On October 3, 1863, expressing gratitude for a pivotal Union Army
victory at Gettysburg, President Abraham Lincoln announced that
the nation will celebrate an official Thanksgiving holiday on
November 26, 1863.

The speech, which was actually written by Secretary of State
William Seward, declared that the fourth Thursday of every
November thereafter would be considered an official U.S.
holiday of Thanksgiving.

William Henry Seward
(May 16, 1801 – October 10, 1872)

President Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation.

On January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation. Attempting to stitch together a nation mired in
a bloody civil war, Abraham Lincoln made a last-ditch, but
carefully calculated, decision regarding the institution of
slavery in America.

On October 3, 1863, expressing gratitude for a pivotal Union Army
victory at Gettysburg, President Abraham Lincoln announced that
the nation will celebrate an official Thanksgiving holiday on
November 26, 1863.

The speech, which was actually written by Secretary of State
William Seward, declared that the fourth Thursday of every
November thereafter would be considered an official U.S. holiday
of Thanksgiving.

On September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued a
preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which sets a date for
the freedom of more than 3 million enslaved in the United
States and recasts the Civil War as a fight against slavery.

 
First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation by President
Lincoln. (Painted by Francis Carpenter)

On September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issues a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which sets a date of January 1, 1863 for the
freedom of more than 3 million black slaves in the United States and
recasts the Civil War as a fight against slavery.

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, shortly after Lincoln’s inauguration
as America’s 16th president, he maintained that the war was about
restoring the Union and not about slavery. He avoided issuing an anti-
slavery proclamation immediately, despite the urgings of abolitionists
and radical Republicans, as well as his personal belief that slavery was
morally repugnant. Instead, Lincoln chose to move cautiously until he
could gain wide support from the public for such a measure.

President Lincoln signing the Emancipation
Proclamation.

The five page original document, held in the National Archives
Building. Until 1936 it had been bound with other proclamations
in a large volume held by the Department of State.