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                         Proclamations of Days of
                     Thanksgiving, Fasting, and Prayer

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By Abraham Lincoln

- Civil War 1861-1864 -
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           Proclamation of a National Fast Day. August 12, 1861.

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          Whereas a joint committee of both houses of Congress
          has waited on the President of the United States and
          requested him to "recommend a day of public prayer,
          humiliation, and fasting, to be observed by the people
          of the United States with religious solemnities, and
          the offering of fervent supplications to Almighty God
          for the safety and welfare of these States, his
          blessings on their arms, and a speedy restoration of
          peace":

          And whereas it is fit and becoming in all people, at
          all times, to acknowledge and revere the supreme
          government of God; to bow in humble submission to his
          chastisements; to confess and deplore their sins and
          transgressions, in the full conviction that the fear of
          the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and to pray with
          all fervency and contrition for the pardon of their
          past offenses, and for a blessing upon their present
          and prospective action:

          And whereas when our own beloved country, once, by the
          blessing of God, united, prosperous, and happy, is now
          afflicted with faction and civil war, it is peculiarly
          fit for us to recognize the hand of God in this
          terrible visitation, and in sorrowful remembrance of
          our own faults and crimes as a nation and as
          individuals, to humble ourselves before him and to pray
          for his mercy  to pray that we may be spared further
          punishment, though most justly deserved; that our arms
          may be blessed and made effectual for the
          reestablishment of law, order, and peace throughout the
          wide extent of our country; and that the inestimable
          boon of civil and religious liberty, earned under his
          guidance and blessings by the labors and sufferings of
          our fathers, may be restored in all its original
          excellence:

          Therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln , President of the United
          States, do appoint the last Thursday in September next
          as a day of humiliation, prayer, and fasting for all
          the people of the nation. And I do earnestly recommend
          to all the people, and especially to all ministers and
          teachers of religion, of all denominations, and to all
          heads of families to observe and keep that day,
          according to their several creeds and modes of worship,
          in all humility and with all religious solemnity, to
          the end that the united prayer of the nation may ascend
          to the throne of Grace, and bring down plentiful
          blessings upon our country.

          In testimony, etc.
          Abraham Lincoln.
          By the President:
          William H. Seward, Secretary of State.

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           Proclamation of a National Fast-Day. March 30, 1863.

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          Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly
          recognizing the supreme authority and just government
          of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and of
          nations, has by a resolution requested the President to
          designate and set apart a day for national prayer and
          humiliation:

          And whereas, it is the duty of nations as well as of
          men to own their dependence upon the overruling power
          of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in
          humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine
          repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to
          recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy
          Scriptures and proven by all history, that those
          nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord;

          And insomuch as we know that by his divine law nations,
          like individuals, are subjected to punishments and
          chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear
          that the awful calamity of civil war was which now
          desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted
          upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end
          of our national reformation as a whole people? We have
          been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven.
          We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and
          prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power
          as no other nation has ever grown; but we have
          forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand
          which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and
          enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly
          imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all
          these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom
          and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken
          success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the
          necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud
          to pray to the God that made us.

          It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the
          offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to
          pray for clemency and forgiveness:

          Now, therefore in compliance with the request, and
          fully concurring in the views, of the Senate, I do by
          this my proclamation designate and set apart Thursday,
          the 30th day of April, 1863 as a day of national
          humiliation, fasting, and prayer. And I do hereby
          request all the people to abstain on that day from
          their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite at their
          several places of public worship and their respective
          homes in keeping the day holy to the Lord, and devoted
          to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper
          to that solemn occasion. All this being done in
          sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the
          hope authorized by the divine teachings, that the
          united cry of the nation will be heard on high, and
          answered with blessings no less than the pardon of our
          national sins, and the restoration of our now divided
          and suffering country to its former happy condition of
          unity and peace.

          In witness etc.
          Abraham Lincoln. William H. Seward, Secretary of State.

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              Proclamation for a Day of Prayer. July 7, 1864.
             By The President Of The United States Of America.
                              A Proclamation.

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          Whereas the Senate and House of Representatives, at
          their last session, adopted a concurrent resolution,
          which was approved on the second day of July instant,
          and which was in the words following, namely:

          That the President of the United States be requested to
          appoint a day for humiliation and prayer by the people
          of the United States; that he request his
          constitutional advisers at the head of the executive
          departments to unite with him as chief magistrate of
          the nation, at the city of Washington, and the members
          of Congress, and all magistrates, all civil, military,
          and naval officers, all soldiers, sailors, and marines,
          with all loyal and law-abiding people, to convene at
          their usual places of worship, or wherever they may be,
          to confess and to repent of their manifold sins to
          implore the compassion and forgiveness of the Almighty,
          that, is consistent with his will, the existing
          rebellion may be speedily suppressed, and the supremacy
          of the Constitution and laws of the United States may
          be established throughout all the States; to implore
          him, as the supreme ruler of the world, not to destroy
          us as a people, nor suffer us to be destroyed by the
          hostility or the connivance of other nations, or by
          obstinate adhesion to our own counsels which may be in
          conflict with his eternal purposes, and to implore him
          to enlighten the mind of the nation to know and do his
          will, humbly believing that it is in accordance with
          his will that our place should be maintained as a
          united people among the family of nations; to implore
          him to grant to our armed defenders and the masses of
          the people that courage, power of resistance, and
          endurance necessary to secure that result; to implore
          him in his infinite goodness to soften the hearts,
          enlighten the minds, and quicken the consciences of
          those in rebellion, that they may lay down their arms
          and speedily return to their allegiance to the United
          States, that they may not be utterly destroyed, that
          the effusion of blood may be stayed, and that unity and
          fraternity may be restored and peace established
          throughout all our borders:

          Now therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the
          United States, cordially concurring with the Congress
          of the United States in the penitential and pious
          sentiments expressed in the aforesaid resolutions, and
          heartily approving of the devotional design and purpose
          thereof, do hereby appoint the first Thursday of August
          next to be observed by the people of the United States
          as a day of national humiliation and prayer.

          I do hereby further invite and request the heads of the
          executive departments of this government together with
          all legislators, all judges and magistrates, and all
          other persons exercising authority in the land, whether
          civil, military, or naval, and all soldiers, seamen,
          and marines in the national service, and all the other
          loyal and law abiding people of the United States, to
          assemble in their preferred places of public worship on
          that day, and there and then to render to the Almighty
          and merciful Ruler of the universe such homages and
          such confessions, and to offer to him such confessions,
          and to offer to him such supplications, as the Congress
          of the United States have, in their aforesaid
          resolution, so solemnly, so earnestly, and so
          reverently recommended.

          In testimony etc.
          Abraham Lincoln.
          By the President.
          William H. Seward, Secretary of State.

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                Proclamation Recommending Thanksgiving
                    for Victories. April 10,1862.
          By the President of the United States of America.
                           A Proclamation.

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          It has pleased Almighty God to vouchsafe signal
          victories to the land and naval forces engaged in
          suppressing an internal rebellion, and at the same tine
          to avert from our country the dangers of foreign
          intervention and invasion:

          It is therefore recommended to the people of the United
          States that, at their next weekly assemblages in their
          accustomed placed of public worship which shall occur
          after notice of this proclamation shall have been
          received, they especially acknowledge and render thanks
          to our Heavenly Father for these inestimable blessings;
          that they then and there implore spiritual consolation
          in behalf of all who have been brought into affliction
          by the casualties and calamities of sedition and civil
          war; and that they reverently invoke the divine
          guidance for our national counsels, to the end that
          they may speedily result in the restoration of peace,
          harmony, and unity throughout our borders and hasten
          the establishment of fraternal relations among all the
          countries of the earth.

          In witness etc.
          Abraham Lincoln.
          By the President:
          William H. Seward, Secretary of State.

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               Proclamation for Thanksgiving. July 15, 1863.

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          It has pleased Almighty God to hearken to the
          supplications and prayers of an afflicted people, and
          to vouchsafe to the army and navy of the United States
          victories on land and on the sea so signal and so
          effective as to furnish reasonable grounds for
          augmented confidence that the union of these States
          will be maintained, their Constitution preserved, and
          their peace and prosperity permanently restored. But
          these victories have been accorded not without
          sacrifices of life, limb, health, and liberty, incurred
          by brave, loyal, and patriotic citizens. Domestic
          affliction in every part of the country follows in the
          train of these fearful bereavements. It is meet and
          right to recognize and confess their presence of the
          Almighty Father, and the power of his hand equally in
          these triumphs and in these sorrows.

          Now, therefore, be it known that I do set apart
          Thursday, the 6th day of August next to be observes as
          a day for national thanksgiving, praise, and prayer,
          and I invite the people of the United States to
          assemble on the occasion in their customary places of
          worship, and in the forms approved by their own
          consciences, render the homage due to the Divine
          Majesty for the wonderful things he has done in the
          nation's behalf, and invoke the influence of his Holy
          Spirit to subdue the anger which has produced and so
          long sustained a needless and cruel rebellion, to
          change the hearts of the insurgents, to guide the
          counsels of the government with wisdom adequate to so
          great a national emergency, and to visit with tender
          care and consolation throughout the length and breadth
          of our land all those who through the vicissitudes of
          marches, voyages, battles, and sieges have been brought
          to suffer in mind, body, or estate, and finally to lead
          the whole nation through the paths of repentance and
          submission to the Divine Will back to the perfect
          enjoyment of union and fraternal peace.

          In witness etc.
          Abraham Lincoln.
          By the President:
          William H. Seward, Secretary of State.

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              Proclamation for Thanksgiving. October 3, 1863.

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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 cannot
          fail to penetrate and soften the heart which is
          habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence
          of almighty God.

          In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and
          severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states
          to invite and provoke their aggressions, 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 theater of
          military conflict; while that theater has been greatly
          contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the
          Union.

          Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the
          fields of peaceful industry to the national defense
          have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship;
          the ax 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 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
          solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as
          with one heart and one 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 praise 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 and blessings, they do also with humble
          penitence for our national perverseness and
          disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who
          have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in
          the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably
          engaged, and 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 full enjoyment of peace, harmony,
          tranquillity, and union.

          In testimony, etc.
          A. Lincoln.
          By the President:
          William H. Seward, Secretary of State.

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               Recommendation of Thanksgiving. May 9, 1864.

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          To the Friends of Union and Liberty: Enough is known of
          army operations within the last five days to claim an
          especial gratitude to God, while what remains undone
          demands our most sincere prayers to, and reliance upon,
          him without whom all human effort is vain. I recommend
          that all patriots, at their homes, in their places of
          public worship, and whatever they may be, unite in
          common thanksgiving and prayer to almighty God.

          Abraham Lincoln.

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             Proclamation of Thanksgiving. September 3, 1864.

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          The signal success that divine Providence has recently
          vouchsafed to the operation of the United States fleet
          and army in the harbor of Mobile, and the reduction of
          Fort Powell, Fort Gaines, and Fort Morgan, and the
          glorious achievements of the army under Major-General
          Sherman, in the State of Georgia, resulting in the
          capture of the city of Atlanta, call for devout
          acknowledgment to the Supreme Being in whose hands are
          the destinies of nations. It is therefore requested
          that on next Sunday, in all places of worship in the
          United States, thanksgiving be offered to him for his
          mercy in preserving our national existence against the
          insurgent rebels who have been waging a cruel war
          against the Government of the United States for its
          overthrow; and also that prayer be made for divine
          protection to our brace soldiers and their leaders in
          the field, who have so often and so gallantly periled
          their lives in battling with the enemy; and for
          blessings and comfort from the Father of mercies to the
          sick, wounded, and prisoners, and to the orphans and
          widows of those who have fallen in the service of their
          country, and that he will continue to uphold the
          Government of the United States against all the efforts
          of public enemies and secret foes.

          Abraham Lincoln.

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              Proclamation of Thanksgiving. October 20, 1864.

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          It has pleased almighty God to prolong our national
          life another year, defending us with his guardian care
          against unfriendly designs from abroad, and vouchsafing
          to us in his mercy many and signal victories over the
          enemy, who is of our own household. It has also pleased
          our heavenly Father to favor as well our citizens in
          their homes as our soldiers in their camps, and our
          sailors on the rivers and seas, with unusual health. He
          has largely augmented our free population by
          emancipation and by immigration, while he has opened to
          us new sources of wealth , and has crowned the labor of
          our working-men in every department of industry with
          abundant rewards, Moreover, he has been pleased to
          animate and inspire our minds and hearts with
          fortitude, courage, and resolution sufficient for the
          great trial of civil war into which we have been
          brought buy our adherence as a nation to the cause of
          freedom and humanity, and to afford to us reasonable
          hopes of an ultimate and happy deliverance from all our
          dangers and afflictions.

          Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the
          United States, do hereby appoint and set apart the last
          Thursday of November next as a day which I desire to be
          observed by all my fellow citizens, wherever they may
          be then be, as a day of thanksgiving and praise to
          almighty God, the beneficent. Creator and Ruler of the
          universe. And I do further recommend to my
          fellow-citizens aforesaid, that on that occasion they
          do reverently humble themselves in the dust, and from
          thence offer up penitent and fervent prayers and
          supplications to the great Disposer of events for a
          return of the inestimable blessings of peace, union,
          and harmony throughout the land which it has pleased
          him to assign as a dwelling place for ourselves and for
          our posterity throughout all generations.

          In testimony, etc.
          Abraham Lincoln.
          By the President:
          William H. Seward, Secretary of State.

          ---
          Used with permission granted by World Challenge, P. O.
          Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771 USA.

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