the free
colored.

A. LINCOLN.

PROCLAMATION FOR THANKSGIVING, OCTOBER 3, 1863.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AMERICA:

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards 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 cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which
is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.
In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity which has
sometimes seemed to invite and provoke the aggressions of foreign states;
peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the
laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere
except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been
greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. The
needful diversion of wealth and strength from the fields of peaceful
industry, to the national defense has not arrested the plough, the
shuttle, or the ship: The axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements,
and the mines, as well of, iron and coal as of the precious metals, have
yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily
increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp,
the siege, and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the
consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect a
continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.

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.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be reverently,
solemnly, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and voice, by the
whole American people. 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 prayer to our
beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them
that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such
singular deliverances a