Thanksgiving and Lincoln
Thanksgiving means actual, not contrived, inclusiveness. President Abraham Lincoln demonstrates this fundamental point.
On Oct. 3, 1863, the White House issued the Thanksgiving Proclamation, declaring the last Thursday of November to be a “day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.” The proclamation also requested “the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore … peace, harmony, and Union.”
Earlier, Lincoln had ordered government offices closed on Nov. 28, 1861 for a day of thanksgiving. Up until the 1863 proclamation, individual states had celebrated days of giving thanks. Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of the influential Godey’s Lady’s Book, had written to Lincoln in late September of that year pressing for a national day of thanks, a goal she pursued for many years without success. By the fall of 1863, the strategic position of the Union had taken a welcome turn for the better.
In July, there were two significant victories: the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania and the capture of Vicksburg Mississippi. A sizable Confederate army would never again invade the North, and the great Mississippi River was now completely in Union control.
During the preceding year, one military development provided Lincoln with a political opportunity. On Sept. 17, 1862, the Army of the Potomac, under Gen. George B. McClellan, defeated Gen.Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia at Antietam Creek in Maryland. The victory was technical; Lee’s army withdrew in order. Nonetheless, Union forces occupied the battlefield. This outcome did qualify as a Union military success.
Lincoln faced extremely serious challenges beyond the Confederacy. Gen. McClellan was popular with rank-and-file soldiers, and nurtured national political ambitions. He was committed to the Union but strongly opposed the abolition of slavery. A talented organizer and administrator, he refused to be aggressive in attacking Lee’s army.
McClellan became insubordinate, demanding control over all war policy. Lincoln then fired him. McClellan became the Democratic Party’s 1864 presidential nominee; Lincoln defeated him again.
President Lincoln, securing control of the Army, moved to exploit the Antietam victory by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. The executive order of Jan. 1, 1863 freed slaves in the Confederate states. Critics argue Lincoln should have included states in the Union, but that would have been unlawful and unwise. Slavery was still legal under the Constitution. Slavery had strong support in Border States and areas of the North.
By design, the Emancipation Proclamation is a detailed, dry lawyer’s document making the case for removing property, with emphasis on procedure. There is no reference to the fundamental moral concerns expressed elsewhere, especially in Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and Second Inaugural. Civil War goals changed from preserving the Union to abolishing slavery.