As the autumn leaves fell across the nation in 1863, America was a country divided. The Civil War had torn families apart and tested the nation’s very identity. Yet amid this turmoil, President Abraham Lincoln issued a remarkable proclamation — one that called on Americans to pause, reflect, and give thanks. It was this act of unity and gratitude that gave birth to the national Thanksgiving holiday we celebrate today.
A Nation in Need of Hope
Before Lincoln’s presidency, Thanksgiving was not a fixed national holiday. Various states and communities observed days of thanksgiving at different times, often for local harvests or military victories. But the idea of a single, unifying day of gratitude — shared from coast to coast — had long been championed by one persistent advocate: writer and editor Sarah Josepha Hale.
For nearly two decades, Hale wrote letters and editorials urging presidents and politicians to create a national Thanksgiving. Her vision was simple but profound — that one day each year, all Americans might “unite in thanks to God for blessings received.”
In the midst of the Civil War, Hale’s plea finally reached a leader who understood the power of unity.
Lincoln’s Proclamation of 1863
On October 3, 1863, President Lincoln issued his Proclamation of Thanksgiving, written in part by Secretary of State William H. Seward. In it, Lincoln invited Americans 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.”
It was more than just a declaration of gratitude — it was a call for healing. Lincoln urged the people of a fractured nation to find common ground in thankfulness, to look beyond sorrow and toward hope. He reminded Americans that, even in hardship, “the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies” endured.
That same autumn, as battlefields still smoldered, families across the North bowed their heads together in a shared act of national reflection — the first Thanksgiving of its kind.
From the White House to the Highway
Decades later, when the Lincoln Highway was established in 1913 as America’s first transcontinental road, its founders chose to honor the same spirit Lincoln had called forth — unity, progress, and shared purpose. Just as Lincoln sought to connect a divided nation in gratitude, the Lincoln Highway physically connected Americans from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Today, as travelers journey the historic highway — from the rolling hills of Pennsylvania to the open plains of Nebraska — they follow a route that embodies Lincoln’s vision: a nation bound together not just by roads, but by ideals.
Reflecting on the Legacy
Every Thanksgiving, as we gather around our tables and give thanks for family, friends, and community, we also honor the wisdom of a president who believed that gratitude could heal a nation.
Lincoln’s words still resonate more than 160 years later: “It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged.”
Along the Lincoln Highway, from small-town diners to historic museums, that sentiment continues to inspire — reminding us that even in uncertain times, gratitude lights the way forward.
