Valerie Vande Panne

Writer

Today, as our country struggles with its new president and with itself, we might be wise to ask, what are we thankful for, as a nation?

...when we give thanks, as Lincoln and Seward asked, we may offer it with, as Seward wrote, "humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience.”

Echoes Of 1863: How Lincoln Transformed Thanksgiving, And Why It's Relevant Today

This Sunday, Feb. 5, 1865 photo made available by the Library of Congress shows President Abraham Lincoln in Washington. This image is last photo in the president's last photo session during his life. (Alexander Gardner/Library of Congress/AP)