This is a section of George Washington’s First Thanksgiving Proclamation, given in New York City on October 3, 1789.
“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 beneficient 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 original 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 favors which He had been pleased to confer upon us.”
Let us all especially remember this Thanksgiving the blessing of living in this great nation.
[photo from www.washdc.com/1672]
