes for its two thousand seventy four (2,074) pages of S.1697. It’s difficult enough to imagine our busy Senators taking the time to count the pages, let alone read the words printed on them. As Senator Murkowski (another smart lady from Alaska) said, that 20 1/2-pound pile of the Senate’s 2,074 pages [propaganda] is a turkey of a bill.

Senator Boxer complained of the resolution’s objectors, “Nowhere on their desk do we see their bill. They have no answers, no solutions.” Here’s one. Cut the turkey into reasonable servings. Then cut it again, for bite size pieces. No need to pretend the Congressional Turkey bills are ready to serve. No need to practice gluttony. If it’s not suitable for Congress, it isn’t suitable for US, the citizens.

On Nov 7 the House of Representatives made history by passing HR 3962 at the Request of the President and Elitists who will benefit from the bill. The proposed comprehensive health care reform is historic in that the yeah Votes of Representatives and Senators do not reflect the desire of the constituents who vote for Congressmen to represent them. The Senate is copying the moronity of the House.

Those Representatives and Senators who do not vote for Obama’s health care takeover, or the Congressional turkey of a bill, are to be commended for choosing to represent their constituents, those of US who vote for them. Like Ringo Star said, “Everything government touches turns to crap,” so hands off our health care!

A vote for the proposed Health Care by any of its names represents the intent of Congress to take over the business of insurance and health care, neither of which the Government is set up to do, nor competent in. The gross negligence of promising our grandchildren an insurmountable debt before they are even born is an action not becoming a Congressman.

A greater service the Congress can provide to the people in the districts they represent is to work to fix Medicaid and Medicare; lift restrictions that prohibit interstate health insurance; disconnect employers from individual health care so people can choose what is best for them as individuals; work toward TORT reform to reduce the inflated costs of health care. Mrs Boxer, is this too complicated to understand?

“It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones.” – Calvin Coolidge

HR 3962 was a bill to kill.
So is the Senate’s version.

ps
Happy Thanksgiving!

a Lady as President?

-by Linda Butts

What’s wrong with Sarah?

Sarah is a lady.

It was the image contrasting last year’s First Lady on the left and this year’s First Lady positioned on the right that made me realize my hesitancy with Sarah Palin.

Politics: always spinning, the truth is there, somewhere, usually tucked between the folds of the spun propaganda. The Left has made quite the investment in convincing US that Sarah is stupid. And they’re looking to spend more to discredit her, with the DNC currently raising money for attack ads against her. Shouldn’t take too long to figure out that the Left isn’t as convinced of her stupidity as they would present her, as they want you to believe.

I couldn’t quite put my finger on my hesitancy about Sarah. When considering the prevarication of MSM, political pundits and the DNC against her it became obvious that she is not stupid. Either she isn’t stupid, or the Piper on the Left is, for expending so much energy and money in paltering a truly stupid person. Or am I wrong, the Left really is that stupid?

Then I saw the Change picture, Laura on the left and Michelle on the right, and instantly knew why I was holding out in supporting Sarah. Sarah is a lady. She’s feminine. Can a Lady be an effective President?

Not every woman is a lady. Laura Bush is a graceful lady. As First Lady, Laura presented herself as well groomed, well dressed, as though she respects the people who look up to her. That’s Laura. Laura isn’t the first First Lady to be a graceful lady, but she is the most recent. Michelle, on the other hand, doesn’t hesitate to present herself rumpled and flippant. Laura filled her role as First Lady as a dignified lady. Michelle is extravagant in her nouveau riche position, yet all the gold in the world can’t make her the lady she is not. Michelle is filling her role as First Lady as, well, a pretentious woman.

When imagining a female President, isn’t it easier to picture a masculinized woman? What woman in power is, or has been, a lady, or even feminine? Few. Not recent women prominently in American politics, as Hillary C., Nancy P., Madeline A. or Janet N., hardly feminine. They’re women in power. Women, not Ladies.

It isn’t easy to picture a lady, feminine like Sarah, in the role of President, is it? Men like to look at her, and she’s smart. She’s sincere, likely the non-politician in her. She’s soft and cuddly, her edges feminine. Her administrative experience, tested decision-making, resilience to attack, etc., get lost when people look at her. Even with her glasses on she’s a sexy, feminine lady.

What’s wrong with Sarah? Sarah is a lady.
A lady can be every bit as effective as any man.
Especially a lady qualified as Sarah.
A Lady for President?
You betcha!

National Anthem

Presented by 7 year old

-from DvS

Check out my other WordPress blog, FunnyMail – nothing serious

change!

on the left – a classy First Lady

on the right – well, an  unkempt woman