Posted on 11/24/2016 1:50:54 AM PST by NonValueAdded
Introduction
Following a resolution of Congress, President George Washington proclaimed Thursday the 26th of November 1789 a day of “public thanksgiving and prayer” devoted to “the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be.” Reflecting American religious practice, Presidents and Congresses from the beginning of the republic have from time to time designated days of fasting and thanksgiving (the Thanksgiving holiday we continue to celebrate in November was established by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and made into law by Congress in 1941).
(Excerpt) Read more at heritage.org ...
Thanksgiving Proclamation
Issued by President George Washington, at the request of Congress, on October 3, 1789
By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation.
Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and—Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”
Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favor, able interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other trangressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.
Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.
Go. Washington
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Recessional of the Sons of the American Revolution:
“Until we meet again, let us remember our obligations to our
forefathers who gave us our Constitution, the Bill of Rights,
an independent Supreme Court and a nation of free men.”
Dr. Benjamin Franklin, when asked if we had a republic or a monarchy, replied "A Republic, if you can keep it."
Thanks for the ping
Thank you for posting this.
Happy Thanksgiving to all FReepers everywhere and to our new President-Elect Donald J. Trump!
God Bless our founders!
Thank you for the ping.
To get depressed read about his few proclamations.
Beautiful.
America’s First Thanksgiving Was in Florida — Seriously. It Was!COMMENTARY: More than 50 years before the Puritans landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts, Spanish Catholics gave thanks to God with a Mass and meal in St. Augustine.
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/americas-first-thanksgiving-was-in-florida-seriously.-it-was
Thanks for Gen. Washington’s proclamation, putting the official stamp of approval on this custom.
Berkeley Plantation Thanksgiving celebrated by a survivor of Jamestowne’s “Starving Time”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3095018/posts
And let us never forget Abraham Lincoln:
Washington, D.C.
October 3, 1863
By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have 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 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 one 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 Praise 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, tranquillity and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth.
By the President: Abraham Lincoln
William H. Seward,
Secretary of State
And FDR added his 2 bits: (I’m surprised that Obama, or Clinton, haven’t tried to take over this Holiday, as well.)
http://history1900s.about.com/od/1930s/a/thanksgiving.htm
(error alert — this article repeats the myth that Plymouth was first)
Shiver.. when NYC was the capitol and Almighy God proclaimed there. Now it’s one of many Capitols of hedonism. Our generation finished its destruction by re- writing history sans God Almighty. Thanks for posting.
On behalf of my Mayflower Ancestors, I will quibble. Spanish Catholics probably did have a feast in North America 50 years before the Pilgrims; on that we can agree.
But if we are talking about America, the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, the country we know and love and will Make Great Again, then I’m with George on this one.
These United States evolved from that first chartered colony in Plymouth, founded on the principal of religious freedom with thanks to God for their deliverance. That is the Thanksgiving we commemorate today.
Not a feast of conquest for a territory that did not join the Union until 1822.
That should have read “Obama’s Thanksgiving proclimations.”
Really wish at least 2 things would be straightened out about all this historic stuff.
A. Jamestown, VA was the first permanent English settlement, not New England.
B. Thanksgiving is NOT a very specific scheduled concept. Our ancestors declared that God should be publicly and officially thanked in response to MANY occasions, as they happened. Not simply timed every year at the same time. Which I wonder may be better. Washington and Congress declared TGs during the war at various times, e.g.
Another....that everyone somehow links this now-regularly scheduled tradition to New England 400 years ago, when in fact it is only regular since Abe Lincoln.
Ah, the crucible of posting of FR, where snowflakes melt faster than on a hot tin roof. If this forum doesn’t toughen one up and hone one’s writing skills, nothing will! :)
Setting aside the historical arguments, THIS Thanksgiving should be something very special to each and everyone of us! General Washington’s sentiments still ring true to this day.
God Bless us, everyone. Oh, wait ... that’s for the next Holiday :)
You’re forgetting Virginia. My forefathers were giving thanks before yours left England. ;)
Hear, hear!
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