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The next three Presidents proclaimed, at most, two days of thanksgiving sometime during their terms of office, either on their own initiative or at the request of a joint Resolution of Congress. One exception was Thomas Jefferson, who believed it was a conflict of church and state to require the American people hold a day of prayer and thanksgiving. President James Madison proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving to be held on April 13, 1815, the last such proclamation issued by a President until Abraham Lincoln did so in 1862.
Thanksgiving was not created by Lincoln to heal the country after the Civil War. The first Thanksgiving was, indeed, something the Pilgrams did in 1622/3. George Washington made is a formal day for the whole country in 1789. Lincoln was the 5th President to proclaim it a national holiday, which he did in 1862, 3 years before the end of the civil war, so it wasn't to heal the country after the war.
I take exception to this last paragraph of yours. Agreed on the first Pilgrim Thanksgiving, but as to the rest...
Lincoln WAS the president who made it a
regular National Holiday and it was in 1863 (not 1862) Before that it was held on different days by different states. Some states didn't even recognize it (southern states mostly). Lincoln made it nationally uniform as the last Thursday of November (with much credit going to Sarah J. Hale, the editor of Godey's Lady's Book).
Lincoln's proclamation after Gettysburg (really, the tuning point of the war) was surely meant to heal the nation
during the war - and his words bespeak this:
"...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..."
After the war, the South finally joined in, and it then became a regular, ongoing National Holiday.
As to the other comment about Lincoln being "the 5th" to proclaim it - it has to be noted the other proclamations were for THAT DAY -- that is "Thursday, the 26th of November, 1789," (Washington's, for example, to celebrate our new Constitution as well).
Now...I'd like to know where
the 5th President to declare that day a national holiday came in (dismissing the singularity/uniformity difference I described).
I assume it was from the article which notes: "
The next three Presidents proclaimed, at most, two days of thanksgiving sometime during their terms of office" and recognizes that Thomas Jefferson didn't proclaim them. (more on that in a minute) --
So, after Washington, it's John Adams. Adams didn't proclaim a Thanksgiving day, at least in terms of what we recognize as Thanksgiving Day today. In fact, his two Proclamations
were for a day of humiliation and fasting! Sort of the opposite of the harvest celebration and Pilgrimy turkey gobblins. Oh, and they were each
in the month of MARCH. (1798 and 1799) You can see them here:
Presidential Proclamations
So, Washington? Yes.
Adams? No.
Jefferson? No.
So far we've got ONE president up to Madison (he was the 4th President) ...where in the heck are the "next three presidents?" There is something wrong with the wording in that article, even if we give that Adams day of Fastings in March were, yes, technically - "Thanksgiving Proclamations." (not anywhere near the holiday we are talking about) --
Now up to Madison. He had two Proclamations. One in November
a Day of Public Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer - during the War of 1812 (there's that fasting again!), and another in
April 1815, which was
Proclamation 20 - Recommending a Day of Public Thanksgiving for Peace.
So, I give credit for bringing in a reputable source as the Smithsonian, however, what you relayed was incorrect. Lincoln was most certainly not the "the 5th President to proclaim it a national holiday" - and that article, as I showed has flaws, in relating those other Proclamations to the national holiday we celebrate in November.
Getting back to Jefferson's refusal to issue any Proclamations: Historical sidenote: This is where his famous Danbury letter about his ever-still-discussed "Wall of Separation" between Church and State comes in. That was about tada! Thanksgiving & Fasting Proclamations. I can expound on that more if you like
