It has been an annual tradition since 1863, when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens”, to be celebrated on Thursday, November 26.

The Chicago Tribune prints President Abraham Lincoln’s declaration of the last Thursday in November 1863 “as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”