LINCOLN’S THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION: The Tapscotts, then of Scottsville, Va., were, like the nation, deeply divided when the Civil War came in 1861. Some of them fought for the North, more for the South. And yet look how far we as a nation have come in the decades since the war.

Lincoln’s 1863 Proclamation of Thanksgiving Day as a national holiday is a remarkable document considering the circumstances surrounding its issuance. The battlefields were strewn with the dead and everywhere the issue of the war remained unresolved, stalemated even. But Lincoln pointed Americans to the blessings we enjoyed even in such a hellish midst.

A century and more later, Ronald Reagan often talked of America as the City on the Hill. It’s become increasingly difficult in the present times to recall how deeply felt that vision was and could be again. Take a few moments today and share Lincoln’s Proclamation with family and friends.