It took the trauma of the Civil War to make Thanksgiving a formal, annual holiday. Lincoln issued his proclamation on Oct. 3, 1863, three months after Union Army victories at Gettysburg and ...

Just as the new holiday of remembrance and gratitude helped to reunite the country after the Civil War, Thanksgiving can also work to redress our rifts today—in our polarized nation and even in ...

President Abraham Lincoln declared a national Thanksgiving holiday in 1863. It was a gesture, say historians, meant to ...