This was given by President George Washington in New York on the 3rd day of October 1789. I felt that it was appropriate to share this on the blog for those who are unaware of it.
"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 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 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 transgressions; 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."
Picture of Original Manuscript
Picture of Original Published in The Massachusetts Centinel
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789
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3 comments:
Indeed. However, it was never really observed nation-wide nor on an annual basis until 1863 with Abraham Lincoln's thanksgiving speech, in which he declared the national holiday to be the last Thursday in Nov. That held until FDR, who changed it to the fourth Thursday, which is how we observe it today.
Moscow, ID is right outside the Nez Perce Indian Reservation. Hence, there are a number of Native Americans who attend or are employed at the University of Idaho. I took an accounting class from a lady, a CPA, who was 100% Native American. The day before school let out for Thanksgiving, she talked to us a little about their nation's perspective on our nation's observance of Thanksgiving.
They don't see any reason to give thanks to anyone, including any supreme being, on Thanksgiving. They see the holiday as the beginnings of the distruction and extinction of their peoples, culture, and homeland.
I had never thought of it like that before. She had a point. The United States government has yet to apologize for killing them all off, breaking contracts, and otherwise hypocritcally giving thanks to God for ensuring their own religious rights while simultaneously, forcefully taking those same rights away from others who lived in the same country.
I'm not saying I don't agree with Thanksgiving or that the Europeans were wrong for conquering this hemisphere. I'm just saying that that is an interesting perspective, one that I hadn't heard of, nor taken into historical consideration.
Nevertheless, we all have our own reason for celebrating Thanksgiving. I look forward to the holiday myself.
Looks like I got that detail wrong about when the Holiday became official. Thanks for the clarification Chris.
I appreciate all posts here so far - I wasn't aware of any of these historical events. I might have been at one time, but American Heritage was my last history class, and that was at BYU in 1989. Many moons ago. If we lived according to Washington's speech - we'd be a better country. It would be nice not to have stain of what our country did to the American Indians in the process of becoming what we are now grateful for.
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