Eight score and three years ago, a brief message was delivered on a battlefield. There wasn’t much in the way of expectations. On November 19, 1863, roughly 15,000 people came to a town called Gettysburg in southern Pennsylvania to dedicate a national cemetery. Nobody expected the significance of the moment.

President Lincoln was invited to share “a few appropriate remarks.” He wasn’t even the keynote speaker that day. That was Edward Everett, who spoke for more than two hours. Few people today talk about him. Our 16th president’s speech was less than two minutes. It was 272 words. But those 100 seconds changed our nation’s future. It definitely took a while for the significance of that speech to set in. Some critics cast aside the Gettysburg Address as a partisan Republican message, calling it “ludicrous” and “silly.” Over time, people recognized the brilliance of Lincoln’s message, marking it as perhaps the most important speech an American president has delivered.

The power and genius of the Gettysburg Address come from its linkage of the sacrifice made by those Union soldiers and all those who would fall in future battles to the promise of the revolutionary idea of America captured in the Declaration of Independence. It was the meaning of the American experiment. It also hinted at the consequences if it failed.

Abraham Lincoln called on the American people to dedicate themselves so that these United States, never more divided, “shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.” It’s a timeless message from perhaps our greatest president, intentionally designed to survive the test of time.

These United States are considered young by every measure around the world. The roots run through Pennsylvania, under Independence Hall, all the way up to a rock in Massachusetts. The Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth in 1620 without enough supplies. Half of the colony died that winter, as it was too late to plant crops. In the spring of 1621, members of the local Wampanoag tribe taught the colonists how to grow corn and vegetables. That fall, the colonists and the Wampanoag celebrated a three-day harvest, which accounted for the first Thanksgiving. A tradition was born.

A month and a half before giving the Gettysburg Address, President Lincoln proclaimed a national day of giving thanks on Thursday, November 26, 1863, in the middle of the Civil War. The holiday was honored by every president thereafter, usually on the last Thursday in November. During the Great Depression, President Roosevelt attempted to extend the holiday shopping season and boost economic activity by moving the date one week earlier. Not all states complied. In 1941, Congress established the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day, effective in 1942. That’s where it’s been ever since.

It’s the togetherness of our nation’s history that makes us special. Coming together for a greater cause. That was Lincoln’s message. The Wampanoag understood it. The Pilgrims cherished it and paid it forward in tradition. Giving thanks to those you love, appreciate and respect is as important as anything. I’m so thankful for all those who lived and gave their lives for a better tomorrow. We have benefited greatly.