NOW THEREFORE, I do recommend and assign THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH 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 favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed;-- for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish Constitutions of government for our sasety 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 favours 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 transgressions;-- to enable us all, whether in publick 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 shewn kindness unto 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, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.
2 comments:
Washington's Thanksgiving edict was
rescinded by President Thomas
Jefferson. It was not until Abe
Lincoln issued a new proclamation
that Thanksgiving Day was restored
as a National Holiday. Then
President Franklin D. Roosevelt made
it the 4th Thursday of November
to encourage the start of the
Christmas Shopping Season.
How in all Judas jumping in January do you rescind an order that was for one year? It is true that presidential proclamations did not become annual until Lincoln, whose example was followed until the current law from FDR's time. But it was observed by local or state declaration before that in many places, just not uniformly national.
Regardless of subsequent observance history, President Washington's declaration is magnificent. I wish it were at the heart of American Thanksgiving now, instead of trying to make it specifically Christian on the one hand (Christians of course having the freedom to thank the god of their understanding as does everyone else) and a good feed to go to the stores overnight for Black Friday on the other.
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