has not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the
ship. The axe 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 a 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 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 prayer 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 the full enjoyment of peace, harmony,
tranquility, and union.

The brightening prospects of the Union cause quickly produced a better
state of feeling at the North. In the fall elections of 1863, every
State except New Jersey gave solid majorities on the Republican side,
thus strengthening the administration and giving the President welcome
assurances of popular approval. He had awaited with special anxiety the
returns from Ohio, where the contest was fraught with peculiar
significance. The Democrats had chosen for their candidate the notorious
peace-at-any-price V