Thanksgiving Is a Celebration of Freedom
It was October 1863, just after the Battle of Gettysburg, when Mr. Lincoln declared a national “day of Thanksgiving” to celebrate the Union’s victories in the Civil War. His proclamation said it was “fit and proper” that the country should give thanks for success in a war that would eventually mean “a large increase of freedom.”
The timing of the first Thanksgiving is important. Earlier in the year, Mr. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had turned the Civil War into a battle against slavery.
The New York Times this morning brought back memories of my Fourth Grade school year, and the science teacher who introduced to us the concepts both that the American Civil War had not been fought „to free the slaves“ as well as that students were so trained to believe something they might not easily register or remember an alternative point they were offered. This was an era of Mỹ Lai, the Chicago police riot, the trial of the Chicago Eight/Seven, the „secret“ invasion of Cambodia, Kent State.
- November 6, 1860 Republicans win the presidency with Lincoln/Hamlin. The platform promised not to interfere with slavery in the states, but opposed slavery in the territories.
- December 20, 1860 South Carolina adopts Ordinance of Secession declaring secession from the United States of America.
- February 7, 1861 seven states adopt a provisional constitution for the Confederate States of America.
- April 12, 1861 bombardment of Fort Sumter.
- September 22, 1862 Emancipation Proclamation as of January 1, 1863 frees slaves in states „in rebellion against the United States“. Other United States slaves – numbering some half a million – are not freed.
- July 1–3, 1863 Battle of Gettysburg.
- October 3, 1863 Lincoln announces an official Thanksgiving holiday to be celebrated on November 26, 1863.
- November 19, 1863 Gettysburg Address „redefines“ the purposes of the war.
- April 9, 1865 General Robert E. Lee surrenders.
