Lincoln's Other Proclamation: The Origin of America’s Thanksgiving Holiday Tradition

Name: Lincoln's Other Proclamation: The Origin of America’s Thanksgiving Holiday Tradition
Start: 2025-11-06T18:00:00-05:00
Location: Blount Mansion

Schedule

Thu, 06 Nov, 2025 at 06:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

Blount Mansion | Knoxville, TN

What is Lincoln's role in establishing the modern Thanksgiving holiday? Our Executive Director will be speaking on Lincoln's other proclamation in Knoxville at Blount Mansion on November 6.
Though Thanksgiving traces its roots to the 1621 Pilgrim harvest feast in Plymouth Colony, the practice of celebrating the holiday in late November was not firmly established until the American Civil War. During his presidency, Abraham Lincoln issued several thanksgiving proclamations to help the nation cope with the tragedy of war while remaining grateful that things were not worse. However, none of these proclamations specified a single day as a national day set aside for prayer.
Then, in October 1863, President Lincoln, prompted by a famed poet, novelist, and editor who had been vigorously pushing for a national Thanksgiving Day for nearly two decades, issued yet another Thanksgiving proclamation that established the modern holiday tradition.
https://blountmansion.org/event/history-lecture-series-nov6/