The 3-Point: Thanksgiving, designating a national bird, and perfect attendance
Welcome to The 3-Point, your weekly dose of inspiration, news, and more.
Positivity Place wishes you, your family, and your friends a happy Thanksgiving. Scroll down to learn more about the establishment of the federal holiday.
Quickly, what is the name of America’s national bird? If your guess was the bald eagle, you’re wrong. Answer: America doesn’t have a national bird. Sometime over the last 250 years, Americans had wholly grown to assume the bald eagle's figurative rank, but Congress hasn't officially declared it the national bird, yet. Earlier this year, legislation was introduced that aims to properly enshrine its status. Read more about the bald eagle’s connection to America’s art and culture in a recent article published by the Architect of the Capitol.
My daughter earned a certificate for her perfect attendance at school during the first quarter of the year. Ironically, she wasn’t able to receive the certificate at an award ceremony because she was sick on the day of the event and missed school. She’s feeling better now, but not before giving the cold to her mom and dad.
1 Let the whole earth shout triumphantly to the Lord!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God.
He made us, and we are his—
his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and bless his name.
5 For the Lord is good, and his faithful love endures forever;
his faithfulness, through all generations.
Be Thankful
Fostering a sense of unity and gratitude
Thanksgiving had been celebrated in various forms since the early days of European colonization in North America. It was often declared by local leaders or governors to give thanks for various reasons, including good harvests, military victories, or the end of droughts.
In the 1820s, Sarah Josepha Hale, an influential editor of the magazine Godey's Lady's Book, campaigned for a national day of Thanksgiving. She wrote numerous editorials and sent letters to governors, presidents, and other public figures advocating for the holiday.
By the time of the Civil War, Hale had been promoting the idea for over 15 years. She saw Thanksgiving as a way to unify the nation, especially during the divisive times of the Civil War.
In 1863, amidst the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln heeded Hale's call. The Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg in July 1863 had turned the tide of the war, providing a moment for national reflection and gratitude.
On October 3, 1863, Lincoln issued a proclamation at the urging of Secretary of State William H. Seward, who drafted the document. Here are some key points from Lincoln’s proclamation:
It acknowledged the need for a national day of Thanksgiving and praise to “our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.”
Lincoln expressed gratitude for the preservation of the Union, the protection against foreign attacks, the progress in agriculture, industry, and commerce, and the safe return of ships from port.
He designated the last Thursday in November as a day of Thanksgiving, to be observed annually.
Lincoln's proclamation did not establish Thanksgiving as an annual federal holiday by law; rather, it was a one-time declaration. However, it set a precedent, and subsequent presidents continued the tradition by issuing similar annual proclamations.
Thanksgiving became an official federal holiday much later. In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill into law, fixing the date of Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday in November, due to some confusion over which was the last Thursday, especially in November when there could be five Thursdays.
Lincoln's act during one of America's darkest hours was symbolic, aiming to foster a sense of unity and gratitude, reflecting a moment of national reflection and hope for reconciliation.
President Lincoln’s Thanksgiving proclamation
October 3, 1863
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 cannot fail to penetrate and even soften 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 provoke their aggressions, 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 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 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 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, tranquility, and union.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Mike Barber
Ps. Did you know that Positivity Place offers a Bible ‘Verse of the Day’ subscription and a paid subscription plan? If you have any issues signing up for either subscription, email mike@positivityplace.org.