[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 172 (Thursday, November 19, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H13326]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE TRUE MEANING OF THANKSGIVING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Franks) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, the Thanksgiving thoughts that I 
offer this evening were written by someone who sacrificed a great deal 
for someone that they loved. It has really nothing to do with roast 
turkey or pumpkin or all of the homey images that we have come to 
equate with this holiday. Tonight, I want to speak of a day whose noble 
purpose and origins are often lost on those who think of it as only 
``Turkey Day.''
  The truth is, this national holiday has much more to do with 
Presidents than it does pilgrims; more to do with our precious freedoms 
than sumptuous feasts. Yes, it's wonderful to have Thanksgiving dinner 
with precious loved ones, it's wonderful to have that time with those 
that we care about, but this was also meant to be a time of giving 
thanks to God for all of his blessings, including the gift of freedom, 
something that often gets lost in this season, forgetting it was bought 
by the blood of past generations of Americans, a sacrifice still borne 
by so many men and women in the armed services in the battlefield these 
very moments.
  A national day of thanksgiving to God was actually called after 
America became a Nation by two of our greatest Presidents and 
Commanders in Chief, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The first 
one was in 1789, right after this new Nation was still healing from the 
wounds of the American Revolution. General Washington, who had led 
those who favored revolution against the will of those who did not, was 
now seeking to unite a people with a new Constitution as one Nation 
under God.
  There wasn't another national celebration of the day for 74 years 
and, ironically, it was during the Civil War in 1863, in the midst of 
one of our greatest national tragedies, that President Abraham Lincoln 
called for all his ``fellow citizens in every part of the United States 
to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of 
Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the 
heavens'' so ``that God could and should be solemnly, reverently, and 
gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole 
American people.''
  He went on to say ``We have forgotten God'' and ``It is the duty of 
nations as well as men to own their dependence upon the overruling 
power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow 
and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures 
and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is 
the Lord.''
  Those words spoken nearly 1\1/2\ centuries ago came from a President 
who had found his own faith just a few months before. As he walked 
among the graves of thousands of soldiers who had fallen at the Battle 
of Gettysburg, his heart had broken over their tragic sacrifice. 
Abraham Lincoln was a President who deeply valued the lives of all 
Americans--civilian, slaves, and all soldiers, including everyone who 
actually fought against him.
  The just freedom of hundreds of thousands of slaves had cost hundreds 
of thousands of American lives. It was an unspeakable sacrifice that 
weighed so heavily on him, and he believed only God could give him 
strength to unite the Nation again. He wrote a letter to a friend and 
said that he had not been a truer believer when he left Illinois to 
assume the Presidency.
  ``I asked the people to pray for me,'' he wrote. I was not a 
Christian. When I buried my son, the severest trial of my life, I was 
not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of 
thousands of soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ.''
  Abraham Lincoln understood the high cost of freedom, but counting the 
cost and trusting God to hold and ultimately heal the Nation, President 
Abraham Lincoln ended slavery in America forever. Mr. Lincoln and 
George Washington both understood the high cost of freedom and helped 
to forge a new Nation with unheard of liberties, Mr. Speaker, including 
the right to disagree. And both of them called the Nation to thank God.
  So, Mr. Speaker, as we prepare to go home to our families and loved 
ones, let us remember what every man and woman in the Armed Forces can 
tell you personally: freedom is never free. And as we sit down to 
Thanksgiving dinner, let us be thankful to all of those who have died 
that we might live in freedom--from the American Revolution to this 
current war we fight against jihadist terrorism. And let us thank the 
God, from Whom all blessings come, for this marvelous gift we call 
liberty and justice for all.

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