The year that is drawing towards 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 cannot 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 unequalled 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 theatre of military conflict; while that theatre 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 defence, have not
arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had
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 battle-field; 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 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.
Abraham Lincoln, 1863
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 show 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.
Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3rd day of
October, A.D. 1789.
G. Washington
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