Thanksgiving Day 1795

 

"A man shall be commended according to his godly Wisdom,
which is comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes God."
(Proverbs 12:8)

George Washington

February 22, 1732-December 14, 1799

Founding Father and First President of the United States of America
Image courtesy/Mt. Vernon

The Second Presidential Proclamation

Given By George Washington

A PROCLAMATION

When we review the calamities which afflict so many in other Nations,
the present condition of the United States affords much matter of consolation
and satisfaction. Our exemption hitherto from foreign war, an increasing
prospect of the continuance of that exemption, the great degree of
internal tranquility we have enjoyed, the recent confirmation of
that tranquility by the suppression of an insurrection which
so wantonly threatened it, the happy course of our public affairs
in general, the unexampled prosperity of all classes of our Citizens-
are circumstances which peculiarly mark our situation with
indications of the Divine Beneficence towards us.

In such a state of things it is, in an especial manner. our duty as
a people, with devout reverence and affectionate gratitude, to
acknowledge our many and great obligations to Almighty God and
to implore Him to continue and confirm the blessings we experience.

Deeply penetrated with this sentiment, I, George Washington,
President of the United States, do recommend to all Religious
Societies and Denominations and to all persons whomsoever
within the United States, to set apart and observe Thursday, the
 nineteenth day of February next as a day of public Thanksgiving
and prayer; and on that day to meet together and render their
sincere and hearty thanks to the great ruler of Nations for the
manifold and signal mercies, which distinguish our lot as
a Nation; particularly for the possession of Constitutions
of Government which unite and by their union establish
liberty with order, for the preservation of our peace,
foreign and domestic, for the seasonable control
which has been given to a spirit of disorder in the
suppression of the late insurrection, and generally
for the prosperous course of our affairs public
and private; and at the same time humbly and
fervently to beseech the kind Author of these
blessings graciously to prolong them to us-
to imprint on our hearts a deep and solemn
sense of our obligations to Him for them-to
 teach us rightly to estimate their immense value-
to preserve us from the arrogance of prosperity
and from hazarding the advantages we enjoy
by delusive pursuits-to dispose us to merit
the continuance of His favors, by not abusing
them, by our gratitude for them, and by a
correspondent conduct as citizens and as men-
to render this Country more and more a safe
and propitious asylum for the unfortunate of
other Countries- to extend among us true and
 useful knowledge-to diffuse and establish habits
of sobriety, order, morality, and piety, and finally
to impart all the blessings we possess, or ask for
ourselves, to the whole family of mankind.

In Testimony whereof I have caused the 
Seal of the United States of America to be affixed
to these presents and signed the same with my hand.
Done at the City of Philadelphia, the First day of January
 One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety Five, and of the
  Independence of the United States of America, the Nineteenth.

-President George Washington