President George Washington's Thanksgiving Day Proclamation

Examiner.com ^ | Nov. 26, 2009 | Réne Girard

[RGirard]

General Thanksgiving, 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 favour; And whereas both Houses have, by their joint committee, requested me " to recommend to the people of the United States, a DAY OF PUBLICK THANSGIVING 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 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 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 favours which he has been pleased to confer upon us.

[RGirard]

Article in full + original newspaper clipping from The Massachusetts Centinal at Examiner.com link

[Jeff Head]

Here's a modern version, modeled on George Washington's original.

A 2009 THANKSGIVING DAY PROCLAMATION

Such statements and commitment to the fundamental and foundation moral and republican principles that are the bedrock of this nation stand in stark contrast to what we see in the White House and the halls of Congress today.

THE MAN WHO DESPISES AMERICA

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But as George Washington also said, when conteplating the future troubles we would face as a nation and a people,

"The Great Governor of the Universe has led us too long and too far to forsake us in the midst of it. We may, now and then, get bewildered; but trust that there is good sense and virtue enough left to recover the right path. " - George Washington

I believe that with all me heart there is more than enough virtue and good sense left, and that we are already seeing it rise up in opposition to today's infrngements and betrayals.

AWAKEN, O AMERICA, YOUR LIBERTY IS CALLING (Inspiring Video)

912: AMERICA AWAKENS IN 2009

AMERICA AT THE CROSSROADS OF HISTORY

[machogirl]

Me thinks that “the One” should read this.

[fish hawk]

I know this is a day of thanksgiving and all but I have a sick feeling deep down in my insides. When I think of all our Founding Fathers sacrificed for this great nation and all our young men and women that fought and died to keep it free, and now it's future lies in the hands of an immature idiot that has never run a business, had a payroll for employees, created anything at all, and his biggest accomplishments was that he was a community organizer (what ever that is) and seems to be doing all he can to ruin our country. After thanking my Lord for his blessing on us my fervent prayer is that the American People wake up to what is happening and by the “vote”, dump these traitors and elect people that actually love this country.

[Star Traveler]

Thanksgiving Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln (1863)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2395119/posts

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Proclamation - Thanksgiving Day, 1863
October 3, 1863

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BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION

The year that is drawing toward 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 can not 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 unequaled 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 theater of military conflict, while that theater 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 defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax 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 battlefield, 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 3d day of October, A. D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

[Jeff Head]

FREEREPUBLIC ALLIANCE - RESTORE THE CONSTITUTION