By Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh —— Bio and Archives November 27, 2013
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“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 can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the every-watching providence of the Almighty God.”President Lincoln described the wealth, the strength, the bounty, the population increase in spite of the civil war losses, the plows that have enlarged the borders and the settlements, have grown the crops, the “large increase in freedom,” the mines of coal, iron, and precious metals that have enlarged their abundant production. “The laws have been respected and obeyed; 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.” President Lincoln, a man of God, recognized that “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.” In the last paragraph, President Lincoln pronounced that the American people should “solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledge, as with one heart and one voice,” these “gracious gifts of the Most High God.”
“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.”Americans, he said, should not just be thankful for their blessings, but also humbly penitent for “our national perverseness and disobedience.” Widows, orphans, mourners, and sufferers should be commended to God’s tender care, he said. …” In the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, … 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.” (The American Presidency Project) The Thanksgiving holiday that we continue to celebrate today was established by President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and was made law by Congress in 1941. It was rooted in religion and God. The fact that Americans, particularly young Americans, do not know our country’s history, is a sad reflection on our “progressive” education system that teaches revisionist history or none at all.
Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh, Ileana Writes is a freelance writer, author, radio commentator, and speaker. Her books, “Echoes of Communism”, “Liberty on Life Support” and “U.N. Agenda 21: Environmental Piracy,” “Communism 2.0: 25 Years Later” are available at Amazon in paperback and Kindle.